The story appears on

Page A4

March 10, 2012

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeMetroEnvironment

City releases new air-quality data

SHANGHAI started to release real-time PM2.5 air-quality measurements from two of its monitoring spots on Thursday and will release data from more areas soon, officials from Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center said yesterday.

Both PM2.5 figures at the two released spots - one in Putuo District and one in Zhangjiang of the Pudong New Area - met the nation's new standard.

The center put PM2.5 data of the two spots onto its website on Monday and removed it the

next day, claiming the system was not stable.

On Monday and Tuesday, data from the two spots showed PM2.5 particles in the air failed to meet the new standard and at times were more than 2 1/2 times higher due to the haze.

However, PM2.5 data at the two spots were only around 30 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday, a windy day with blue sky. That was lower than restricted concentrations of a daily average of 75 micrograms per cubic meter.

Fu Qingyan, chief engineer at the center, said the two spots are both national monitoring spots and the release of the data as a trial is meaningful, since one is in the Puxi area and one is in Pudong. She said all 10 of Shanghai's national monitoring spots will report PM2.5 measurements by April.

Local officials did not say when the city will include PM2.5 measurement into its air-quality index, which now covers only PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The reported number of days with "excellent" and "good" air is expected to drop by 10 to 15 percent once the PM2.5 gauge takes effect.

PM2.5 measure monitors "fine" particles measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter. Experts say these are small enough to lodge in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, potentially causing serious long-term health consequences.

Shanghai is one of the first cities chosen to carry out PM2.5 and ozone monitoring in a program to be introduced across China before 2016.


 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend