Continuous air monitoring results laid bare : do we know what we know?

Abstract

As an analytical chemist based in academia, I am cautious about air monitoring results. Every analysis has some degree of uncertainty, both with respect to identification of the compounds present, as well as their concentrations. The reality is that even certified reference materials (such as those supplied by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) which have been analysed rigorously by many laboratories using state-of-the-art equipment, require updating of their certificates of analysis (“accurate” concentrations) over time as technology progresses, resulting in lowered detection limits or improved precision. Many professionals working in the environmental sciences, however, take analytical results generated for them or by them, as absolute. Treating chemical analyses as a “black box” can lead to incorrect conclusions, unsuitable mitigation measures or management options…and ultimately, the environment which we are trying to protect may suffer.