Air quality monitoring
The Environmental Protection Agency has a network of air quality monitoring stations in South-east Queensland, which measure levels of pollutants in the air. Daily air quality measurements have been taken since 1978.
The monitoring program provides information to identify long-term trends in air quality across SEQ and helps assess the effectiveness of air quality management strategies. Measurements are compared with national and overseas air quality guidelines to determine current air quality. Air pollutants — ozone, fine particles, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are important indicators of air quality. Levels of these pollutants are measured at 15 monitoring stations in SEQ.
The air quality monitoring network provides daily information on levels of pollutants in the air in SEQ. This is made available to the public through annual summaries of air quality monitoring data and monthly Air Quality Bulletins.
Information collected by the Agency’s air quality monitoring is used to compile the Air Pollution Forecast Index. By combining current air quality data with Bureau of Meteorology weather forecasts, the Agency can forecast the air quality for the region up to 24 hours in advance — available to the public on most nightly weather bulletins.
Last updated: 31 March 2005
