Continuous Air Monitoring Program

Participant: MERI

Problem:

EPA has established six principal pollutants (ozone, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead and particulate matter) that pose significant impact on human health.

State of New Jersey and the federal government have set concentration standards for these principal pollutants to protect the public health and prevent environmental damage.

Objectives:

To ensure that district of Meadowlands attain these standards, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has been monitoring ozone, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide since 2007 to determine the impact of major pollution sources, to measure background levels and to measure secondary impacts in rural areas.

Activities:

Samples are collected by Thermo Scientific five i-series gas analyzers at MERI’s roof every minute for 24 hours a day.

All of gas analyzers are calibrated weekly by EPA protocol using standard gases and maintained monthly including replacing air filters and gas purifiers for the quality control.

Six Gas Analyzers Sampling Inlet

Fig. 1: Six Gas Analyzers                      Fig. 2: Sampling Inlet from the roof

Deliverables:

Click link below to see the near real time data:

http://meriems.njmeadowlands.gov/vdv/Index.php

All of the air data will be used in the current or upcoming air quality related project and will be compared with other 44 state controlled air monitoring sites in New Jersey. Meteorological parameters are also monitored at the same site for use in air quality modeling and dispersion modeling in the future.