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Technical University of Munich

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Greenhouse gases and pollutants in Munich: Everything is well documented

NEWS, Environment |

Jia Chen measures greenhouse gases and air quality in Munich at nearly 150 stations. Greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter: nothing escapes the attention of the professor of environmental sensor technology and modelling at the Technical University of Munich and head of the environment department at TUM MIRMI. For the first time, she is enabling the city of Munich to monitor greenhouse gases precisely – and is accompanying Munich on its path to climate neutrality by 2035.

Nothing escapes the sensor network: five precise measuring stations on Munich's rooftops for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane; 100 stations for carbon dioxide on roads; and another 30 for determining local particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide levels on roads. ‘This is a globally unique sensor network,’ says Prof. Jia Chen, who is researching the air and specifically greenhouse gases in Munich for the EU project ICOS Cities.

40 terabytes of air quality data as open source

The current challenge: although the city of Munich collects data on greenhouse gas emissions, for example, this data lags behind reality by about two years. Thanks to the new sensor network (completed last year), Professor Chen can access the necessary data at the touch of a button, and the city's emissions inventory has become more accurate. The high-performance computers have already processed over 120 million measurements. The nearly 40 terabytes of data can be viewed on the ICOS Carbon Portal.

Methane hotspots can already be identified today, such as a landfill site on Fröttmaninger Berg, the Theresienwiese during the Oktoberfest, or gas leaks recently found by researchers near Munich Central Station. What is new is that the air quality in Munich's Maxvorstadt district can be represented in colour depending on the intensity of the nitrogen content, making it immediately clear at a glance which streets exceed the permissible limits. Since many of the new sensors were only installed and mounted in the last two years, some significant research results are still pending. However, it has already been established, for example, that the trend in carbon dioxide emissions has been declining almost continuously in recent years. Still, there is a noticeable upward outlier for 2024. ‘This has also been observed by our ICOS partner in Paris,’ says Chen, Professor of Environmental Sensors and Modelling. The environmental researcher would like to keep her explanations for this to herself. More analyses need to be carried out first.

The CO₂ concentration in Munich continues to rise year after year. This will only change once climate neutrality is achieved.

Carbon dioxide content in the air is rising steadily

Munich aims to be climate neutral by 2035. This means no more than 0.3 tonnes of CO₂ per person per year will be allowed. ‘So far, concentrations have been rising year after year in a staircase pattern,’ says Prof. Chen, ‘going up in winter and down slightly in summer – but overall, concentrations are rising because greenhouse gases take a very long time to break down.’ The fact that there is no longer any increase here is a prerequisite for climate change to halt. One thing is clear: whether Munich's strategy for climate neutrality succeeds or not, everything is well documented.

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Text: Andreas Schmitz

Air quality and CO₂: Prof. Jia Chen has built a network of sensors in Munich. Image: Pekka Pelkonen/ICOS

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