Atmosphere
Page 107
Ambient Air Monitoring Report - Victoria Road Port Adelaide
The City of Port Adelaide Enfield initiated an air quality study along Victoria
Road Birkenhead over the period from the 26 May to 14 Aug 2009. The
objective of the project was to monitor the level of particulate matter and Volatile
Organic Compounds (VOC) alongside Victoria Road
,
Birkenhead to gain an
understanding of the influence air emissions from motor vehicles have on
observed levels of coarse particulate matter (PM
10
), fine particulate matter
(PM
2.5
) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through the Lefevre region
(Aurecon, 2009). (Refer to figure 19 for more detail).
To do this, several analyses were undertaken - these included a comparison of
particulate matter concentrations over several time-averaging periods; analysis
on a temporal basis, and comparison against air quality observations recorded
at the EPA’s Lefevre Primary School air monitoring station approximately 800
metres away.
The time series analysis of daily averaged ground level concentrations in μg/m
3
(micrograms per cubic metre) illustrated that several readings exceeded levels
in the PM
10
(NEPM standard) at the Victoria Road monitoring station. However
there were no such exceeding levels in the recordings observed at the EPA’s air
monitoring station at Lefevre Peninsula Primary School. There were no
exceedances in the PM
2.5
advisory standard recorded at the Victoria Road
monitoring station over the monitoring program (Aurecon, 2009). .
Therefore it was considered that the concentration of dust particles, as well as
other proximate fugitive sources, were exceeded due to the monitoring station
being located close to the edge of the edge of Victoria Road. The analysis of
particulate matter concentrations on a temporal basis illustrated a strong daily
variation of particulate concentrations through the weekdays at both the Victoria
Road and Lefevre Primary School (Aurecon, 2009). .
Monitoring stations were set-up over the same time periods for both PM
10
and
PM
2.5
compounds. This analysis showed that hourly averaged concentrations
were highest through the morning and afternoon traffic flow peaks through
Victoria Road. Also, interestingly the data illustrated high PM
2.5
concentrations
occurred through the early morning hours between 1 - 3 am. This is attributable
to atmospheric conditions that perhaps lead to the transfer of industrial air
pollutant plumes from tall stacks to ground level (Aurecon, 2009).
The analysis of the observed concentrations against meteorological variables
illustrated that high PM
2.5
concentrations were largely associated with low wind
speed and low temperature conditions; whereas high PM
10
concentrations were
associated with higher wind speeds and temperatures.
