Sensors help map out cleaner cities

Researchers from Imperial College London and from the universities of Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle and Southampton, all in the UK, have created Mobile Environmental Sensing System Across Grid Environments (MESSAGE ), an initiative that brings together groups working in e-science, transport, sensors and communications to develop a system that can map the distribution of pollutants in cities. At the beginning of July, the scientists deployed three types of sensors in South Kensington, Leicester, Gateshead and Cambridge to measure and model air pollution in these areas. The most sophisticated sensors in the study, which were attached to vehicles driving in South Kensington, simultaneously measure as many as five traffic pollutants, including nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. Other sensors will be attached to traffic lights and street lamps to model pollution clouds in three dimensions, possibly enabling scientists to manage traffic congestion and improve air quality.