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Monitoring of Air Quality

Every day a Man inhale about 15 000 litres of air. This air is mainly composed of nitrogen (78%) and oxygen (21%) with a little bit of argon (0.9%) and of carbon dioxide (0.035%). The rest is made of rare gazes (helium, krypton, xenon) and hydrogen. The lower layers of atmosphere also contain some water steam.

But in the air could also be found in very small quantities, pollutants: Oxides of sulphur, nitrogen, ozone, carbon monoxide, suspended particles, etc .

These pollutants are emitted in the atmosphere by natural sources (volcanoes, vegetation, erosion, etc) but also have anthropic origin (transport, industries, heating, agriculture, etc). Transported and transformed by certain weather conditions, they can be found on the ground in the form of dry or wet deposits and expose the Man and the ecosystems to levels of pollution, which sometimes exceed the limits of air pollution. Decisions should then be taken for, on the one hand to reduce the levels of emissions (regulation on polluting rights at the sources and behavioural recommendations). On the other hand, it is also necessary to reduce the effects of these pollutants in particular on health (medical recommendations).

In this chapter of the project, the objective is:

• To prepare the plans and actions programmes for the management of air quality and the reduction of emissions (as a part of the regional and local action for environment),
• To monitor the air quality and to inform the authorities and the public
• And to make sure of quality of the data (evaluation of the collection system, proposal of the best necessary software).