Reading Borough Council Diffusion Tubes

As well as three continuous air quality monitoring stations, Reading Borough Council also undertake nitrogen dioxide measurements via a diffusion tube network which stretches across the Borough. The diffusion tube network was introduced across the Reading area in February 2003 and currently measures at circa 60 locations.

The diffusion tube results are mainly used for measuring the impact of busy roads on local air quality. The tubes themselves are about 7cm long and 1.5cm in diameter and are a passive measurement methodology. Once a month the tubes are changed and sent off for laboratory analysis, with the results being provided as a monthly average for each site location. We have 3 tubes located at the Reading AURN continuous monitoring site, this allows us to compare the tube readings with the more accurate AURN measurements. We then calculate an adjustment factor (bias correction) and apply the correction factor to calculate the annual averages for each tube location.

Download Data

All the annual average diffusion tube results for the Reading can be accessed below.
Download Reading annual diffusion data (XLSX)

Location of diffusion tube monitoring

This map shows the locations of the diffusion tube monitoring across the Reading area. Click on the image below to view a larger version in a new window.