TROPOMI NO2 Shows a Fast Recovery of China’s Economy in the First Quarter of 2023

On May 5, 2023, the World Health Organization declared that the three-year Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. As a major player in international trade, whether China's economy can quickly recover in the postpandemic era attracts global attention, while we lack direct indicators to track economic dynamics in real-time. Here, we analyze the daily changes in ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a short-lived pollutant released from fuel combustion, to monitor the pace of the economic recovery in China. The satellite-observed tropospheric NO2 columns from 2005 to 2023 are interpreted with chemical transport model simulations to exclude metrological influences and disentangle the variations caused by anthropogenic sources. Satellites revealed a rapid recovery of NO2 columns after the Chinese New Year in 2023, the fastest rate ever observed since 2005, especially over the densely populated areas where transport and industrial emission sources are concentrated. These agreed with the fast recovery of China's industrial production, and the provinces with larger industrial production observed a faster recovery in NO2 columns than the other provinces. Our study suggests that China's economy recovered fast in early 2023 and satellite daily NO2 data provide possibilities to track social-economic dynamics in real-time.