A global observational analysis to understand changes in air quality during exceptionally low anthropogenic emission

This global study, which has been coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO/GAW) programme, aims to understand the behaviour of key air pollutant species during the COVID-19 pandemic period of exceptionally low emissions across the globe. We investigated the effects of the differences in both emissions and regional and local meteorology in 2020 compared with the period 2015–2019. By adopting a globally consistent approach, this comprehensive observational analysis focuses on changes in air quality in and around cities across the globe for the following air pollutants PM2.5, PM10, PMC (coarse fraction of PM), NO2, SO2, NOx, CO, O3 and the total gaseous oxidant (OX = NO2 + O3) during the pre-lockdown, partial lockdown, full lockdown and two relaxation periods spanning from January to September 2020. The analysis is based on in situ ground-based air quality observations at over 540 traffic, background and rural stations, from 63 cities and covering 25 countries over seven geographical regions of the world. Anomalies in the air pollutant concentrations (increases or decreases during 2020 periods compared to equivalent 2015–2019 periods) were calculated and the possible effects of meteorological conditions were analysed by computing anomalies from ERA5 reanalyses and local observations for these periods. We observed a positive correlation between the reductions in NO2 and NOx concentrations and peoples’ mobility for most cities. A correlation between PMC and mobility changes was also seen for some Asian and South American cities. A clear signal was not observed for other pollutants, suggesting that sources besides vehicular emissions also substantially contributed to the change in air quality. As a global and regional overview of the changes in ambient concentrations of key air quality species, we observed decreases of up to about 70% in mean NO2 and between 30% and 40% in mean PM2.5 concentrations over 2020 full lockdown compared to the same period in 2015–2019. However, PM2.5 exhibited complex signals, even within the same region, with increases in some Spanish cities, attributed mainly to the long-range transport of African dust and/or biomass burning (corroborated with the analysis of NO2/CO ratio). Some Chinese cities showed similar increases in PM2.5 during the lockdown periods, but in this case, it was likely due to secondary PM formation. Changes in O3 concentrations were highly heterogeneous, with no overall change or small increases (as in the case of Europe), and positive anomalies of 25% and 30% in East Asia and South America, respectively, with Colombia showing the largest positive anomaly of ~70%. The SO2 anomalies were negative for 2020 compared to 2015–2019 (between ~25 to 60%) for all regions. For CO, negative anomalies were observed for all regions with the largest decrease for South America of up to ~40%. The NO2/CO ratio indicated that specific sites (such as those in Spanish cities) were affected by biomass burning plumes, which outweighed the NO2 decrease due to the general reduction in mobility (ratio of ~60%). Analysis of the total oxidant (OX = NO2 + O3) showed that primary NO2 emissions at urban locations were greater than the O3 production, whereas at background sites, OX was mostly driven by the regional contributions rather than local NO2 and O3 concentrations. The present study clearly highlights the importance of meteorology and episodic contributions (e.g., from dust, domestic, agricultural biomass burning and crop fertilizing) when analysing air quality in and around cities even during large emissions reductions. There is still the need to better understand how the chemical responses of secondary pollutants to emission change under complex meteorological conditions, along with climate change and socio-economic drivers may affect future air quality. The implications for regional and global policies are also significant, as our study clearly indicates that PM2.5 concentrations would not likely meet the World Health Organization guidelines in many parts of the world, despite the drastic reductions in mobility. Consequently, revisions of air quality regulation (e.g., the Gothenburg Protocol) with more ambitious targets that are specific to the different regions of the world may well be required.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

A global observational analysis to understand changes in air quality during exceptionally low anthropogenic emission conditions

This global study, which has been coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO/GAW) programme, aims to understand the behaviour of key air pollutant species during the COVID-19 pandemic period of exceptionally low emissions across the globe. We investigated the effects of the differences in both emissions and regional and local meteorology in 2020 compared with the period 2015–2019. By adopting a globally consistent approach, this comprehensive observational analysis focuses on changes in air quality in and around cities across the globe for the following air pollutants PM2.5, PM10, PMC (coarse fraction of PM), NO2, SO2, NOx, CO, O3 and the total gaseous oxidant (OX = NO2 + O3) during the pre-lockdown, partial lockdown, full lockdown and two relaxation periods spanning from January to September 2020. The analysis is based on in situ ground-based air quality observations at over 540 traffic, background and rural stations, from 63 cities and covering 25 countries over seven geographical regions of the world. Anomalies in the air pollutant concentrations (increases or decreases during 2020 periods compared to equivalent 2015–2019 periods) were calculated and the possible effects of meteorological conditions were analysed by computing anomalies from ERA5 reanalyses and local observations for these periods. We observed a positive correlation between the reductions in NO2 and NOx concentrations and peoples’ mobility for most cities. A correlation between PMC and mobility changes was also seen for some Asian and South American cities. A clear signal was not observed for other pollutants, suggesting that sources besides vehicular emissions also substantially contributed to the change in air quality. As a global and regional overview of the changes in ambient concentrations of key air quality species, we observed decreases of up to about 70% in mean NO2 and between 30% and 40% in mean PM2.5 concentrations over 2020 full lockdown compared to the same period in 2015–2019. However, PM2.5 exhibited complex signals, even within the same region, with increases in some Spanish cities, attributed mainly to the long-range transport of African dust and/or biomass burning (corroborated with the analysis of NO2/CO ratio). Some Chinese cities showed similar increases in PM2.5 during the lockdown periods, but in this case, it was likely due to secondary PM formation. Changes in O3 concentrations were highly heterogeneous, with no overall change or small increases (as in the case of Europe), and positive anomalies of 25% and 30% in East Asia and South America, respectively, with Colombia showing the largest positive anomaly of ~70%. The SO2 anomalies were negative for 2020 compared to 2015–2019 (between ~25 to 60%) for all regions. For CO, negative anomalies were observed for all regions with the largest decrease for South America of up to ~40%. The NO2/CO ratio indicated that specific sites (such as those in Spanish cities) were affected by biomass burning plumes, which outweighed the NO2 decrease due to the general reduction in mobility (ratio of ~60%). Analysis of the total oxidant (OX = NO2 + O3) showed that primary NO2 emissions at urban locations were greater than the O3 production, whereas at background sites, OX was mostly driven by the regional contributions rather than local NO2 and O3 concentrations. The present study clearly highlights the importance of meteorology and episodic contributions (e.g., from dust, domestic, agricultural biomass burning and crop fertilizing) when analysing air quality in and around cities even during large emissions reductions. There is still the need to better understand how the chemical responses of secondary pollutants to emission change under complex meteorological conditions, along with climate change and socio-economic drivers may affect future air quality. The implications for regional and global policies are also significant, as our study clearly indicates that PM2.5 concentrations would not likely meet the World Health Organization guidelines in many parts of the world, despite the drastic reductions in mobility. Consequently, revisions of air quality regulation (e.g., the Gothenburg Protocol) with more ambitious targets that are specific to the different regions of the world may well be required.World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch programme is gratefully acknowledged for initiating and coordinating this study and for supporting this publication. We acknowledge the following projects for supporting the analysis contained in this article: Air Pollution and Human Health for an Indian Megacity project PROMOTE funded by UK NERC and the Indian MOES, Grant reference number NE/P016391/1; Regarding project funding from the European Commission, the sole responsibility of this publication lies with the authors. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. This project has received funding from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 874990 (EMERGE project). European Regional Development Fund (project MOBTT42) under the Mobilitas Pluss programme; Estonian Research Council (project PRG714); Estonian Research Infrastructures Roadmap project Estonian Environmental Observatory (KKOBS, project 2014-2020.4.01.20-0281). European network for observing our changing planet project (ERAPLANET, grant agreement no. 689443) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, Estonian Ministry of Sciences projects (grant nos. P180021, P180274), and the Estonian Research Infrastructures Roadmap project Estonian Environmental Observatory (3.2.0304.11-0395). Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East—Climate and Atmosphere Research (EMME-CARE) project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement no. 856612) and the Government of Cyprus. INAR acknowledges support by the Russian government (grant number 14.W03.31.0002), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (agreement 14.W0331.0006), and the Russian Ministry of Education and Science (14.W03.31.0008). We are grateful to to the following agencies for providing access to data used in our analysis: A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics Russian Academy of Sciences; Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Campania (ARPAC); Air Quality and Climate Change, Parks and Environment (MetroVancouver, Government of British Columbia); Air Quality Monitoring & Reporting, Nova Scotia Environment (Government of Nova Scotia); Air Quality Monitoring Network (SIMAT) and Emission Inventory, Mexico City Environment Secretariat (SEDEMA); Airparif (owner & provider of the Paris air pollution data); ARPA Lazio, Italy; ARPA Lombardia, Italy; Association Agr´e´ee de Surveillance de la Qualit´e de l’Air en ˆIle-de- France AIRPARIF / Atmo-France; Bavarian Environment Agency, Germany; Berlin Senatsverwaltung für Umwelt, Verkehr und Klimaschutz, Germany; California Air Resources Board; Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India; CETESB: Companhia Ambiental do Estado de S˜ao Paulo, Brazil. China National Environmental Monitoring Centre; Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC), India. DCMR Rijnmond Environmental Service, the Netherlands. Department of Labour Inspection, Cyprus; Department of Natural Resources Management and Environmental Protection of Moscow. Environment and Climate Change Canada; Environmental Monitoring and Science Division Alberta Environment and Parks (Government of Alberta); Environmental Protection Authority Victoria (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia); Estonian Environmental Research Centre (EERC); Estonian University of Life Sciences, SMEAR Estonia; European Regional Development Fund (project MOBTT42) under the Mobilitas Pluss programme; Finnish Meteorological Institute; Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority; Haryana Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), IndiaLondon Air Quality Network (LAQN) and the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) supported by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government; Madrid Municipality; Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS); Meteorological Service of Canada; Minist`ere de l’Environnement et de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques (Gouvernement du Qu´ebec); Ministry of Environment and Energy, Greece; Ministry of the Environment (Chile) and National Weather Service (DMC); Moscow State Budgetary Environmental Institution MOSECOMONITORING. Municipal Department of the Environment SMAC, Brazil; Municipality of Madrid public open data service; National institute of environmental research, Korea; National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (SENAMHI), Peru; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Canada; Public Health Service of Amsterdam (GGD), the Netherlands. Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), India. R´eseau de surveillance de la qualit´e de l’air (RSQA) (Montr´eal); Rosgydromet. Mosecomonitoring, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russia; Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 20–05–00254) SAFAR-IITM-MoES, India; S˜ao Paulo State Environmental Protection Agency, CETESB; Secretaria de Ambiente, DMQ, Ecuador; Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, Bogot´a, Colombia. Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente Rio de Janeiro; Mexico City Atmospheric Monitoring System (SIMAT); Mexico City Secretariat of Environment, Secretaría del Medio Ambiente (SEDEMA); SLB-analys, Sweden; SMEAR Estonia station and Estonian University of Life Sciences (EULS); SMEAR stations data and Finnish Center of Excellence; South African Weather Service and Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries through SAAQIS; Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO); University of Helsinki, Finland; University of Tartu, Tahkuse air monitoring station; Weather Station of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Science of the University of S˜ao Paulo; West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/envintam2023Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

La phrase de Lacoue-Labarthe

International audienceComparatismes en Sorbonne 9-2018 : Littérature et philosophie, enjeux et limites d'un rapport de force « La phrase de Lacoue-Labarthe à rebours du flot » 1 LA PHRASE DE LACOUE-LABARTHE On peut légitimement être tenté de ranger Lacoue-Labarthe au nombre des « philosophes poètes » : parce qu'il a écrit des ouvrages appartenant manifestement à l'une et/ou à l'autre pratique ; parce qu'il y a pour lui de la pensée dans la poésie : […] la pensée, lorsqu'elle pense vraiment (en vérité), n'est-elle pas inévitablement poétique ? Hölderlin, en ce sens, a été très loin. Je ne sais pas si, après lui, on peut trouver quelque chose d'équivalent. Peut-être y-at -il une tentative du même ordre chez Samuel Taylor Coleridge (dont au demeurant il faudrait évaluer la teneur exacte des rapports qu'il a eus avec l'idéalisme allemand) ou chez Gerard Manley Hopkins. Chez nous, mais sur des bases plus romantiques, au moins au départ, il y a Baudelaire et Rimbaud. Mallarmé aussi. Mais peut-on comparer ? Il faudrait pour cela prendre au sérieux la pensée dans la poésie 1. Peut-être, en effet, pourrions-nous comparer ; néanmoins, dans cette invite au comparatisme, notons qu'il est question de pensée et non, précision rigoureuse du lexique, de philosophie. L'étiquette de philosophe poète, telle qu'on l'emploie parfois, au-delà de Hölderlin, jusqu'à Pindare, Lucrèce et aux présocratiques serait-elle donc, dans ce cas précis au moins, erronée-ou tout au moins un peu simpliste ? Le premier chapitre de Fiction du politique (1987) est tout à fait clair sur ce point. Je ne suis pas philosophe, explique en substance Lacoue-Labarthe, parce que l' « époque » 2 , c'est son mot, impose qu'on ne puisse plus l'être. L'histoire philosophique toucherait donc à sa fin ; ou plutôt, dans un vocabulaire qu'il reprend à Heidegger contre Hegel, elle serait depuis longtemps déjà entrée dans l'âge de sa clôture 3 , dont il repère les premiers linéaments chez Schelling, puis Nietzsche, et ainsi jusqu'à nous dans une généalogie qui le rapporte lui-même à Blanchot, Bataille ou Derrida. Comment Phrase ainsi, recueil composé pendant près de vingt-cinq ans (de 1976 à 2000), témoigne-t-il d'une tentative de « pensée » poétique, plutôt que de poésie philosophique ? Afin de le cerner, nous tenterons tout d'abord de comprendre ce que Lacoue-Labarthe désigne par « pensée poétique », ce qui nous conduira à dresser une rapide généalogie 1 Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Hölderlin. Entretien sur Friedrich Hölderlin, entretien avec Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe réalisé par Patrick Hutchinson pour la revue Détours d'écriture, numéro hors-série Hölderlin. La question de la poésie. Paris, Éd. Sillages / Noël Blandin, avril 1987. 2 Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, La Fiction du politique. Heidegger, l'art et la politique [1987], Paris, Christian Bourgois, coll. « Détroits », 1998, p. 14. 3 Une définition précise de l'emploi de ce mot est donnée par Lacoue-Labarthe dans le texte intitulé : « Une lettre sur la musique », dans Pour n'en pas finir. Écrits sur la musique. Paris, Christian Bourgois, coll. « Détroits », 2015. Le grand intérêt de cette définition tient dans l'articulation que propose précisément Lacoue-Labarthe entre art et philosophie : « il y a clôture lorsque les possibilités initialement inscrites dans un programme sont épuisées. Dans la version la plus radicale que propose Heidegger, Nietzsche ferme le programme parménidien-platonicien. L'art occidental, c'est forcé, suit le même cours ; et Wagner, en musique, peut servir à nommer la clôture » p. 69

« Existence poétique » et représentation sublime : la « Postface » de Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe

International audienceThis paper questions the notion of sublime representation and its consequences for Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe's writing. Our work relates the author's conception of sublime to his reflexion of figure and rythm, a couple of terms which defines two different ways of facing our relation to death and identity.Cet article interroge la notion de représentation sublime et ses conséquences pour l'écriture de Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. Il rapporte la conception du sublime qui fut celle de l'auteur à sa pensée de la figure et du rythme, notions autour desquelles se partagent deux manières d'envisager notre rapport à la mort et à l'identité

Politique de la « phrase » chez Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe : de la figure au rythme

International audienceFar from reducing the political meaning of art to the expression of a content, Lacoue-Labarthe's texts strive to determine to what extent an ontological and political implementation of fiction, myth (Fiction du politique 1987; Musica ficta 1991) and of mimesis in general (L'imitation des modernes 1985) could be achieved. His poetic work is marked by an effort to reduce visual elements in favour of acoustic ones, but also by a full acceptance of this work's own political power. The idea that there is no "aesthetics innocent of politics" (Musica ficta 21) underlies his politics of the "sentence", a notion at the very heart of his work and which this paper would like to explore.Loin de réduire la portée politique de l'art à l'expression de contenus, les textes de Lacoue-Labarthe témoignent d'une réflexion sur la capacité de mise en oeuvre ontologique et politique de la fiction, des mythes (Fiction du politique, 1987 ; Musica ficta, 1991) et, en général, d'une mimèsis déterminée par le commentaire théorique (L'imitation des modernes, 1985). Caractéristique d'un effort de retrait du visuel vers l'acoustique comme d'un moderne iconoclasme, son activité proprement poétique n'en témoigne pourtant pas moins d'une pleine acceptation de son pouvoir politique. S'il n'existe ainsi nulle « esthétique ou pratique artistique [...] innocente d'une politique » (Musica ficta, 21), quel sens peut donc prendre une politique de la « phrase », notion dont il fait le coeur de sa pratique

"La poésie de René Char : entre regard lucide sur le monde & quête d’élévation"

Recension de l'ouvrage de Corinne Bayle : Corinne Bayle, La Beauté en partage. Essai sur la poésie de René Char, Paris : Hermann, coll. « Échanges littéraires », 2021

La poésie comme expérience de l'impossible

Textes rassemblés par Corinne Bayle et Eric DayreInternational audienc

« La diction juste »

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La marginalité sur la scène théâtrale des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles : un atelier de révélation et de redéfinition des usages et des normes

Recension de l'ouvrage de Christelle Bahier-Porte et Zoé Schweitzer (dir.) : Autorité et marginalité sur les scènes européennes (XXIIe-XVIIIe siècles)

L’aventure du visage. Approche croisée du jeu de l’acteur chez Roland Barthes et Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe

Cet article, dont le point de départ repose sur la comparaison de deux portraits d’interprètes réalisés par Roland Barthes et Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, interroge la proximité de leur conception du théâtre. Tout en revenant sur leur expérience de spectateur, il montre combien leur pensée, plutôt que d’être fondée sur le partage de quelques notions classiques en philosophie (fond/forme, intelligible/sensible), est avant tout centrée sur la prise en considération de la dimension érotique du jeu, ainsi que sur la tentative de formulation d’une «signifiance» antérieure à tout désir de conceptualisation