Air quality data averaging periods

Air quality data readings are taken continuously and averaged to give hourly and daily air quality information.

Using our minute data, we report concentrations as hourly and daily averages. All averages are arithmetic means.

Hourly

Data are collected continuously at each monitoring site for the selected parameters and these are reported as hourly data readings in scientific units. 

At some rural network sites instruments power up every 15 minutes to sample for 1 minute, and only continue measurements if TSP concentrations exceed 25 µg/m3. In this case, unlike the standard averaging method, an algorithm calculates hourly concentrations by accounting for the time between value changes.

Daily

The hourly readings, from 1:00am to 12 midnight, are summarised as daily data readings in scientific units. The table below lists the ways in which data is presented.

Type of average used for hourly and daily web updates

Daily web updates made 

(using this type of average unless indicated otherwise)

Parameters updated 

1-hour average (AA1H)

Maximum of the 1-hour averages recorded for the day (i.e. between 01:00 and 24:00)

PM10
PM2.5
Ozone
Sulfur dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide
Visibility
 24-hour average (AA24H) Average of the 1-hour averages recorded for the day (i.e. between 01:00 and 24:00) PM10
PM2.5
Sulfur dioxide

Rolling 4-hour average (RA4H): 4-hour average calculated for each hour of the day, where the time of the RA4H (e.g. 05:00) refers to the last hour of the averaging period (02:00-05:00).  Note that the RA4H for 03:00 includes the hour 23:00 from the previous day up to 03:00 on the reported day.

Maximum of the rolling 4-hour averages recorded for the day (i.e. between 01:00 and 24:00)

Ozone

Rolling 8-hour average (RA8H): 8-hour average calculated for each hour of the day, where the time of the RA8H (e.g. 09:00) refers to the last hour of the averaging period (02:00-09:00). Note that the RA8H for 07:00 includes the hour 23:00 from the previous day up to 07:00 on the reported day.

Maximum of the rolling 8-hour averages recorded for the day (i.e. between 01:00 and 24:00)

Carbon monoxide
Rolling 24-hour average (RA24H): 24-hour average calculated for each hour of the day, where the time of the RA24H refers to the last hour of the averaging period. For example, the RA24H for 23:00 includes data from the previous day (23:00) up to the hour 23:00 from the reported day.

The arithmetic mean of 1-hour averages recorded for the day (i.e. between 01:00 and 24:00)

PM10
PM2.5