• Air Quality Weekly       Measurements
         - 12-18 July 2004
         - 5-11 July 2004

   • National Ambient Air
      Quality Guideline for
      Criteria Pollutants

Ambient air monitoring is the measurement of a representative sample and is indicative of a portion of the atmosphere. In theory, the pollutant concentrations measured in ambient air could be entirely different if the monitoring were located a short distance away. The ambient network is designed to determine the concentrations expected to occur in the area covered by the network.

There are eight stations of the ten station network that are complete and operational . All eight stations are currently online and measure criteria and non-criteria pollutants. The criteria pollutants are : particulate matter (PM10 ), sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and lead. The non-criteria pollutants are benzene, toluene and xylene. The network measures also meteorological data which include, wind direction, vertical wind speed, wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, net radiation, barometric pressure, solar radiation ( 400-1100 nm) and uv radiation (295-385 nm).

The eight monitoring are located in Ateneo- Katipunan, Quezon City, Clark Air Base-Pampanga, Los Baños, Laguna, NAMRIA- Fort Bonifacio, PUP-Sta Mesa, Cavite, Batangas and Valenzuela.

Air quality samples are collected to 1) determine compliance with ambient air quality guideline values, 2) activate emergency control procedures that prevent or alleviate air pollution episodes 3) develop long term strategies 4) observe pollution trends within the Metro Manila airshed.

The air quality data presented in this website aims to provide information regarding weekly trends of criteria pollutants in eight monitoring stations and daily measurements for Ateneo station for particulate matter and carbon monoxide.

Weekly measurements ( 5-18 July 2004) show that the data are within the guideline values. ( Republic Act 8749 )