Investigation of urban air quality by performing mobile measurements using a bicycle (MOBAIR)

Abstract

The ambient air quality is a well-known problem for big cities with dense population and high traffic volume. The traditional way for monitoring air quality is using stationary measurement stations. However, the main disadvantages are limited spatial resolution and restricted possibility of mapping spatial distributions of air pollutants. To provide high spatial and temporal resolution, mobile measurements are necessary. This study aims to investigate the air quality of a German city i.e. Stuttgart and the impact of local traffic on the pollutant concentrations by performing mobile measurements using a bicycle platform named as MOBAIR.In this investigation a bicycle was equipped with different measurement devices to measure air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), ozone (O3), Particulate Matter (PM), Ultrafine Particles (UFP) and Black Carbon (BC) as well as meteorological parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind speed, wind direction and solar radiation. A GPS device was used to relate the measured parameters to the location and a camera was installed to relate the measurement data to special events. The measurement route was around 12 km long covering a part of the city center with high traffic roads as well as side roads and a park in order to obtain a broader picture and to identify the contribution of traffic to the air quality in the measurement area. A total of around 120 trips of the 12 km route were performed in 14 measurement days in the months of February, June and July 2018 including each hour of the day and main seasons. In order to validate the measured results, the NO2 and NOX concentrations were measured at 16 different stationary locations along the bicycle route for a longer period using passive samplers.