Monitoring sites are classified according to the type of environment in which they are located. This will give a good indication of what pollutants are likely to be found here e.g. Nitrogen Dioxide if there is heavy traffic.
Typical monitoring location types are described in the table below.
|
Location |
Description |
Source Influences |
|---|---|---|
|
Urban |
A site within a town or city environment |
Vehicle, commercial, space heating |
|
Kerbside |
A site sampling within 1m of the kerb of a busy road. |
Local traffic |
|
Roadside |
A site sampling between 1m of the kerbside of a busy road and the back of the pavement. Typically this will be within 5m of the road, but could be up to 15m. |
Local traffic |
|
Suburban |
A location type situated in a residential area on the outskirts of a town or city. |
Traffic, commercial, space heating, regional transport, urban plume downwind of a city. |
|
Urban Background |
An urban location distanced from sources and therefore broadly representative of city-wide background conditions e.g. urban residential areas |
Vehicle, commercial, space heating |
|
Urban Centre |
An urban location representative of typical population exposure in towns or city centres e.g. pedestrian precincts and shopping areas |
Vehicle, commercial, space heating |
|
Urban Industrial |
An area where industrial sources make an important contribution to the total pollution burden. Intermediate. 20-30m from the kerb of a busy road. |
Industrial, motor vehicles. |
|
Rural |
An open countryside location, in an area of low population density distanced as far as possible from roads, populated and industrial areas. |
Regional long-range transport, urban plume. |
|
Remote |
A site in open country, located in an isolated rural area, experiencing regional background pollutant concentrations for much of the time. |
Regional/hemispheric background. |
|
Intermediate |
20-30m from the kerb of a busy road |
Vehicle, commercial, space heating. |
|
Airport |
Monitoring within the boundary of an airport perimeter. |
Aircraft, vehicle, commercial, space heating. |
|
Other |
Any special source-orientated or location category covering monitoring undertaken in relation to specific emission sources. |
May be power stations, car parks or tunnels |