Abstract

Measurements of black carbon concentrations yield a valuable contribution to the determination of health effects due to air pollution. Compared to particulate matter, black carbon concentrations provide more insightful in determining these adverse health effects. The measurement instruments currently used in the Dutch National Air Quality Monitoring Network (LML), however, have become antiquated and are less suited for the determination of human exposure to black carbon. On request of the Ministry of I&M a new strategy for the measurement of black carbon is therefore determined and described in this paper. The resulting strategy contains a total of 26 measurement locations across the Netherlands. The strategy incorporates 13 existing measurement location of both DCMR (7) and GGD Amsterdam (6). Another 13 existing LML locations are added. The same measurement equipment is used on all 26 locations in order to obtain consistent and comparable measurement results. Black carbon concentrations near roads with a high traffic density are relevant in particularly due to the relative high traffic emission levels. Currently, estimations show a steep decline of traffic emissions in upcoming years in several policy scenarios. In order to monitor the expected reduction (and its associated health benefits) measurements are indispensable. Using the proposed measurement strategy, human exposure to black carbon can be determined with sufficient accuracy. By combining the measurements to air quality models a better understanding of the relation between emissions and human exposure can be obtained. This measurement strategy is made on request of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment (IenM), together with the DCMR and GGD Amsterdam.