'Pollution sniffing' van hits the streets in Metro Vancouver
A new mobile lab is helping researchers at UBC to map levels of air pollution in Metro Vancouver in real time, monitor how they change, and measure which locations are most impacted.
The Portable Laboratory for Understanding Human-Made Emissions, PLUME for short, was developed by Dr. Naomi Zimmerman and it's described as a pollution-sniffing lab on wheels.
"I'm very passionate about all air pollution sampling happening in the community, in the real world, because this is actually the air that people in our community are breathing," she said.
"I am very confident that this is really going to up the game in terms of air pollution sampling."
Zimmerman says air pollution is a linked to nine million premature deaths globally each year.
"There is no safe level of exposure to air pollution," she said. "Even at very low concentrations, there are health effects."
The van is equipped with a pump that feeds air into it constantly, that air is sampled and the information is fed into a dashboard, Zimmerman says. A UBC student serves as a "co-pilot," making in-person observations to supplement the information gathered automatically.
"What it can do is it measures a suite of both regulated air pollutants and also emerging air pollutants. It samples those air pollutants while in motion and anywhere it happens to go," she said, adding that sensors also measure wind in order to get a better idea of which direction polluted air is blowing.
Some of what it can detect includes carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ground-level ozone, black carbon, methane, and "volatile organic compounds," according to a news release from UBC.
'IF YOU SMELL IT, REPORT IT'
Another way the van is used is to map the relationship between unpleasant smells and air pollution, Zimmerman says.
"Right now, we're sampling hotspots of odour for air pollutants," she says
PLUME is part of a project called Smell Vancouver, where anyone in the region can submit reports of unpleasant smells using an app. Zimmerman says those reports will help flag places the van should visit.
The app asks people rate how offensive the smell is and to describe it by clicking on words like "fishy, smoky, chemical, decaying animal, or rotten eggs." It also asks people whether they experienced symptoms like coughing, dizziness, nausea or headache.
LINK: https://smell-vancouver.ca/
"We're using actually a citizen-science generated map of odour hotspots to know where we should go and do some sampling," she says.
"If you smell it, report it."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.