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Traces of black carbon sources before and after the Covid-19 outbreak in Tehran, Iran

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Abstract

The concentration of black carbon was measured in four sites of the industrial and high-traffic metropolis of Tehran with different land uses. Then, the contribution of biomass and fossil fuels in the emission of this pollutant was modeled using the Aethalometer model. The possible locations of important sources of black carbon dissemination were projected using PSCF and CWT models, and the results were compared in the two periods before and after the Covid-19 outbreak. Temporal variations of black carbon illustrated that BC concentration decreased in the period after the onset of the pandemic in all studied areas, and this decline was more explicit in the traffic intersection of the city. Diurnal changes of BC concentration indicated the significant impact of the application of the law banning night traffic of motor vehicles in reducing the BC concentration in this period, and probably the reduction of HDDV traffic has played the most important role in this reduction. The results related to the share of BC sources indicated that black carbon emissions are affected by an average of about 80% of fossil fuel combustion and wood combustion interferes with about 20% of BC emissions. Finally, speculations were made about the possible sources of BC emission and its urban scale transport using PSCF and CWT models, which indicated the superiority of the CWT model in terms of source segregation. The results of this analysis were further utilized to surmise black carbon emission sources based on the land use of receptor points.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate Tehran Air Quality Control Company (TAQCC) staff for their valuable effort in gathering and amalgamation of air quality data through their accessible air quality monitoring network.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

    Sam Dehhaghi, Hossein Bahiraee & Yousef Rashidi

  2. Tehran School of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Pardakhti

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  1. Sam Dehhaghi
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  2. Hossein Bahiraee
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  3. Alireza Pardakhti
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Contributions

1). Sam Dehhaghi wrote the main manuscript text and conducted the statistical analysis of the study.

2). Hossein Bahiraee gathered required information regarding the datasets and methodology.

3). Alireza Pardakhti supervised this study.

4). Yousef Rashidi proposed the main idea of this research.

All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sam Dehhaghi.

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Dehhaghi, S., Bahiraee, H., Pardakhti, A. et al. Traces of black carbon sources before and after the Covid-19 outbreak in Tehran, Iran. Environ Monit Assess 195, 853 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11442-z

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