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Recent developments in odour modelling and assessment in five provinces in Austria

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A Correction to this article was published on 01 September 2023

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Abstract

It can safely be stated that odour assessment is amongst the least harmonised environmental issues within the European Union. Even on a national level, local authorities sometimes use different approaches. In an effort to harmonise odour assessment in Austria, five provinces—Styria, Salzburg, Carinthia, Burgenland and Vorarlberg—issued a new guideline setting thresholds for odour hour frequencies dependent on the annoyance potential. The limit values were derived from examinations of complaint rates by neighbours of various odour sources and existing exposure–response relationships published in literature. For odours, where no such relationships were available, comprehensive tests using the polarity profile method have been carried out. Unfortunately, the polarity profile method did not provide useful results. Moreover, the corresponding modelling technique for odour hours has been improved, too. Furthermore, odour emission factors from animal husbandry have been investigated by olfactometric measurements and finally been updated, because the emission factors listed in the comprehensive German guideline VDI3894-1 seem not to be representative at least for Austrian conditions.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are not publicly available as annoyance data gathered from individuals formed the basis for the analysis of the dose–response relationships, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Air Quality Control, Government of Styria, Landhausgasse 7, 8010, Graz, Austria

    Dietmar Oettl

  2. University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy

    Enrico Ferrero

  3. Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Hanns Moshammer & Lisbeth Weitensfelder

  4. Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Agricultural Research and Education Center Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Raumberg 38, 8952, Irdning, Austria

    Michael Kropsch

  5. Chemistry and Environment, Government of Salzburg, Michael-Pacher-Straße 36, 5020, Salzburg, Austria

    Michael Mandl

Authors
  1. Dietmar Oettl
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  2. Enrico Ferrero
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  3. Hanns Moshammer
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  4. Lisbeth Weitensfelder
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  5. Michael Kropsch
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  6. Michael Mandl
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed Dietmar Oettl, Enrico Ferrero, Hanns Moshammer, Lisbeth Weitensfelder, Michael Kropsch and Michael Mandl. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dietmar Oettl and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dietmar Oettl.

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Oettl, D., Ferrero, E., Moshammer, H. et al. Recent developments in odour modelling and assessment in five provinces in Austria. Air Qual Atmos Health 15, 1647–1657 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-022-01207-x

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