The central Wairarapa town often reaches hazardous air quality levels during winter, which could lead to spikes in respiratory-related hospital admissions. World-leading technology was rolled out last week to get a better picture of the town’s air quality fluctuations. The 24 sensors spread over the town allowed National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research to generate animations showing air quality changes over 24 hours. “We first trialled this set-up of a network of outdoor air quality sensors feeding results into a daily visualisation last year in Arrowtown and found it was a powerful way to show residents exactly what was happening each day with their air quality." This would help identify hot spots for poorer air quality across the town and councils can then target interventions to improve air quality, he said.

Source: Stuff June 23, 2020 04:30 UTC