Carbon monoxide (CO) levels after COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador

Due to the high contagion and mortality caused by COVID-19, the government of Ecuador and the rest of the world adopted measures to combat the pandemic, causing unexpected consequences in air quality, due to the restrictions implemented. The objective of this study was to evaluate variations in tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in the cantons of Ecuador, before (2019) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. Atmospheric data were obtained from the European Space Agency's Sentinel 5-P TROPOMI. It was observed that carbon monoxide concentrations in the first days of quarantine decreased by about 13%, however, these levels were momentary, for the rest of the year 2020 carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were higher by 5% compared to 2019.