The spatial patterns of the spreading of the COVID19 indicate the possibility of airborne transmission of the coronavirus. As the cough-jet of an infected person is ejected as a plume of infected viral aerosols into the atmosphere, the conditions in the local atmospheric boundary layer together dictate the fate of the infected plume. For the first time – a high-fidelity numerical simulation study – using Weather-Research-Forecast model coupled with the Lagrangian Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (WRF-HYSPLIT) model has been conducted to track the infected aerosol plume in real-time during March 9-April 6, 2020, in New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus in the USA for comparing the morning, afternoon and evening release. Atmospheric stability regimes that result in low wind speeds, low level turbulence and cool moist ground conditions favor the transmission of the disease through turbulence energy-containing large-scale horizontal “rolls” and vertical thermal “updrafts” and “downdrafts”. Further, the wind direction is an important factor that dictates the direction of the transport. From the initial time of release, the virus can spread up to 30 min in the air, covering a 200-m radius at a time, moving 1–2 km from the original source. Highlights • A real-time,high-fidelity simulation of blob of virus filled cough-jet released in the atmosphere has been conducted. • Air-borne is a possible pathway for the transmission of COVID19/. • Atmospheric stability regimes determine the transmission or dilution of the virus blob. • Cough plume with virus aerosols can survive for 30 min and spreading through 1–2 km distance in air before diluting. • The wind direction is an important factor that dictates the direction of the transport from the source.
【저자키워드】 COVID19, airborne, meteorology, Cough-jet, Atmospheric dispersion,