PM₁₀ variation, composition, and source analysis in Tuscany (Italy) following the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions

Abstract

To control the spread of COVID-19, exceptional restrictive measures were taken in March 2020 that imposed a radical change on the lifestyle of millions of citizens around the world, albeit for a short period. The national lockdown, which lasted from 10 March to 18 May 2020 in Italy, was a unique opportunity to observe the variation in air quality in urban environments under conditions comprising almost total traffic restriction and a strong reduction in work activities. In this paper, the data from 17 urban monitoring sites in Tuscany are presented, and the PM and NO2 concentrations in the 2 months before the start of the lockdown and the 2 months after lockdown are compared with the corresponding months of the previous 3 years. The results show that the total loads of PM2.5 and PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 and 10 µm, respectively) decreased, but they did not exhibit significant changes compared to previous years, whereas NO2 underwent a drastic reduction. For three of these sites, the chemical composition of the collected samples was measured using thermal–optical techniques, ion chromatography, and particle-induced X-ray emission analysis, and the application of multivariate positive matrix factorization analysis also allowed for PM10 source identification and apportionment. Using these analyses, it was possible to explain the low sensitivity of PM10 to the lockdown effects as being due to different, sometimes inverse, behaviors of the different sources that contribute to PM. The results clearly indicate a decline in pollution levels related to urban traffic and an increase in the concentration of sulfate for all sites during the lockdown period.