An urban air quality sensor network in Enschede, the Netherlands: Opportunities for science, technology, education, and policy

An air quality (AQ) network consisting of roughly 100 low-cost sensors and 12 high-quality AQ instruments is currently being set up in Enschede, the Netherlands. The network is part of Infrastructure Twente for Environmental Monitoring (ITEM), based at the University of Twente, which integrates climate, meteorological and hydrological observations in the region. By introducing AQ sensors in in an area with low sensor coverage, the ITEM-AQ network has the potential to improve local air quality estimates, enable enhanced monitoring, model evaluation, early-warning systems, and source apportionment.

The network will support a wide range of  scientific investigations, including the interaction between air pollution and extreme temperatures in affecting human health, and the extent to which air quality exposure varies with socio-economic status. At the same time, ITEM-AQ will serve as a test bed to improve instrumentation, data handling, storage and sharing, leveraging both new and existing platforms (e.g., samenmeten.nl). Measurements from static AQ stations will be complemented by observations  from instruments mounted on Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles that can provide atmospheric profiles in addition to near-surface  “nose level” observations.

The ITEM-AQ infrastructure offers substantial opportunities for integration into university education and training. Stakeholders will be engaged from an early stage to co-create relevant and actionable outputs. At a later stage, data gathered by the AQ network will be integrated into an urban digital twin to aid policy development and evaluation.