A CNN-SVR model for NO 2 profile prediction based on MAX-DOAS observations: The influence of Chinese New Year overlapping the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on vertical distributions of tropospheric NO 2 in Nanjing, China

In this study, a hybrid model, the convolutional neural network-support vector regression model, was adopted to achieve prediction of the NO profile in Nanjing from January 2019 to March 2021. Given the sudden decline in NO in February 2020, the contribution of the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) lockdown, Chinese New Year (CNY), and meteorological conditions to the reduction of NO was evaluated. NO vertical column densities (VCDs) from January to March 2020 decreased by 59.05% and 32.81%, relative to the same period in 2019 and 2021, respectively. During the period of 2020 COVID-19, the average NO VCDs were 50.50% and 29.96% lower than those during the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods, respectively. The NO volume mixing ratios (VMRs) during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown significantly decreased below 400 m. The NO VMRs under the different wind fields were significantly lower during the lockdown period than during the pre-lockdown period. This phenomenon could be attributed to the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown. The NO VMRs before and after the CNY were significantly lower in 2020 than in 2019 and 2021 in the same period, which further proves that the decrease in NO in February 2020 was attributed to the COVID-19 lockdown. Pollution source analysis of an NO pollution episode during the lockdown period showed that the polluted air mass in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei was transported southwards under the action of the north wind, and the subsequent unfavorable meteorological conditions (local wind speed of < 2.0 m/sec) resulted in the accumulation of pollutants.