In the coming weeks, citizens from major European cities will measure fine particles in the air with their smartphone. They will contribute to new insights into levels of air pollution for their city. The European iSPEX project follows an initial iSPEX project in the Netherlands.
Citizens of Athens, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin, London,
Copenhagen, Manchester, Milan and Rome are encouraged to use their
iPhone to measure the cloudless sky in the period of 1 September to
15 October 2015. Nine-thousand people received an iSPEX
add-on for their iPhone. Also people in the Netherlands that still
have their iSPEX add-on from
the initial iSPEX project are
invited to participate.
Using these citizen science measurements the iSPEX team will
produce European fine particle maps. The iSPEX project is a joint
project initiated by scientists of the University of Leiden,
NOVA,
KNMI,
SRON,
and RIVM.
For the European iSPEX
campaign the Dutch institutes collaborate with local research and
educational institutes.
European fine particle maps
In 2013 thousands of Dutch people measured fine particles in the
air with their smartphone. Scientists used these data to produce
detailed fine particle maps. The iSPEX-project
proved to be a success as a citizen science project.
The European iSPEX project
takes place in the context of the International Year of Light 2015
and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme.
RIVM
is responsible for the official air quality measurements in the
Netherlands. The rapid developments in the field of small
inexpensive sensors makes that these official measurements are
increasingly complemented with measurements by citizens or other
stake holders. RIVM
is currently investigating the best strategy to employ this type of
data.