CitSciOz23: ICO2N Brisbane's Independent CO2 Monitoring Project - Charles Worringham

ICO2N - Brisbane's Independent CO2 Monitoring Project
Author & Speaker: Charles Worringham, The Hut Environmental & Community Association
Carbon dioxide levels continue to rise worldwide, and CO2 is the
principal greenhouse gas that drives climate change. Globally, carbon dioxide measurements are undertaken by national scientific agencies such as NOAA in the U.S. and CSIRO in Australia and focus on obtaining regionally representative samples of “well-mixed” air above the atmospheric boundary layer.
While these agencies seek to minimise the effects of local sources and sinks, surface-level measurements in urban areas can provide helpful information about CO2 emissions in cities, and analysis of spatial and temporal patterns can provide clues about sources and sinks. However, unlike air quality measurements of pollutants such as Sox and Nox, there is very little systematic monitoring of surface-level carbon dioxide levels in cities and little public awareness of how cities contribute to emissions.
This project aims to provide data for Brisbane’s carbon dioxide concentrations through continuous monitoring at several sites extending from the city centre to the urban edge. The project uses low-cost, non-dispersive infrared sensors (Senseair K30) together with temperature, pressure, and relative humidity measurements. Continuous data collection is undertaken with a Raspberry Pi Zero microcontroller using custom software (Python). Each site is internet-connected, and daily data is analysed and published at www.ico2n.org.
The presentation outlines the project's development, the evolution of calibration and analysis procedures, data limitations, issues concerning set-up and siting, and initial results from comparisons between and within sites across days of the week, and the effects of weather patterns. It also compares urban CO2 projects in other cities around the world.