Air quality monitoring and comparison in olympic stadiums of five continents using low cost sensors
Presented by: Edurne Ibarrola, Kunak Technologies
Summary: World Athletics started in 2018 to create a real-time air quality network with global coverage to help athletes choose the best times to train and compete and to help organizers to protect the health of athletes, understanding air quality impacts on people’s life quality. The objectives were to (1) monitor environmental conditions in Olympic stadiums and marathons, (2) study the air pollution impact in athlete’s health and performance, (3) raise awareness on air quality issues and make better decisions, (4) offer an added value to athletic competitions in terms of sustainability, increased protection of the health of participants and social awareness.
Kunak-Air 10 is provided with CO, NO2, NO, O3, NOx, PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and meteorological sensors. Five different K-Air 10 were set up in Olympic stadiums: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Mexico DF, Monaco, Sydney and Yokohama. In this context, the temporal patterns for gases and particles were studied during a period of one year (December 2018-November 2019). For gaseous pollutants, higher concentrations of O3 appear in Monaco and Yokohama, while the highest concentrations of NO2, NO and NOx appear in Addis Ababa and Mexico DF. Yokohama and Monaco stadiums are notable for the low pollutant concentrations reported (except for O3). The impact of traffic emissions is detectable in all the stadiums during the mornings, whereas distinct evening traffic peaks are observed in some of them. The highest particle concentrations were recorded at the Addis Ababa stadium and Mexico DF.
The main conclusions are: all the stadiums appear to be impacted by vehicular traffic emissions; the highest air pollutant concentrations were recorded in Addis Ababa and in Mexico DF; the daily time patterns of air pollutants provided useful information to identify optimal periods for training or competition in each stadium; and periods and days of the week which were most advisable for outdoor sports activities in each of the stadiums were identified.