Although the Coronavirus is causing great damage in the world economy, leading to the cancellation of events and presenting more and more victims and infected in several countries, there is, ironically, a positive side to infection. China has become a less polluting country in these first months of the year, since the outbreak began.
NASA and the European Space Agency released pollution monitoring satellite images, highlighting the decrease in nitrogen dioxide since the end of December 2019. To show this decrease, images from three periods of 2019 compared to 2020 were released, namely between the beginning of January and the end of February.
Note that at the end of February 2019, NO2 concentration levels reached 500 micromoles per square meter, while in the same period in 2020 the volume was below 100. According to NASA scientists, the reduction of NO2 it was first observed in the Wuhan area, the center of the outbreak, but then it expanded across the country.
