Ambient Air
Ambient air quality
Ambient air quality can be defined as the surrounding air environment at ground level outside the tunnels. For the area surrounding EastLink, ambient air quality will vary significantly during the year and along its length due to seasonal climate variations, daily meteorological conditions, the mix of vehicles using EastLink and surrounding roads, and external events (e.g. bushfires and wood smoke from nearby residences). Monitoring of ambient air in the vicinity of the EastLink tunnels enables any changes to air quality to be identified.
Ambient air monitoring stations
There are three ground-level ambient air monitoring stations located in the vicinity of the EastLink tunnels. These stations are located at Hillcrest Reserve, Chaim Court and Craig Road. These stations have collected background data prior to the start of EastLink’s operation, and will continue to collect ambient air quality data for at least the first two years of the operation period. The ambient air quality stations provide continuous monitoring data for CO, NOx and PM10.
One hour rolling average data for CO, NOx and PM10 for the ambient monitoring stations is provided daily on this website. Meteorological data from these stations, including wind direction and wind speed, are also recorded, while the ambient station at Chaim Court also monitors PM2.5 and solar radiation.