Tom Keatley

Year

2016

Degree Name

Bachelor of Environmental Science Honours

Department

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Advisor(s)

Clare Murphy

Abstract

Air quality in Sydney is good compared to many other parts of the world, however poor air quality events occasionally occur in Sydney that exceed national ambient air pollution guidelines. Poor air quality events may be caused by natural or anthropogenic processes. Poor air quality is well known to have adverse impacts on health and is associated with in increased mortality and hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

In this thesis air quality patterns in Sydney were examined, with particular interest in Western Sydney and the potential of urban air pollution hotspots. Historical (10 year) air quality observations of from six fixed sites within the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) air quality monitoring network were analysed to determine an east/west relationship. A temporary monitoring station was established in Auburn, Western Sydney and compared to surrounding monitoring stations to determine the presence (or absence) of an air pollution hotspot in an urban/residential/industrial area. The pollutants used in the analysis included; Nitrogen oxides (NOx) = Nitrogen oxide (NO) + Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Ozone (O3), Carbon monoxide (CO), Sulfur dioxide (SO2) and Particulate matter less than 10 and 2.5 micrometres (PM10 and PM2.5 respectively). Analysis was undertaken using the “Openair” and “stats” packages in R.

FoR codes (2008)

050206 Environmental Monitoring

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.