A Multi-Agency COVID-19 Dashboard with Satellite Air Quality Data

After the initial COVID-19 lockdown in China during February 2020, NASA and ESA pollution monitoring satellite instruments quickly detected significant decreases in NO
2
over the Wuhan region. This change was attributed to reductions in fossil fuel combustion from motor vehicles and industrial activity. The same phenomenon, the satellite measured reduction of NO
2
, happened next in northern Italy, and then in New York City as the coronavirus spread to these areas. Satellite remote sensing of NO
2
has been a useful tool to document changes in fossil fuel combustion and associated economic activity as various countries or regions have implemented lockdowns as a means to try to contain the spread of the virus. In April 2020, ESA reached out to NASA and JAXA and suggested working together to construct an Earth Observing (EO) Dashboard to provide the public with information on the changes occurring within the environment due to the pandemic that are observable from satellites. Satellite air quality data – specifically, tropospheric NO
2
– was one of the primary Earth observations provided by this tri-agency COVID-19 satellite data dashboard.