<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<export-example>
  <doc>
    <id>688</id>
    <completedYear/>
    <publishedYear>2021</publishedYear>
    <thesisYearAccepted/>
    <language>eng</language>
    <pageFirst/>
    <pageLast/>
    <pageNumber>112</pageNumber>
    <edition/>
    <issue/>
    <volume/>
    <type>masterthesis</type>
    <publisherName/>
    <publisherPlace/>
    <creatingCorporation/>
    <contributingCorporation/>
    <belongsToBibliography>0</belongsToBibliography>
    <completedDate>2021-02-04</completedDate>
    <publishedDate>--</publishedDate>
    <thesisDateAccepted>2020-11-24</thesisDateAccepted>
    <title language="eng">Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Particulate Matter (PM) concentration in Nepal's ambient air</title>
    <abstract language="eng">The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of every human being in most of the countries in the world. Lockdown has been implemented in many countries to prevent the virus from spreading. Lockdown has prohibited people to go outside of their houses, closed industries and factories, and restricted air transportation and the free movement of vehicles, except emergency vehicles and flights. On the optimistic side, improvements in ambient air quality due to the lockdown have been reported across the world. This study evaluated ambient air quality  by  analyzing the PM2.5 concentrations monitored in  7 major cities of Nepal during March, April, and May of the years 2019 and 2020. Furthermore, meteorological data were also evaluated to investigate how meteorological conditions have affected Nepal’s ambient air quality during the investigation period. The monthly mean PM2.5 concentrations during March, April, and May 2020 were found to be lower in nearly all of the 7 cities of Nepal as compared to March, April, and May 2019. To some extent, a slightly higher amount of precipitation in March-May 2020 than during March-May 2019 supressed the ambient PM2.5 concentrations in 2020. But, since the highest decrease in PM2.5 concentration was found in Nepalgunj (72.78%) followed by Kathmandu (46.2%) during May 2020 as compared to May 2019 and thus, the highest differences between 2019 and 2020 were found for the cities with the highest contribution of transport emissions to PM2.5 in ambient air, the COVID-19 lockdown might have contributed to the lower PM2.5 concentrations in 2020. On the other hand, it can be assumed that one of the major primary sources of PM2.5, biomass burning (both the residential use and natural forest fires), was not affected by the lockdown, but biomass burning might be the reason for the increment of PM2.5 concentrations found at some sites, in particular in the Kathmandu Valley, and for the only subtle decrease at other sites during the lockdown. In essense, though it is an unfortunate situation, the lockdown provided a glimpse of the situation how effective improvements in the environmental conditions could be if we were to introduce large scale mitigation measures swiftly. &#13;
&#13;
Keywords:  COVID-19; Lockdown; Air Pollution; Nepal; PM2.5 Concentration; Meteorological Data</abstract>
    <identifier type="urn">urn:nbn:de:hbz:1383-opus4-6881</identifier>
    <enrichment key="opus.source">publish</enrichment>
    <licence>CC BY 4.0 International - Namensnennung</licence>
    <author>Shirish Maharjan</author>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>COVID-19</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Lockdown</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>PM2.5</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Nepal</value>
    </subject>
    <subject>
      <language>eng</language>
      <type>uncontrolled</type>
      <value>Air pollution</value>
    </subject>
    <collection role="institutes" number="">Fakultät Kommunikation und Umwelt</collection>
    <thesisPublisher>Hochschule Rhein-Waal</thesisPublisher>
    <thesisGrantor>Hochschule Rhein-Waal</thesisGrantor>
    <file>https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-rhein-waal/files/688/Thesis.pdf</file>
  </doc>
</export-example>
