Jacobs; a global environmental consultancy is using real-time air quality monitors in combination with traffic sensors to help understand the high levels of NO2 on the A132 East Mayne Road in Basildon, Essex. Essex Highways is a Strategic Partnership between Ringway Jacobs and Essex County Council.
Air quality modelling and diffusion tube monitoring of annual mean NO2 concentrations on East Mayne, Basildon indicate that NO2 concentrations are above 40 µg/m3. NO2 concentrations are heavily influenced by NOx emissions from road traffic and therefore it is important to evaluate the correlation between traffic and NO2 concentrations.
The Basildon Air Quality Project
The project aims to reduce exceedances of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to below the limit values within the shortest possible time, at those locations within Basildon that have been identified both on the national Pollution Climate Map (PCM) and at additional locations that were identified following local modelling. Therefore, the primary objective is to bring NO2 levels into compliance with the EU Limit Value of 40 μg/m3.
Remote Monitoring Solution
Several Aeroqual AQS1 real-time monitors have been installed in the area to monitor NO2 concentrations. The key for this project is to correlate the high-resolution data from the air quality monitors to the traffic sensors.
The information will give an in-depth understanding of the causes of elevated NO2 concentrations on East Mayne. Real-time data from the air quality monitors will be available on Aeroqual Cloud. The web-based platform will allow the project managers to access the real-time data and correlate the readings from all the 7 units.