Insights from a Chronology of the Development of Atmospheric Composition Monitoring Networks Since the 1800s

Abstract

Abstract:Ground-based monitoring networks for evaluating atmospheric composition relevant to impacts on human health and the environment now exist worldwide (according to the United Nations Environment Programme, 48% of countries have an air quality monitoring system). Of course, this has not always been the case. Here, we analyse for the first time the key developments in network coordination and standardisation over the last 150 years that underpin the current implementations of city-scale to global monitoring networks for atmospheric composition. Examples include improvements in respect of site type and site representativeness, measurement methods, quality assurance, and data archiving. From the 1950s, these developments have progressed through two distinct types of network: those designed for the protection of human health, and those designed to increase scientific understanding of atmospheric composition and its interaction with the terrestrial environment. The step changes in network coordination and standardisation have increased confidence in the comparability of measurements made at different sites. Acknowledged limitations in the current state of monitoring networks include a sole focus on compliance monitoring. In the context of the unprecedented volumes of atmospheric composition data now being collected, we suggest the next developments in network standardisation should include more integrated analyses of monitor and other relevant data within "chemical climatology" frameworks that seek to more directly link the impacts, state and drivers of atmospheric composition. These approaches would also enhance the role of monitoring networks in the development and evaluation of air pollution mitigation strategies.

The impact of air pollution on terrestrial managed and natural vegetation

“…However, there were no systematically measured air quality data to support the observations. In the UK, it took the dramatic loss of life associated with the London smog in the winter of 1952 (estimated 12 000 deaths [35]) to establish a national air quality recording system across both urban and rural areas; by the 1960s this comprised c. 1300 stations [36]. In the late 1960s, Hawksworth & Rose [37] correlated the distribution of lichen species across the UK with recorded levels of SO 2 from this network to create a 10-point scale of estimated SO 2 pollution based on species' sensitivity to air pollution.…”

Modelling public health improvements as a result of air pollution control policies in the UK over four decades—1970 to 2010

“…Although Public Health Acts in 1875 and 1926 contained measures to abate emissions of smoke, the first major modern legislation in the UK to focus on mitigation of the harmful effects of air pollution was the 1956 Clean Air Act, introduced in response to the notorious sulphurous 'smog' episodes in London and elsewhere (Brimblecombe 1987, Malley et al 2016 and their impacts on morbidity and mortality (Anderson 2009). Subsequent concern on the effects of air pollution was then predominantly stimulated by the observation during the 1970s of forest dieback ('Waldsterben') and landscape acidification across much of Europe.…”