Air pollution eases in four Canadian cities as pandemic measures keep people home | CBC News
Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver have seen drops in vehicle traffic over the last few days as physical distancing measures introduced to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus have kept Canadians closer to home.
Images from Descartes Labs of the major cities and surrounding areas show their average levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2)— a pollutant created by the burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline — has plummeted compared to a year ago. The New Mexico-based geospatial analysis group shared the data with some news organizations, including CBC and the New York Times.
The composite images come from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 5P satellite and show averages over time.