Air Pollution Trends in Brisbane, Australia, Between 1980 and 2003

This study aimed to evaluate long term air pollution trends in Brisbane, Australia, between 1980 and 2003. We obtained air pollution data recorded at the two monitoring sites (Eagle Farm and Rocklea) from the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. Graphical and polynomial regression analyses were carried out on daily maximum 1-hour average or daily 24-hour average concentrations of NO2, O3, and PM10. The results show that there were significant up-and-down features for NO2 and O3 concentrations in both sites during 1980–1993 whereas a similar trend was observed with PM10 concentrations in Rocklea during 1985–1993. However, NO2 concentrations were stable for both sites in recent years and a similar trend was observed with O3 and PM10 concentrations for both sites during 1994–2003. Annual average of daily 24-hour PM10, NO2 and O3 concentrations fluctuated from 15.6 to 38.7μg m-3, 6.0 to 16.1ppb and 7.9 to 16.3ppb for Rocklea; from 17.5 to 29.7μg m-3, 8.9 to 14.9ppb and 11.8 to 18.2ppb for Eagle Farm during the study period, respectively. Annual average daily maximum 1- hour NO2 and O3 fluctuated from 15.5 to 31.8ppb and 18.3 to 37.0ppb for Rocklea; from 20.0 to 31.8ppb and 23.4 to 35.1ppb for Eagle Farm during the study period, respectively. For all the target compounds, Rocklea recorded a substantially higher number of days with concentrations above the relevant daily maximum 1-hour or 24- hour standards than that in Eagle Farm.