Air Quality

 

The GLOBE Ireland Air Quality Campaign is a citizen-science campaign to assess traffic-related air pollution at schools. This is an educational project designed to raise awareness about air pollution, engage students in the scientific process, promote action around clean air and showcase the potential of citizen science to gather unique datasets and insights into our environment. There have been 10 campaigns since 2019, with over 800 teachers registering to participate.

Each school that registers to participate in a GLOBE Ireland Air Quality campaign will receive monitoring tubes to measure nitrogen dioxide outside at their school.  The tubes are positioned at three locations at each school: one near a main road, one at a car park/drop off location and one in a relatively sheltered area. The tubes are left up for a four-week period.

 

Campaign Timeline

This is an Autumn campaign that starts in September, with the monitoring period running through Septmber and October and results being released in December. 

 

Activities

  1. Tubes Up - Schools select 3 sites to put up their meausing tubes
  2. Tubes Down - The measuring tubes are taken down and sent away to the lab
  3. Weather Observations (Optional)
  4. Clean Air Map (Optional)
  5. Traffic Survey (Optional)
  6. Clean Air Action Plan (Optional)

Campaign participants in the Republic of Ireland will recieve by post: 

  • 3 plastic tubes that meausre NO2 
  • 3 plastic tube holders and cable ties for installation 
  • A return envelope to send the tubes to the lab
  • Cloud ID Chart
  • Printed Instructions for carrying out the campaign 

 

Online Resources

Events

Teacher Training Webinar - 17th September 2025, 7pm. Register HERE

 

FAQ's

It is difficult to tell the exact amount of time needed, but we estimate that teachers will need about 1 hour to put up the tubes for the start of the monitoring period and another hour to take them down at the end. If teachers do our complimentary lessons and other activities, then it will take up more time. It is completely up to the teachers how much extra time they can and want to invest besides the minimum required to collect data.

Once the measuring tubes have gone up, teachers can use the Air Quality classroom activities and worksheets to further students understanding and knowledge of the topic. These are all availble through the Teachers Guidlines linked under Resources. 

Once the measuring tubes have been taken down, you fill in the 'Tubes Down' sheet and post them using the pre-addressed return envelope that came in the physical Resource Pack you recived by post.

Results will be given out in December, before the Christmas break. They will come in the format of the average NO2 (μg/m3) concentration for the time it was exposed to the air (so 1 month).

This and other GLOBE Ireland campaigns are free to the schools that signed up in the Republic of Ireland. We only have a limited number of spots per campaign, so ensure you sign up before the spots are filled. 

Our resources are free to use by anyone at any time, so teachers can use them and our protocols and work at their own pace and on their own timeline. You will however need to acquire the necessary equipment yourself. If you are in the Republic of Ireland, contact us to let us know that you are interested. We will see if we can assist you in any way.

The GLOBE Ireland team is always keen to hear from you and assist where we can. You can email us anytime at globe@eeu.antaisce.org.