3.3. Summary of international monitoring programmes in Europe

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Air pollution monitoring in Europe - Problems and trends

Summary of international monitoring programmes in Europe

The international monitoring programmes listed in Chapter 2.2 are described in Chapter 3.4 below. Table 3.4 gives a summary of the monitoring activities in these programmes.

Except for GEMS/AIR, which involves urban pollution, these programmes exclusively deal with regional and global air pollution problems. A large number of stations are involved in these programmes. Many of the stations are in operation under several of the programmes in parallel.

The compounds include S- and N-compounds, ozone, metals, and other trace gases. Table 3.5 shows which compounds are covered by which programmes.

Table 3.4: Summary of recent monitoring activities in Europe in international programmes.
For all programmes: Not all compounds are measured at all sites.

Programme	Sites	Countries	Compounds (summary)
EMEP (1995)	126	28	S- and N-compounds in air (gases and particles) and precipitation, and O3 and VOC in air.
OSPAR (1994)
Precip.	25	10	Cd, Hg, NO3, NH4, (priority) As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, organo-halogens (grey list)
Aerosol/gas	12	6	Cd, Hg, a-HCN, g-HCN, HNO3, NO3, NO2, NO, NH3, NH4 (priority) As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn (grey list)
HELCOM	31	8	N compounds in air (gases and particles), and in precipitation. Metals (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn) in airborne particles and in precipitation. Cr, Ni, As, Hg in precipitation.
MEDPOL	13	10	Emphasis on heavy metals in aerosol, and heavy metals and major ions in precipitation.
GAW	61	23	Precipitation chemistry.
	100	29	"Trace gases": O3 (81), NOx (43), SO2 (34), CO2 (20), CH4 (7), N2O (3), CFCs (4).
	42	19	Aerosols
	16	5	Radiation
	14	10	Turbidity
TOR (1994)	29		O3, NO, NO2, NOy, CH4, CO, NMHC, JNO2, met.data.
GEMS/AIR (1993/94)	9	9	SO2, SPM

Table 3.5: Compound coverage in the international monitoring programmes.

	EMEP	OSPAR	HELCOM	MEDPOL	GAW	TOR	GEMS/AIR
S compounds	air precip.			precip.	SO2 precip.		air (SO2)
N compounds	air precip.	air	air precip.	precip	NOx, N2O precip.	air
Metals		air precip	air precip.	aerosol precip.
Ozone	x				x	x
Organo-halogens		x
CO2					x
CO						x
CH4					x	x
VOC	x					x
CFC					x
"Aerosols", radiation, turbidity					x		TSP