Glossary

This glossary provides definitions of common terms used in the context of air pollution.

You can navigate quickly to a term using the alphabetic links below; clicking on the terms will show their definition.

Glossary 



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  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
    Monitoring of PMM10 levels in the UK has to date, been largely based upon the use of TEOM analysers. A principal concern with the TEOM instrument is that the filter is held at an elevated temperature (50°C) in order to minimise errors associated with the evaporation and condensation of water vapour. This can also lead to the loss of the more volatile species and has led to the identification of differences between TEOM and gravimetric measurements at co-located sites. In the past, a factor of 1.3 was applied to all TEOM measured concentrations to estimate the gravimetric equivalent. The Volatile Correction Method (VCM, http://www.volatile-correction-model.info/) has recently been developed. The tool uses measurements of volatile particulate matter made by nearby FDMS instruments to correct TEOM measurements for the loss of such volatile material. The corrected measurements have been demonstrated to be equivalent to the gravimetric reference equivalent.

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