I came to Auchencorth Moss this September to collect data for my final year project at University of Leeds. The project is concerned with measuring concentrations of airborne particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in urban and rural areas of northern England using a low-cost portable particle counter Dylos 1700.
The Dylos uses laser technology to record the concentration of particles per cubic foot of air flowing through the instrument. However, in air quality legislation particulate matter concentrations are expressed as mass concentrations in μg/m3 and therefore a function to convert particle number to mass concentration is required. To obtain the function the Dylos was placed at the AURN site at Auchencorth Moss where it ran alongside the TEOM-FDMS instrument between 18th and 24th September 2015. The site was chosen as its geographical setting is very similar to the area of study in northern England. Provided there is a good correlation between the two instruments’ data, a conversion function will be determined from the line of best fit.
The conversion function will be applied to all measurements taken in rural areas of northern England during this summer and autumn. Calculated mass concentrations will be compared to those in major cities across the region.
I would like to express my gratitude to the staff at Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and in particular to Dr. Marsailidh Twigg, for their assistance with the data collection at Auchencorth Moss.
Tomas Liska, BSc Meteorology and Climate Science, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds