On March 17th, the lead PIs of ACCLIP (Asian summer monsoon Chemical and Climate Impact Project) made the decision to postpone the ACCLIP airborne field campaign from summer 2020 to 2021. The airborne field campaign was jointly funded by the NSF and NASA, and involves both the NCAR research aircraft Gulfstream V and the NASA research aircraft WB-57. This decision was forced by the global COVID-19 outbreaks.

In February, we showed a drop in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels over China as a result of the coronavirus quarantine. New data from the European Space Agency (ESA) now show drops in NO2 concentrations over Italy due to that country’s nationwide lockdown. The change is particularly evident in the Pro Valley of northern Italy.

NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) pollution monitoring satellites have detected significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over China. There is evidence that the change is at least partly related to the economic slowdown following the outbreak of coronavirus.

Air pollution caused 3.2 million new cases of diabetes worldwide in 2016, according to a new estimate. Fine particulate matter, belched out by cars and factories and generated through chemical reactions in the atmosphere, hang around as haze and make air hard to breathe. Air pollution has been linked to chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes (SN: 9/30/17, p. 18), but this study is one of the first attempts to quantify the connection for diabetes.