{
  "abstract": "The COVID-19 response provided a natural experiment to quantify the climate forcing efficiency of short-lived pollutants. Using satellite-constrained reanalysis and chemistry-climate simulations, we isolate the radiative impacts of anthropogenic NOₓ reductions through two modes: a rapid ozone decrease and a slower methane-driven adjustment that dominates the net effect. Globally, these responses produce a net radiative forcing of +17.87 ± 3.83 mW m⁻², indicating that methane-driven warming outweighs the initial ozone cooling. The rapid response is strongly regional: South and Southeast Asia (excluding China) contributes most by -2.96±0.78 mW m⁻² , driven by large emission reductions, efficient convective export, and high upper-tropospheric radiative sensitivity, with North and South America secondary. Because our experiment isolates the gas-phase NOₓ–O₃–OH–CH₄ pathway, it is an upper bound on the methane-mediated warming; co-reduced CO and volatile organic compounds and lower nitrate aerosol would offset part of it. NOₓ mitigation alone can cause delayed warming unless methane is concurrently controlled.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Jiani Yang"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kazuyuki Miyazaki"
    },
    {
      "name": "Le Kuai"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kevin W. Bowman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Takashi Sekiya"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yuk Yung"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c3x55pss2qq1b.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31223/x5cj70",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "c3x55pss2qq1b",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15364/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-SA 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Air Quality"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "COVID"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Methane"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "OH"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Physical Sciences and Mathematics"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Radiative Forcing"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/15364/download/26636/",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-05",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c3x55pss2qq1b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:42Z",
      "native_id": "15364",
      "source": "eartharxiv",
      "url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15364/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "source:eartharxiv",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "COVID-19 Emission Reductions Reveal the Efficiency and Warming Impact of Short-Lived Greenhouse Gases",
  "title_text": "COVID-19 Emission Reductions Reveal the Efficiency and Warming Impact of Short-Lived Greenhouse Gases",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:42Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c3x55pss2qq1b",
  "venue": "EarthArXiv",
  "versions": []
}