Air quality monitoring system North Rhine-Westphalia
The air quality monitoring system ( LUQS ) of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia measures various air pollutants and is operated by the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia . Continuous measurement methods and discrete (discontinuous) measurements are used. The measurement data is fed into the information system NRW environmental data on site , the Internet offer of the LANUV , the WDR teletext and the air data portal Thru.de of the Federal Environment Agency .
The air pollutants measured include arsenic , benzene , benzopyrene , lead , cadmium , fine dust (discontinuous and continuous), nickel , ozone (continuous), polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCB ), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( PAH ), soot , sulfur dioxide (continuous), Nitrogen dioxide (discontinuous and continuous), nitric oxide (continuous) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin ( dioxin ).
The measurements are supplemented by dispersion calculations and immission forecasts (see web links).
LUQS is operated by departments in Department 4 of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection (LANUV); the Department of "National Reference Laboratory (EU), air quality studies" for quality-relevant sections of the monitoring network according to DIN EN ISO / IEC 17025 accredited .
Measuring stations

The continuous measuring network currently (April 2013) consists of 63 measuring stations. Of these, 41 are ISO containers approx. 5.7 m long and 2.5 m wide, 7 containers are approx. 5.2 m long and 2.5 m wide, and 15 miniature containers have even smaller storage areas from approx. 2 , 1 × 1.4 m².
Continuous measurements
The following air components are monitored:
- Nitric oxide (54 measuring locations): chemiluminescence of the reaction of nitric oxide with ozone
- Nitrogen dioxide (54 measuring locations): After reduction to nitric oxide, chemiluminescence of the reaction of nitric oxide with ozone
- Fine dust (56 measuring locations PM10 and 15 measuring locations PM2.5): absorption of beta radiation (partly in combination with nephelometry ) or frequency change of a vibrating glass rod with dust filter with increasing dust mass
- Ozone (27 measuring locations): UV absorption
- Sulfur dioxide (16 measuring locations): UV fluorescence
In addition, other parameters such as air temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind direction and wind speed are recorded. These factors are required for dispersion calculations and have an influence on the effect of air pollutants.
Data acquisition
All measuring stations are equipped with their own data acquisition system, which acquires and saves all device data (measured values and status parameters) every five seconds. The data is compressed into mean values every hour and transmitted to the central database and measuring network control.
Discrete (discontinuous) measurements
- arsenic
- benzene
- Benzopyrene
- lead
- cadmium
- particulate matter
- nickel
- Polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCB )
- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ( PAH )
- soot
- Nitrogen dioxide
- 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin ( dioxin )
Individual evidence
- ↑ LANUV: Stations and measured values ( memento of the original from October 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LANUV: Current air quality nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LANUV: Current air quality fine dust PM 10 ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LANUV: Current air quality ozone (O 3 ) 1-hour values ( memento of the original from September 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ LANUV: Current air quality sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) ( Memento of the original from May 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection NRW: Immissions
- Legal norms on air
- EU reference laboratory in the LANUV (GeRLAP)
- Air data at the Federal Environment Agency
- WDR teletext air quality data are available from page 177
- Dispersion calculations and immission forecasts