Design of air quality monitoring networks and its application to NO2 and O3 inCordova, Spain

摘要

Air monitoring networks are necessary to assess air quality in order to reduce pollution to levels whichminimise harmful effects on human health and the environment.This paper describes a method to design air quality monitoring networks for nitrogen dioxide and ozone and its application in Cordova,Andalusia,southern Spain. The city has a population of 325,453 inhabitants and traffic is its main source of air pollution.The first step of this method made it possible to determine from historical data that two control stations forNO2 and one control stations for O3 are necessary according to the legislation. Sampling campaigns withpassive diffusion samplers at 81 sites were then carried out to obtain information on the pollutiondistribution in Cordova. The sampling campaigns in 2001–2002 revealed an average concentration of 19.5 μg/m3 for NO2 with maximum values up to 28.6 μg/m3 in Cordova city centre.The average ozoneconcentrations were recorded downwind from the emission source,reaching 91.8 μg/m3;the average ozone value in Cordova was 65.3 μg/m3.After spatial interpolation of the obtained values with GeographicalInformation Systems,a selection of the best locations for the monitoring stations was made,in line with the macro- and microscale siting requirements of the European Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality andcleaner air for Europe. A second sampling campaign with diffusive samplers was carried out in 2007 to control if the locations of the air quality assessment stations were still representative for their zone.