Importance and Types of Air Pollution Measurement:
– Measuring air pollution is crucial to identify causes and maintain air quality within legal limits.
– Over 6000 cities in 117 countries routinely monitor air quality as per WHO.
– Regulations by bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency and WHO guide air quality monitoring.
– Air pollution is measured passively or actively using devices like diffusion tubes and deposit gauges.
– Active measurement devices are automated, more complex, and use physical or chemical methods.
– Personal sensors like Air Quality Egg and PurpleAir provide real-time air pollution data.
– Cheaper portable sensors empower individuals and communities to monitor air quality.
Measurement Techniques and Technologies:
– Various sensors, from small handheld devices to large-scale monitoring stations, are used to measure air quality.
– Techniques like gas chromatography, flame ionization, and spectrophotometry are utilized to measure specific pollutants.
– Different methods are employed to measure particulates, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, VOCs, hydrocarbons, and ammonia.
– Measurement units include ppb, ppm, μg/m³, and AQI values for common air pollutants.
– Sensor technologies like Metal Oxide Semi-Conductor Gas Sensors play a significant role in environmental monitoring.
Historical Perspectives and Government Initiatives:
– Air pollution has been systematically measured since the 19th century, leading to the discovery of acid rain and the enactment of pollution control measures.
– Government initiatives like the European Air Quality Index and programs by the US EPA and UK Air Quality Expert Group aim to monitor and report air quality data.
– The Clean Air Act in response to the Great Smog of London in 1952 marked a significant milestone in pollution control efforts.
Data Collection and Analysis:
– LIDAR, bus-based mobile sensing, X-ray spectrometry, and diffusion tubes are effective tools for air quality monitoring.
– Continuous analytical measurement methods and low-cost chemical sensors are evaluated for air pollution research.
– Techniques for monitoring particulate concentrations, nitrogen oxides, sulfur-containing compounds, VOCs, and hydrocarbons are standardized.
– The use of drones for monitoring air quality in various locations is mentioned.
Health Impacts and External Resources:
– Studies on the health effects of air pollution, mortality rates from historical pollution events, and systematic literature reviews provide insights into the impact of air pollution on health.
– External resources like journal articles, reports from government bodies, university research projects, and historical perspectives offer additional information on air pollution measurement and its implications.
Air pollution measurement is the process of collecting and measuring the components of air pollution, notably gases and particulates. The earliest devices used to measure pollution include rain gauges (in studies of acid rain), Ringelmann charts for measuring smoke, and simple soot and dust collectors known as deposit gauges. Modern air pollution measurement is largely automated and carried out using many different devices and techniques. These range from simple absorbent test tubes known as diffusion tubes through to highly sophisticated chemical and physical sensors that give almost real-time pollution measurements, which are used to generate air quality indexes.
