The main ambient air quality monitoring station for Hobart is located in New Town near the Tasmanian Hockey Centre, approximately 3.5 km north-east of Hobart CBD. This station was originally situated at Prince of Wales Bay, however, after a review of the Tasmanian Air Monitoring Plan in 2005, the site was found to give inadequate representation of the air quality in residential areas of greater Hobart. In 2006, it was moved to its current location where the measurements are believed to be more representative of the air quality in greater Hobart.
The station currently includes Low-Volume Air Samplers (LVAS)
to measure PM10 and PM2.5, and a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) instrument to measure PM10. The LVAS and TEOM data are used to report against the Australian air quality standards. These data undergo a validation process prior to publication. There are also two DRX DustTrak instruments (optical particle counters) to measure indicative PM2.5 and
PM10 for real-time public information. Real-time plots (with 10-minute updates) of the DustTrak data can be found on the Hobart (New Town) Real-time Air Quality page.
Graphs of annual validated data (LVAS and TEOM) are available via the
validated data portal.
Recent unvalidated air quality data from New Town air station
The plot below shows day-averaged PM10 and PM2.5 from the most recent 30 days of DustTrak data from the station.
Other data plots, including data from previous years, are available on our historical data-plot page.
The National Environment Protection Measure standards for the species measured at this air monitoring station are:
- PM10 - day average: 50 ug/m3; annual average: 25
ug/m3
- PM2.5 - day average: 25 ug/m3; annual average: 8
ug/m3
Important Note: The unvalidated data in the plot above are indicative only, and are provided for public information.
In keeping with legislative requirements the data are reported in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) throughout the year.