Monitoring and research

• Monitoring sites
• Map of Auckland's air quality monitoring network
• Air pollution trends
• Visibility photos.

The ARC monitors key air pollutants that impact air quality in the Auckland region. These include:

• Fine particles (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5)
• Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)
• Ozone (O₃)
• Sulphur dioxide (SO₂).
  

These pollutants are monitored because they are known to affect human health and well-being and are compared to either national guidelines (MfE 2002) and standards or regional air quality targets (the latter are generally set at lower values to protect and maintain the best air quality possible in sensitive areas).

Monitoring sites

It is not possible to monitor everywhere so monitoring sites are selected to be representative of a range of situations in urban and rural areas where the public might be exposed to air pollution from different sources.

The current network consists of:

• 13 permanent sites
• 2 mobile sites
• 4 meteorological sites.

Sites range in their scope; some monitor a single parameter while others measure a range of pollutants on a continuous basis. Monitoring sites are located at:

For a complete list of monitoring sites in the Auckland region over the past 20 years, refer to ‘TP296 - The ambient air quality monitoring network in the Auckland Region'.

Auckland View large image

For more information view our Airfacts 3: AQ Monitoring Network