Monitoring

The Council uses two main methods to monitor air quality in the borough - these are known as continuous and passive monitoring.

Details of each of the sites and the latest monitoring data can be found in the annual reports on the Report and Documents page.

Continuous monitoring

This is a general term used for highly technical equipment which continuously monitors levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM₁₀). This type of monitoring is expensive to install and maintain but provides valuable real-time data.

Some sites in the borough, such as North Kensington form part of the automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) an extensive network of monitoring sites across the country, other are part of Air Quality England.

Data from our continuous monitoring sites can be downloaded from the Air Quality England website, provided by Ricardo Energy & Environment. Our monitoring stations are listed under 'Kensington and Chelsea'. If you are interested in a summary of the trends we have identified, please take a look at one of our annual reports from our Reports and Documents page.

Passive monitoring

Passive monitoring techniques, such as diffusion tubes are a simple way of monitoring air pollution and allow a greater number of sites to be monitored. We use diffusion tubes to monitor nitrogen dioxide and benzene. The tubes are open at one end during sampling and contain a pad which absorbs the pollutant. At the end of the sampling period the tubes are sent off for laboratory analysis. Diffusion tubes are generally less accurate than automated methods. However, for nitrogen dioxide adjustment factors can be applied to take into account measured difference between the continuous monitoring technique and passive diffusion. ·

Download a map of the nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube locations in the borough.

Download a map of the benzene diffusion tube locations in the borough.