Development and deployment of a “Mid Cost” sensor network for urban Greenhouse Gases and Air Quality monitoring with a focus on CO2.

As part of the European research project ICOS-Cities, the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE) and Origins.earth are seeking to extend the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) measurement network in Paris and its immediate suburbs by installing new sensors on the roofs of tall buildings. Each sensor will measure CO₂ concentration in real time, which will then be used in an inversion model to determine CO₂ emissions at the scale of a district. Several sensors will be upgraded in a second phase with the addition of an Air Quality (AQ) measurement cell.

We present a new stand-alone sensor box design (called AtmoBox) that allows to connect GHG and AQ sensors in a single box, as well as the implementation of these Atmoboxes in a ground-based atmospheric monitoring network. In addition to 9 long-term stations equipped with high precision CRDS spectrometers, about 30 Mid Cost instruments are deployed within Paris and its near suburb, measuring CO₂ through NDIR sensors. We will detail the steps from the search for suitable sites for the urban measurements, the characterisation of the sensors in relation to the environmental parameters in the laboratory, the related calibration and quality control strategy to meet the performance objective and the performance assessment of the sensors.