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Nelson at Blackwood St

The Blackwood St monitoring site in Tahunanui consists of a BAM (Thermo Anderson FH-62) continuously monitoring PM10 data and a gravametric  Partisol 2025i monitoring PM2.5. A meteorological station is located beside it measuring air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction.

PM10 has been monitored at a number of different sites within the Tahunanui. The current monitoring site was established in 2006 and is located within a reserve area between industrial and residential land uses. The main state highway runs to the south and east of the monitoring site. A meteorological monitoring site is co-located with the PM10 monitor and a second meteorological site is located on the crest of the Port Hills to the north east. PM10 monitoring is undertaken using a real time monitor (Thermo FH62). Air quality in Tahunanui is impacted by domestic home heating, industrial emissions (boilers), transport emissions and from natural sources (dust and marine aerosol). The airshed is considered to be close to complying with the National Environmental Standards for air quality. In recent years most recorded exceedances of the Standards are caused by fine wind blown dust thought to be from roads and unpaved areas, especially in summer months.

Scientific Indicators
Scientific data for this site

This dashboard shows information on the data collected by the regional councils for air quality scientific indicators:

  • PM10
    • Hourly average
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    • Daily average
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    • Monthly average
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    • Annual average
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    • Exceedance
      2023
      Year to date
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      Exceedance
      2023
      Year to date
      No Data
    Show more information Hide information

    What do the dashboard colours mean for PM10?

    The dashboard colours show how PM10 levels sit in relation to guidelines – from dark blue (less than 10%) to red (more than 100% of the guideline).  The guideline (100%) value for the daily average PM10 is 50 µg/m3 and  20 µg/m3  for the annual average.  There are no guidelines for hourly or monthly data (charcoal colour). 

    If a site has less than two days of PM10 exceedances each year, this is compliant with the NES-AQ.  If there are two or more exceedances annually, then the site does not comply with the NES-AQ.

    Colour Percent of guidelines
    Less than 10% of guideline
    10-33% of guideline
    33-66% of guideline
    66-100% of guideline
    Greater than 100% of guideline
    No guideline
    Colour Number of exceedances permitted
    Compliant
    Non-compliant

    PM10 information

    • Hourly
    • Daily
    • Monthly
    • Annual
    • Exceedances
    • Show wind speed
    • Show temperature
    Months:
    -
    Showing:

    Guideline

    Concentration (µg/m3)

    Wind speed (km/h)

    Air temperature (℃)

    Guideline

    What is this graph showing me?

    This graph shows how levels of PM10 change on an hourly, daily, monthly or annual basis for the selected time period. The levels depend on local sources of emissions and what the weather is doing.  Emissions from various sources change, depending on whether it’s a weekday or the weekend or at different times of the year (e.g. emissions from home heating goes up in the cold winter months).  Still conditions often lead to high concentrations, as there is no wind to blow away the pollutants in the air.   The PM10 concentrations are shown against the guidelines for air quality (for daily and annual averages), and where concentrations exceed the guideline (red line) this can be a cause for concern, especially if this occurs on a frequent basis.   

    Exceedance data (when available) shows the number of days per year that the concentrations went above 50 µg/m3.  

    The World Health Organization published new guidelines in September 2021 of 45 µg/m3 for daily averages and 15 µg/m3 for annual averages.

    For information about allowable exceedances and targets, and the limitations of data shown, see the Factsheet on monitoring air quality in New Zealand. 

     Download data