Quality assurance in air pollution monitoring

Abstract

Quality assurance is a well-developed discipline applied in the industrial production of goods and the provision of commercial services [1], The consistent application of quality assurance to the measurement of air pollution is most evident in countries where large-scale monitoring networks are a major feature of the control of air pollution and chief among these is the USA [2–5]. There is now a considerable literature concerning the quality assurance of air pollution monitoring and the purpose of this short chapter is to bring some of the more important items to the attention of those about to embark on monitoring programmes. This will be done by citing references in the context of a brief analysis of the various elements of a monitoring chain that can usefully be identified and subjected to quality assurance routines. The treatment throughout assumes that the monitoring is aimed at gaseous species which can be uniquely identified chemically. In principle, however, the techniques can be applied to all forms of air pollutant.