She’s more than a decade living in the US but Róisín Commane still has her Irish brogue as she answers the phone to the Irish Farmers Journal this week.

Living in Manhattan, Commane works as an assistant professor in atmospheric chemistry and air quality with Columbia University in New York. A native of Co Clare, Commane went to secondary school in Ennis before going to third level in UCD in Dublin. However, she also has farming in her blood and is still keeping up to date with the latest goings-on on the family farm back home.

“I grew up on a small sheep farm just outside Ennis. My brother Ger looks after the farm, along with his wife Claire, their two-year old daughter Abigail and my parents, Paddy and Delia. They all work full-time, so most of the farm work is done at the weekends. They’re just coming through the lambing season so it was all hands-on-deck for that. Lambing was all I was hearing about from back home before the coronavirus outbreak,” she tells the Irish Farmers Journal.

This week, Commane made headline news around the world when the BBC picked up on some of her research work, which shows a more than 50% decline in carbon monoxide levels in the air in New York City and a 10% reduction in C02 levels.

An image from NASA and the European Space Agency showing the significant decrease in the levels of nitrogen dioxide. \ Josh Stevens / NASA Earth Observatory

Air pollution

Since moving to New York 18 months ago, Commane has started measuring the atmospheric particles in the city’s air. Over the last week, she’s seen carbon monoxide levels more than halve in the air in New York from a typical range of 300 to 500 parts per billion (ppb) to lows of just 160ppb.

A measurement of 150ppb for carbon monoxide in the atmosphere is considered to be very clean air anywhere in the world. This dramatic reduction in carbon monoxide levels in New York is due to the coronavirus spread. Traffic in New York has fallen by as much as 35% in the last week but the empty office buildings all throughout the city are also helping clean the air.

“Cars and trucks have a big impact as they produce a lot of the carbon monoxide in the air but New York is unusual because the buildings here also have a big impact,” says Commane.

“The heating infrastructure in most New York office buildings is so old that it causes huge emissions of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Up to 2015, most buildings were still being heated by burning high sulphur fuel oil, which is very damaging for air quality,” she adds.

Commane has also seen a 10% reduction in C02 levels in New York over the last week as human activity has ceased. The famous Times Square was mostly deserted this week as people were urged to social distance to slow down the rapid spread of the disease.

Economic shutdown

The shutdown in economies right across the world is producing similar results to New York. In February, scientists at NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) first noticed there was a significant decrease in the levels of nitrogen dioxide (N02), a noxious gas emitted by motor vehicles, power plants, and industrial facilities, over China (see image).

Now, NASA and the ESA say they can see a similar fall in N02 concentrations over Europe. This first became apparent over Italy as the country entered a nationwide lockdown. The rest of Europe has since followed suit and restrictions have been put in place to limit the movement of people.

This slowdown in economic activity and the sharp fall in the volume of cars on the roads has seen a dramatic improvement in air quality levels across Europe as N02 levels have plunged. European motorists, including in Ireland, are notoriously fond of diesel engines, says Commane, which are among the leading sources of the noxious gases that are most harmful to the earth’s atmosphere.

Positive

If there is to be a positive taken from the devastation created by the coronavirus outbreak, it is that the mass shutdown of heavy industry and the reduction of oil-burning cars on our roads has resulted in an almost immediate improvement in the earth’s air quality and atmosphere.

If we are serious about tackling climate change as a species, it’s now clearer than ever that our reliance on fossil fuels is what needs to change and not the livestock which provide us with essential food and nutrition.