Tashkent, Uzbekistan – The Center of Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan received a mobile air monitoring laboratory at the official Handover Ceremony under the regional project of the World Bank / EC IFAS “Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin" (CAMP4ASB) on June 22, 2021.
The mobile air monitoring laboratory monitors air pollution in real-time. It equipped with modern automated gas analyzers to measure the level of main pollutants in the atmosphere – nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon oxide (CO), ammonia (NH3), fine particles (РМ2,5 and РМ10), ozone.
The mobile air monitoring laboratory, except for air pollution monitoring, has a wide range of capabilities, for example, it measures the main meteorological parameters (temperature, air pressure, air humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation rate). Its special software allows to collect, process and analyze the monitoring results and to transmit online data to the Data Collection and Processing Center.
As noted in Uzhydromet, the mobile air monitoring laboratory will go to sites to estimate air pollution in case of emergency. Moreover, it will monitor areas where stationary air quality monitoring stations are not installed. Currently, 65 air monitoring stations operate across the Republic. The air pollution data are published on the public online platform monitoring.meteo.uz and AirUz mobile app.
Earlier, under CAMP4ASB project, fifty automatic weather stations (AWS) were purchased and installed in Uzbekistan that allowed to improve the Uzhydromet’s efficiency of climate monitoring meanwhile two mobile environmental laboratories bought for the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Ecology and Environmental Protection have improved the quality of environmental control. Besides, the modernization of the MODIS satellite's receiving station allows monitoring snow and ice cover and building computer models based on the satellite imagery.
In the run-up to the Central Asia Climate Change Conference (CACCC-2021), the Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia, Zafar Makhmudov, held a meeting with Uzhydromet Director-General Sherzod Habibullayev on June 22. They discussed issues of further cooperation, as well as the participation of Uzhydromet's representatives in the CACCC-2021, which will be held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on July 26-27.