Dear Colleagues,

Though the COVID-19 pandemic continues, countermeasures to limit the virus’ spread, particular countrywide or regional “lock-downs”, have become rare. However, pandemic-induced changes to social behavior in densely populated areas may have led to enduring changes in urban air quality.

For our first volume, we invited manuscripts that described the effects on air quality during the initial phases of the world’s response to the pandemic. This was dominated by large, but mostly temporary reductions in road traffic emissions that manifested in air quality changes observable from satellite instruments and surface air quality measurement networks. As a result, Atmosphere published a series of insightful analyses from several continents, including rich datasets.

For this second volume, we are once again seeking manuscripts that use remotely sensed or in situ measurement data to provide insights into the effects of the pandemic on urban air quality. In addition, considering the rapid recovery of social and economic activity in many parts of the world, we solicit manuscripts that address questions of how and how fast air pollution around the world has or has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Since the initial emissions reductions were likely not uniform, and neither was the return to “normal”, we are looking forward to continued analyses of the altered mobile sector and other emissions that can be traced to societal challenges and changes driven by the world’s pandemic responses. In this regard, we encourage comprehensive studies that bring these air quality changes into the broader perspective of health effects.

Dr. Gunnar W. Schade
Prof. Dr. Nicole Mölders
Dr. Daniele Contini
Dr. Gabriele Curci
Dr. Francesca Costabile
Prof. Dr. Prashant Kumar
Dr. Chris G. Tzanis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Coronavirus Pandemic Shutdown Effects on Urban Air Quality in Atmosphere (20 articles)