In 2020, the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronovirus. In order to
mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the Russian Federation, there was a lockdown during the period
from 30 March to 11 May 2020 when many people worked remotely. Nitrogen dioxide is reliable indicator of the intensity of anthropogenic activity. The main instruments which carry out long-term monitoring of the gas total column are spectrometers OMI and TROPOMI which are installed on Aura
and Sentinel-5 satellites respectively. The highest anomalies of the gas concentration were found in
Moscow, Moscow region and Saint Petersburg. Abrupt decrease of NO2
content related to COVID-19
was observed in 2020. The significant reduction of the atmospheric NO2
was caused by the decrease
in economic activity on the territory of Russia. Nevertheless, the period of COVID-19 lockdown in
April–May 2020 did not cause significant decline in atmospheric NO2
in Moscow or Saint Petersburg
as it was observed in China.