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koalathebearSorry to be posting this on my foster dog blog but I needed a public place to post where I could insert images and links and also easily edit.
There's a lot of confusion about the various sources of air quality data. The ACT Health website reports on air quality using up-to-date, accurate data on levels of pollutants in the air with data taken from each of the ACT’s three monitoring stations located at Florey (North ACT), Civic (Centre Canberra) and Monash (South Canberra).
For anyone who (like me), took a crash course in air quality after the horrific pollution we've had over the last couple of months - particularly on New Year's Day and 5 January, you might know that for a while, ACT Health only gave air quality data on the basis of a rolling 24 hour average.
This was next to useless when the pollution levels could change from hour to hour and hazard levels were sometimes 100 times what was safe.
ACT Health now provides hourly air quality data on its website, which is very useful and is disseminated via the website site Canberra Air and the AirRater app but is still not timely enough give how quickly things can change.
To quote Andrew from the AQ FB group: "Because of the time consuming methodology use by ACT Health to measure particulates it can never be a 'live' snapshot of air pollution levels, ever. The EPA system was designed for more stable times and limited fluctuations. The ONLY real time measure of air pollution is via laser measuring devices, and the only publicly available real time Air Quality reporting services are PurpleAir and Luftdaten." There's also a sensor at Palmerston.
Here is an example of some of the discrepancies in numbers.
This is a screenshot from Canberra Air at 11.55am, with a feed taken from Air Rater and the ACT Health website. It says that the air quality is 'fair' because it's 19.41 µg/m3 PM2.5)
This is a screen cap of the purpleair network at the same time. It says air quality in Florey is very good at 1 µg/m3 PM2.5. This is supported by the data on my Dyson and Temptop air monitor.
In contrast, this is AQICN that claims to be real time but is not. It says the air quality is 'moderate' and has 66 µg/m3 PM2.5.
Which number do I look at????
I set out what I do in this post - it might not be right for you.
I ignore the numbers except raw PM2.5 data. Almost all websites will have a report available for PM2.5 particulate matter in micrograms per cubic meter(µg/m3).
The other ones are confusing. For instance, the AQI (air quality index) is as follows:
The AQI is calculated from air quality data relating to the five pollutants that are monitored in the ACT. For each pollutant, the AQI is the data value expressed as a percentage of the level specified by the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air (NEPM) standard.
There are six AQI categories ranging from ‘Very good’ to ‘Hazardous’. Each category is shown in a different colour. A lower value indicates better air quality, and a higher value indicates poorer air quality. When a pollutant AQI is poor, very poor and hazardous, this means the pollutant has exceeded its corresponding air quality standard.
To get AQI, you essentially multiple the μg/m3 amount by four to derive the AQI hazard level. For instance, 50 μg/m3 over a 24 hour period (long period) is hazardous but 50 μg/m3 for just a few minutes is not hazardous.
If you use PM2.5 data as your guide, you can figure the rest out for yourself.
What is particulate matter and why do I need to be worried about it?
For more about particulate matter, see here: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/air/Pages/particulate-matter.aspx
At what point should I start freaking out about particulate levels in the air?
If you need a guide as to how to interpret the data, there's a table at the bottom of this page. So don't freak out just because of the level - think about the duration of exposure and what are you doing in it? It's worse if you are physically exerting yourself / breathing deeply.
https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air-0
How do I figure out what the air quality is right now / what it is likely to be?
I use a combination of things.
1. I look at Canberra Air (https://www.canberraair.com/) which takes a feed from Air Rater app (https://airrater.org/) on my phone which in turn takes its feed from ACT Health (https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air). ACT Health updates once an hour at around the x.55 mark eg. 11.55 am, 12.55 pm. If you check at eg 11.35am, you won't get information that's terribly useful.
2. I check the purpleair network (https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#1/23.2/-30). These are air monitors installed by private citizens and not official. In the bottom left hand corner, use the pull downs and select:
- raw PM2.5 in µg/m3; and
- show real time
You can also check the sensor at Palmerston and the Luftdaten sensors.
The above are purely unofficial source of information so use it at your own risk. I find it an invaluable to get 'spoilers' as to which way the air quality is heading.
3. I have purifiers and a Temtop air quality monitor at my house. These read 'inside', but based on my experience, the readings I'm getting inside are a really good indicator of what's going on outside. For instance, if I'm seeing levels in unpurified rooms of anything above 20, chances are outside is heading into the 40s and 50s. In terms of accuracy, the Dyson is the most sensitive amongst the Dyson, Xiaomi and Temtop. When the air quality is very good, they are all in line (eg they will all show 1-2 µg/m3 PM2.5). When the air starts to deteriorate, Xiaomi and Temtop tend to be 1-3 µg/m3 PM2.5 less than Dyson - I don't know if that's because they're less sensitive or becuase they're breathing in purified air from Dyson
4. I use my own Canary sense. The back of my throat starts to feel a bit ... weird and tight/clogged up when the air starts to turn bad. Sometimes I start sneezing.
5. FB and friends. When people on FB and friends South Side start telling me things are bad, it's a good sign for me to check how things are looking North side.
When is it safe to go outside? Exercise? walk the dogs?
That's going to depend entirely on your personal circumstances and appetite for risk. As mentioned, refer to this table at ACT Health:
https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air-0
For my own part, at the time of this post, it says Melba is 2 µg/m3 PM2.5 which is "good".
I have asthma (so am in the 'sensitive' category), so I avoid walking my dogs / doing exercise when it's anything above 20 µg/m3 PM2.5 or so. That's just me being conservative.
For me personally, I've sat at work without a mask and worked in 30 µg/m3 PM2.5. If we approached 40s / 50s, I'd consider masking it up / going home to work.
Many work places only consider sending people home after 177.9 µg/m3 PM2.5 and the Australian Open will suspend play when the PM2.5 level is above 200 µg/m3 PM2.5.
On 5 January, it was 5696 µg/m3 PM2.5 in Monash which remains absolutely horrific to me.
We are used to amazing air in Canberra, it's hard for us to process and cope because this is abnormal for us, but to put things in context, it's good to have a look at the purpleair map and see what people around the world deal with on a daily basis.
Toronto, Canada: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.52/43.7081/-79.3764
Hamiton, Ontario, Canada (industrial town): https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.02/43.2611/-79.9353
New York City: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.01/40.6979/-73.98
London: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.35/51.5275/-0.0995
New Delhi, India: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.1/28.6447/77.09
https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#12.47/42.35852/-71.05581
I don't want to let this pollution curtail my activities more than necessary and while it's bad to be inhaling toxic smoke, it's also bad to miss out on a chance to go out and enjoy the air when it's nice.
What do I do if I'm caught in a smoke bomb while out with the kids/dogs?
Don't panic. Just get inside when you can even if it's not 'sealed' up properly. While not perfect, inside will usually be better than outside and all we can is mimimise exposure where we can. Remember, the vast majority of the population does not know, nor would they care if they knew - at least we are doing what we can to minimise risk.
There's a lot of confusion about the various sources of air quality data. The ACT Health website reports on air quality using up-to-date, accurate data on levels of pollutants in the air with data taken from each of the ACT’s three monitoring stations located at Florey (North ACT), Civic (Centre Canberra) and Monash (South Canberra).
For anyone who (like me), took a crash course in air quality after the horrific pollution we've had over the last couple of months - particularly on New Year's Day and 5 January, you might know that for a while, ACT Health only gave air quality data on the basis of a rolling 24 hour average.
This was next to useless when the pollution levels could change from hour to hour and hazard levels were sometimes 100 times what was safe.
ACT Health now provides hourly air quality data on its website, which is very useful and is disseminated via the website site Canberra Air and the AirRater app but is still not timely enough give how quickly things can change.
To quote Andrew from the AQ FB group: "Because of the time consuming methodology use by ACT Health to measure particulates it can never be a 'live' snapshot of air pollution levels, ever. The EPA system was designed for more stable times and limited fluctuations. The ONLY real time measure of air pollution is via laser measuring devices, and the only publicly available real time Air Quality reporting services are PurpleAir and Luftdaten." There's also a sensor at Palmerston.
Here is an example of some of the discrepancies in numbers.
This is a screenshot from Canberra Air at 11.55am, with a feed taken from Air Rater and the ACT Health website. It says that the air quality is 'fair' because it's 19.41 µg/m3 PM2.5)
This is a screen cap of the purpleair network at the same time. It says air quality in Florey is very good at 1 µg/m3 PM2.5. This is supported by the data on my Dyson and Temptop air monitor.
In contrast, this is AQICN that claims to be real time but is not. It says the air quality is 'moderate' and has 66 µg/m3 PM2.5.
Which number do I look at????
I set out what I do in this post - it might not be right for you.
I ignore the numbers except raw PM2.5 data. Almost all websites will have a report available for PM2.5 particulate matter in micrograms per cubic meter(µg/m3).
The other ones are confusing. For instance, the AQI (air quality index) is as follows:
The AQI is calculated from air quality data relating to the five pollutants that are monitored in the ACT. For each pollutant, the AQI is the data value expressed as a percentage of the level specified by the National Environment Protection Measure for Ambient Air (NEPM) standard.
There are six AQI categories ranging from ‘Very good’ to ‘Hazardous’. Each category is shown in a different colour. A lower value indicates better air quality, and a higher value indicates poorer air quality. When a pollutant AQI is poor, very poor and hazardous, this means the pollutant has exceeded its corresponding air quality standard.
To get AQI, you essentially multiple the μg/m3 amount by four to derive the AQI hazard level. For instance, 50 μg/m3 over a 24 hour period (long period) is hazardous but 50 μg/m3 for just a few minutes is not hazardous.
If you use PM2.5 data as your guide, you can figure the rest out for yourself.
What is particulate matter and why do I need to be worried about it?
For more about particulate matter, see here: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/air/Pages/particulate-matter.aspx
At what point should I start freaking out about particulate levels in the air?
If you need a guide as to how to interpret the data, there's a table at the bottom of this page. So don't freak out just because of the level - think about the duration of exposure and what are you doing in it? It's worse if you are physically exerting yourself / breathing deeply.
https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air-0
How do I figure out what the air quality is right now / what it is likely to be?
I use a combination of things.
1. I look at Canberra Air (https://www.canberraair.com/) which takes a feed from Air Rater app (https://airrater.org/) on my phone which in turn takes its feed from ACT Health (https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air). ACT Health updates once an hour at around the x.55 mark eg. 11.55 am, 12.55 pm. If you check at eg 11.35am, you won't get information that's terribly useful.
2. I check the purpleair network (https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mAQI/a10/cC0#1/23.2/-30). These are air monitors installed by private citizens and not official. In the bottom left hand corner, use the pull downs and select:
- raw PM2.5 in µg/m3; and
- show real time
You can also check the sensor at Palmerston and the Luftdaten sensors.
The above are purely unofficial source of information so use it at your own risk. I find it an invaluable to get 'spoilers' as to which way the air quality is heading.
3. I have purifiers and a Temtop air quality monitor at my house. These read 'inside', but based on my experience, the readings I'm getting inside are a really good indicator of what's going on outside. For instance, if I'm seeing levels in unpurified rooms of anything above 20, chances are outside is heading into the 40s and 50s. In terms of accuracy, the Dyson is the most sensitive amongst the Dyson, Xiaomi and Temtop. When the air quality is very good, they are all in line (eg they will all show 1-2 µg/m3 PM2.5). When the air starts to deteriorate, Xiaomi and Temtop tend to be 1-3 µg/m3 PM2.5 less than Dyson - I don't know if that's because they're less sensitive or becuase they're breathing in purified air from Dyson
4. I use my own Canary sense. The back of my throat starts to feel a bit ... weird and tight/clogged up when the air starts to turn bad. Sometimes I start sneezing.
5. FB and friends. When people on FB and friends South Side start telling me things are bad, it's a good sign for me to check how things are looking North side.
When is it safe to go outside? Exercise? walk the dogs?
That's going to depend entirely on your personal circumstances and appetite for risk. As mentioned, refer to this table at ACT Health:
https://www.health.act.gov.au/about-our-health-system/population-health/environmental-monitoring/monitoring-and-regulating-air-0
For my own part, at the time of this post, it says Melba is 2 µg/m3 PM2.5 which is "good".
I have asthma (so am in the 'sensitive' category), so I avoid walking my dogs / doing exercise when it's anything above 20 µg/m3 PM2.5 or so. That's just me being conservative.
For me personally, I've sat at work without a mask and worked in 30 µg/m3 PM2.5. If we approached 40s / 50s, I'd consider masking it up / going home to work.
Many work places only consider sending people home after 177.9 µg/m3 PM2.5 and the Australian Open will suspend play when the PM2.5 level is above 200 µg/m3 PM2.5.
On 5 January, it was 5696 µg/m3 PM2.5 in Monash which remains absolutely horrific to me.
We are used to amazing air in Canberra, it's hard for us to process and cope because this is abnormal for us, but to put things in context, it's good to have a look at the purpleair map and see what people around the world deal with on a daily basis.
Toronto, Canada: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.52/43.7081/-79.3764
Hamiton, Ontario, Canada (industrial town): https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.02/43.2611/-79.9353
New York City: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.01/40.6979/-73.98
London: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.35/51.5275/-0.0995
New Delhi, India: https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#10.1/28.6447/77.09
https://www.purpleair.com/map?opt=1/mPM25/a0/cC0#12.47/42.35852/-71.05581
I don't want to let this pollution curtail my activities more than necessary and while it's bad to be inhaling toxic smoke, it's also bad to miss out on a chance to go out and enjoy the air when it's nice.
What do I do if I'm caught in a smoke bomb while out with the kids/dogs?
Don't panic. Just get inside when you can even if it's not 'sealed' up properly. While not perfect, inside will usually be better than outside and all we can is mimimise exposure where we can. Remember, the vast majority of the population does not know, nor would they care if they knew - at least we are doing what we can to minimise risk.