The Danish Air Quality Monitoring Programme

Abstract

The air quality in Danish cities has been monitored continuously since 1982 within the Danish Air Quality Monitoring (LMP) network. The aim is to follow the concentration levels of toxic pollutants in the urban atmosphere and to provide the necessary knowledge to assess the trends, to perform source apportionment, and to understand the governing processes that determine the level of air pollution in Denmark. In 2009 the air quality was measured in four Danish cities and at two background sites. In addition model calculations were carried out to supplement the measurements. At the two street stations in Copenhagen NO2 was found in concentrations above EU limit values plus margin of tolerance. In the previous years PM10 was above the limit value. However, in 2009 PM10 has decreased at H.C.Andersens Boulevard and no exceedance of the limit value was observed. The concentrations for most pollutants have been strongly decreasing during the last decades, however, only a slight decrease has been observed for NO2 and O3.