Research reveals components of the recipe to air quality in a pre and post-lockdown study

All things usually come with a recipe — a combination of things or factors affecting the outcome of something which result in the product — things like success, a cake, or the air we breathe in come with a recipe that maintains its balance and give meaning to what we know of it.

This year, in a research published by the Ateneo de Manila University – Manila Observatory and the University of Arizona, researchers have observed the correlation between naturally-occurring components in the environment to pollution especially in bustling cities such as Metro Manila revealing a recipe for air impurity.

Before and after the pandemic

In the study, aerosols — suspension of small solid or liquid particles ranging from smoke, dust, and sea salt — is seen to be a primary proponent to poor air quality especially when it interacts with already polluted city air.

Observations were done through examining the chemical compositions of air in Metro Manila during the day and night before and after the global pandemic.

The researchers used pre-lockdown air composition data over 48-hour intervals from November 2019 to February 2020 where the public were still free to go outside and the economy was still very alive then post-lockdown data from November 2020 to February 2021 or the period after strict implementation of lockdown was placed to the public.

Following this, the researchers looked out for components such as sulfate, ammonium, nitrate, oxalate, sodium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium in the air of both these time periods through the process of ion chromatography.

As a result of the test results have shown a decline in submicrometer particles after the lockdown mainly during the day suggesting that factors such as traffic or the smoke emitted by vehicles and industrialization reduced formation of sulfate and ammonium also known as secondary pollutants.

Recipe to air quality

IQAir reported that due to the population rise in Manila since 1970, many people have been living under poor air quality conditions due to industrialization.

In 2019, air quality in the Philippines had an average of 17.6 micrograms of pollutants per square meter which is above the set “safe level” of the World Health Organization (WHO) of 10 micrograms per square meter. 

The findings of the study show that sea salt particles and pollution in urban areas do not just mix when they meet in the atmosphere rather they transform sea salt particles which result in a potentially negative recipe to the air people breathe.

Before the lockdown, the research notes that Metro Manila’s heavy pollution was very potent in stripping away the chloride component of the sea salt particles present in air. This was through the process of chloride depletion.

After the lockdown, reduced air pollution making the air less acidic resulted in more naturally-occurring sea salt components such as sodium and chloride to persist.

Sea salt particles such as these are crucial for air quality as they play a significant role in air chemistry and other physical processes. 

This recipe for air quality is able to show potential implications for human health, climate consciousness, and policymaking in regards to pollution and the effects and regulation of industrialization and urbanization not just in Metro Manila but all throughout the country.

The researchers behind the study recommend further studies to be done observing other possible factors including weather and gas emissions.

From complex steps to bake a cake to precise chemicals and processes that make up air quality, the recipe is still yet to be fully revealed. 

However, data collected from the pandemic, a time where the outside world felt dormant and at a pause gave worthwhile findings marking a step forward in moving towards further discoveries and improvements of air quality globally and in our very country.