Air quality
Web Guides
The headings in this guide come from the specification for the course.
1 Monitoring air quality
If you have been in central London recently at somewhere like Hyde Park Corner you will have noted how different the air quality was to that up in the mountains of the Peak District. To see how air quality varies from place to place, and from day to day, look at the excellent information on the The UK National Air Quality Information Archive site. On its home page start by clicking on 'FAQs' to find answers to many relevant and frequently-asked questions. Then click on 'Data & Statistics' where you can find out what pollutants are measured, where and by what means. You can also find maps and photographs of monitoring stations in the 'Site information archive'.
At the Cambridge City Air Quality Information site you can look at hourly data for different locations in the city on CO, NO2, O3, SO2 and PM10 particulates. It might be of interest to see how these change hour by hour and day by day. The site also contains information about each pollutant and recognised standards where these have been established.
For types of pollution look at National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory web site.
The main pollutants - where do they come from? Look at some of the ARIC fact sheets from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Find out about local monitoring stations from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Look at a report about degrees of certainty or uncertainty in measurements on National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory web site.
Use selected reports from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) web site. Then select 'publications' then either 'environment' or 2002. Air quality is number 188. Number 203 is on environmental costs of aviation.
2 Increasing problem of air quality in major cities
But are things getting worse, better, or remaining pretty much unchanged? Again you need to turn to the UK National Air Quality Information Archive. On its home page click on 'Emissions' to reach the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Then go to reports to find data about a range of emissions from 1970 to 2001.
To summarise the results of monitoring over the years you could refer to the maps on the UK Environment Agency site by clicking on Air quality facts & figures. At the bottom of the page you can jump to other relevant sections such as 'Emissions to Air'.
Reference on a regular basis to the Cambridge City Air Quality Information site would provide information as to whether that city's air quality is improving or getting worse.
3 Relationship of air quality to levels of respiratory disease
A population's health can very often depend on air quality. Older Londoners can recall the smogs of the 1950s which killed thousands of people. To see how health can be affected click on Manchester Metropolitan University's Atmospheric Research and Information Centre site. Fact sheet 18 is about 'Impacts on Human health'.
Another source of information about the health risks from air pollution is in the 'Air toxics' section of the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation site. This has a direct link to the Unified Air Toxics web site. Jump to that site and then start by clicking on the top left 'box' with the caption 'Basic Facts'. As you read that page you will find lots of highlighted links in the text. One that connects nicely with the topic of risk in 'ideas about science' is 'Air Pollution and Health Risk' under the sub-heading 'More on health effects'.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has produced guidelines and they are published on its very detailed site, providing information on the key pollutants, how they arise, and their short and long-term effects.
4 Emissions from vehicles and other sources of polutant gases and their effects
Many governments are keen to reduce pollution, particularly from vehicles and from power stations. But what exactly are causing the problems? Some of the fact sheets about 'Air quality and acid rain' from Manchester Metropolitan University's Atmospheric Research and Information Centre are useful here. Look especially at fact sheets: 6 'UK emissions from transport', and 4 'The key air pollutants'.
For data specific to the emissions from transport in the UK have a look at the information about some of the Regional Pollutants in the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Also refer again to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
5 Strategies (both technical and regulatory) for tackling the problem of air quality
Solutions often only arise when people are forced to accept regulations, so what has been enacted or is in mind for the future? More of the fact sheets about 'pollution' from the Manchester Metropolitan University's Atmospheric Research and Information Centre are relevant. Look at fact sheets:
- 2 'History of air pollution in the UK',
- 20 'The UK national air quality strategy',
- 25 'Vehicle emission controls',
- 26 'Motor vehicle emission controls: fuel types' and
- 30 'Reducing air pollution: how can you help?'.
One well-known and widely accepted solution to reduce some aspects of vehicle pollution is the catalytic converter. If you are interested in how this works then look at the Scientific American magazine item on it.
Solutions have to be reasonable to be accepted and complied with and an insight into this concept can be seen through the meanings of 'Best Available Technique Not Entailing Excessive Cost (BATNEEC)' and 'Best Practical Environmental Options' (BPEO) as seen on the Environmental Protection Act 1990 Part 1 site.