Across Europe, member states are experiencing extreme difficulties in meeting air pollution Limit Values set by the 2008 Air Quality Directive. These difficulties raise serious concerns, both because of the consequential health impacts, and because the predicted trends in pollution emissions are not being realised in ambient concentrations, suggesting that our understanding of pollution sources and atmospheric processes is flawed. Although monitoring networks across Europe have increased over the last ten years, monitoring has focused on determining Limit Value compliance, using CEN standard methods, rather than making measurements that clarify the relative impact of different sources and allow the refinement of models. New monitoring approaches and new technologies need to be assessed in good time for the revision of the Directive in 2013.

The AAMG December 2010 meeting, held jointly with the first workshop of the AirMonTech project AirMonTech web site will provide an authoritative view of the current position for air quality monitoring, and the possibilities for monitoring differently in future.

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Item date 21/10/2010