Source-specific light absorption and radiative effects decreases and indications due to the lockdown

The ‘extreme’ emission abatement during the lockdown (from the end of 2019 to the early 2020) provided an experimental period to investigate the corresponding source-specific effects of aerosol. In this study, the variations of source-specific light absorption (b_abs) and direct radiative effect (DRE) were obtained during and after the lockdown period by using the artificial neural network (ANN) and source apportionment environmental receptor model. The results showed that the b_abs decreased for all sources during the two periods. The most reductions were observed with ∼90% for traffic-related emissions (during the lockdown) and ∼85% for coal combustion (after the lockdown), respectively. Heightened b_abs (370 nm) values were obtained for coal and biomass burning during the lockdown, which was attributed to the enhanced atmospheric oxidization capacity. Nevertheless, the variations of b_abs (880 nm) after the lockdown was mainly due to the weakening of oxidation and reduced emissions of secondary precursors. The present study indicated that the large-scale emission reduction can promote both reductions of b_abs (370 nm) and DRE (34–68%) during the lockdown. The primary emissions decrease (e.g., Traffic emission) may enhance atmosphere oxidation, increase the ultraviolet wavelength light absorption and DRE efficiencies. The source-specific emission reduction may be contributed to various radiation effects, which is beneficial for the adopting of control strategies.