KentAir

Gravesham Industrial Background Update
Published 30/05/2008
The Gravesham Industrial Background site has been affected recently by local sources of dust, causing elevated levels of PM10 to be recorded during May 2008. The sources include bulk storage of aggregates, wood shredding, and the demolition of a building immediately adjacent to the site. The PM10 data may not be fully representative of the area as a whole.

New Diffusion Tube Guidance
Published 21/04/2008
New Practical Guidance on the use of Diffusion Tubes for Ambient NO2 Monitoring has now been released. The document presents the findings of the Working Group on harmonisation of NO2 diffusion tube preparation and analysis methods, led by AEA Energy & Environment and Air Quality Consultants on behalf of Defra and the Devolved Administrations. The guidance is primarily written for laboratories that supply and analyse diffusion tubes, but also contains useful guidance for diffusion tube users. The recommendations are expected to be implemented by all parties by January 1st 2009. The guidance is available from the Reports page or at http://www.airquality.co.uk/archive/reports/reports.php?report_id=499 (Opens in new window)

New Site in the KMAQMN
Published 19/03/2008
A new site has been affiliated into the KMAQMN at Canterbury Military Road. The site, owned by Canterbury City Council, is situated on the A28 Military Road close to the town centre. The site was affiliated on 11 March 2007, though ratified data are available back to 1 October 2006. The pollutant measured is NO2. See the Pollution Levels page for more information.

Dover Docks Monitoring Site
Published 11/02/2008
The Dover Docks site closed on 8 February 2008 as a result of redevelopment work in the port area. A replacement site will be comissioned as soon as possible.

Historic data is still available for this site.

PM10 episode over United Kingdom, 23-24 January
Published 24/01/2008
A period of elevated PM10 concentrations has been observed over much of southern England on 23-24 January 2008. It appears that dust from the Sahara Desert has been blown in around an area of high pressure situated over central Europe. Moderate levels of PM10 have been observed across the county. There was a dust storm detected by satellite on 20 January, and favourable weather conditions imported the dust over the UK.

Only sites with TEOM PM10 analysers currently appear in the bandings.

Kent Air Quality in Google Earth
Published 24/01/2008
There is a new facility on this site, which allows users to see air quality data and site information using Google Earth. This allows data from the last 7 days to be displayed, along with links to the existing pages for more detailed information. This is useful, for example, for users who are unfamiliar with the network to quickly identify site locations and their immediate environments. Other layers may be added (eg roads, weather conditions) to customise the display.

Please note that some organisations IT policies may restrict access to this facility. Google Earth Version 4 or above and broadband connection is required. It may also run slowly on low-specification machines.

Click here for more information.

Bonfire Night 2007
Published 09/11/2007
With bonfire night falling on a Monday this year, celebrations were spread out over several days. Despite very light winds persisting over the weekend and the night itself, particulate pollution levels in the Kent area were not particularly high this year, although peaks can be clearly seen on both Saturday and Sunday evenings in the graph below. In contrast "Very High" levels were recorded elsewhere in the UK, notably London, the Midlands and North-West England.

The highest concentrations in Kent were recorded at Dartford Bean Interchange (282ugm/3) at 0100 on 5th November. Maidstone Kerbside and Swale Sheerness recorded "Moderate" PM10 levels on Monday 5th November.

Click on the graph below to view a larger version in a new window.

Revised site names for the Kent and Medway Network
Published 31/07/2007
In agreement with the participating members, some of the site names in the KMAQMN have been revised slightly. The new names appear on the website, and will be used in future reports. The changes were made so as to more closely identify the site environment, to reduce potential confusion with other current and past sites, and to harmonise site names where a site is also in the AURN. To clarify the changes, the old and new names are shown in the Excel Spreadsheet.

New site at Tonbridge added to the KMAQMN
Published 12/07/2007
A new site has been affiliated into the KMAQMN at Tonbridge. The site, owned by Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, is situated at 12-14 High Street in the town centre. The site started on 10 July 2007, and the pollutant measured is NO2. Full details are available on the Monitoring Network page.

New Monitoring Site in the KMAQMN
Published 21/06/2007
A new site has been affiliated into the KMAQMN at Birchington, near Margate. The site, owned by Thanet District Council, is situated on the A28 Canterbury Road in the town centre.The site started on 15 March 2007, and the pollutants measured are NO2 and PM10. Full details are available on the Monitoring Network page.

Welcome to the new website for the Kent & Medway Air Quality Monitoring Network
Published 23/03/2007
Welcome to the new website for the Kent & Medway Air Quality Monitoring Network. The management of the network is now contracted to AEA Energy & Environment. Based in Oxfordshire, we provide authoritative, independent consultancy and technical services to public and private sector clients, in the UK and internationally.

The website is designed to be familiar to existing users of the Kent network, whilst providing some technical enhancements to improve the ease of use. We hope that you find the website useful and interesting. If you have any comments about the site, please contact us. There is a dedicated e-mail address given in the Contact Us section.