Coronavirus impact: Maps show how much pollution has dropped in the Bay Area since shelter-in-place orders

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- A single image helped alert the world to a once-in-a-lifetime side effect of the COVID-19 crisis. It was a satellite map, showing a dramatic drop in pollution levels over China after the country began to effectively quarantine its population.

Shortly afterward, air quality researchers like professor Ron Cohen at UC Berkeley predicted a similar effect here in the Bay Area. The EPA recently confirmed a more than on-third year-to-year drop in significant pollution levels around San Francisco.

"It's much bigger than drops of anything else we've ever looked at," said Cohen.

Cohen and his team have translated the numbers on one key pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, into a Bay Area version of the China map. Before-and-after images show NO2 levels dropping by roughly half in parts of the Bay Area from one week before the shelter-in-place order to the week after.

Cohen said a similar year-to-year drop helps confirm the effect wasn't a fluke of weather or other factors.

"There's tremendously less nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere than there was before the shelter in place order," he said.

RELATED: Bay Area air pollution sees dramatic 24-hour drop on 10th day of shelter-in-place

Soon, he believes other key data will start to become more clear as well, allowing researchers to confirm not only how much pollution is in the air, but more precisely where it comes from.

"We think we know how much comes from cars, how much from trucks, how much from industry. And all of those things suddenly changed by different amounts. So we'll be able to check," Cohen added.

As specific industries potentially ramp down and back up again in the wake of COVID-19, a health and economic crisis could provide powerful discoveries about an environmental one.

Get the latest news, information and videos about the novel coronavirus pandemic here

RELATED STORIES & VIDEOS:

• Live updates about coronavirus outbreak in US, around the world
• Everything you need to know about the Bay Area's shelter-in-place order
• Stimulus calculator: How much money should you expect from coronavirus relief bill
• What Bay Area tenants need to know about rent payments, eviction amid COVID-19 outbreak
• Live updates about coronavirus outbreak in US, around the world
• Here's how shelter in place, stay at home orders can slow spread of COVID-19
• Coronavirus Timeline: Tracking major moments of COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco Bay Area/
• Coronavirus and the new normal of living in the San Francisco-Bay Area -- COVID-19 Diaries
• Happy hour goes virtual as people try to be sociable while social distancing during COVID-19 crisis
• Coronavirus Outbreak: Here's why you should practice 'social distancing'
• DRONEVIEW7: What the Bay Area looks like during the coronavirus shelter-in-place
• ABC7's drive around San Francisco shows empty streets, businesses shuttered
• Symptoms, prevention, and how to prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak in the US
• List of stores, companies closing due to coronavirus pandemic
• Canceled late fees, free services available amid COVID-19 crisis
• Here's how you can help during COVID-19 pandemic
• How to maintain learning during school closures
• No masks but here are 100+ products that may help protect you against novel coronavirus germs
• Here's a look at some of history's worst pandemics that have killed millions
• Asian community fighting racism, xenophobia, bigotry as world fights COVID-19