EMEP measurement data
This page provides a description and a link to a "EMEP measurement data" database that provides information needed when modeling exposure levels or performing exposure assessment.
Short Description
Includes measured data from 36 European countries. Measured components and time frame of measurements varies between cases. Measured pollutants include Acidifying and eutrophying compounds, ozone, heavy metals, POPs, particulate matter (Joint EMEP, GAW-WDCA and CREATE database) and VOC.
Long Description
The European Monitoring Evaluation Programme (EMEP) is an acronym for the Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air pollutants in Europe which is a policy driven program designed to address issues related to transboundary air pollution. The main objectives of EMEP are to provide quantitative information on the transport of air pollutants across national borders and on the deposition and concentration levels caused by this transport. This is achieved through the three main elements of EMEP, including: (1) collection of emission data, (2) measurements of air and precipitation quality, and (3) modelling of atmospheric transport and deposition of air pollution.
Launched in 1977, the EMEP programme initially focused on the transboundary transport of acidification and eutrophication then expanded to address the formation of ground level ozone. More recently assessment of persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals and particulate matter has been included. The EMEP network currently comprises more than 250 stations situated in rural areas across 35 countries covering the European continent. The monitoring sites are positioned in such a way to be representative of the larger region. They are, therefore, sited in areas free of influence and contamination from local sources (e.g. away from urban and industrial areas).
Description
EMEP has established standard recommended methods for sampling and chemical analysis (Table 1). National laboratories carry out the measurements within EMEP and the results are reported to the Chemical Co-ordinating Centre (CCC) for coordination of the measurements in common database.
Table 1. Monitoring requirements specified by the EMEP monitoring strategy.
| Pollutant |
| Minimum time resolution |
| Reference methodology |
| POPs |
| daily / weekly |
| HVS, PUR foam |
| GCMS/HPLC |
| PM10 |
| hourly / daily |
| LVS-PM10, |
| HVS-PM10 or equivalent |
The data and metadata for each monitoring site are available from the EMEP website. Details on the monitoring programme including time resolution and operational dates by pollutant, as well as the specific sampling and analysis methods used, are provided on a site-by-site basis. Also included in the metadata reported for each site is: site name, EMEP station code, database code (EU-code which matches AirBase), geographical coordinates (degrees, minutes), altitude, contact person and organisation.
The total number of sites by country in the EMEP network is shown in Figure 3 (N.B. not all monitoring sites measure all pollutants, so the number of sites/country could be less when viewed by pollutant). This figure also shows the number of EMEP sites which are also represented in AirBase database.
In the EMEP database, ozone is generally recorded as hourly measurements while SO2, NO2 and PM10 may be provided as daily, monthly and/or annual means. Measurements up to and including 2003 are currently posted on the website and available for download free of cost.
Accessibility
In terms of accessibility, the data files (.dat format) for each monitoring site have to be individually downloaded from the EMEP website. Given the limited size of the network this should only involve approximately one day of effort. Matching the data files to the metadata information is straightforward given the unique ‘station code’ identifier. Significant pre-processing, however, will likely be needed to alter the format of each data file before it can be used or incorporated with AIRBASE (e.g. to calculate the appropriate averaging periods or statistics from the raw hourly/daily data).
Link
http://www.nilu.no/projects/ccc/emepdata.html
Regional coverage
Europe: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, FYR of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine
Key Words
acidifying compounds, eutrophying compounds, ozone, O3, heavy metals, pops, particles, particulate matter, PM, SPM, Pm10, PM2.5, VOCs, volatile organic compounds, Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution