Air quality monitoring sites in the Helsinki metropolitan area

Brahe sports field air quality monitoring site in Kallio. Deciduous trees in autumn colours in the background. The measuring site is painted in bright colours, adorned with pictures of laughing plants, a window with floating clouds and a person whose throat and lungs have been painted to stand out.

Where is air quality monitored?

We continuously monitor the air quality at 11 monitoring sites around the Helsinki metropolitan area. The locations of the monitoring sites are shown on the map below. Some of the air quality monitoring sites are permanent (Helsinki city centre, Mäkelänkatu, Vartiokylä and Kallio in Helsinki, Leppävaara and Luukki in Espoo, and Tikkurila in Vantaa), while some are moved every one or two years. In 2024, the mobile monitoring sites are located in Teollisuuskatu and Vuosaari Harbour in Helsinki, in Hämeenlinnanväylä in Vantaa and in Lintuvaara, Espoo. The permanent monitoring sites are in the same place every year, so their monitoring results show the development of air quality. Mobile sites allow air quality to be monitored in several different areas.

We monitor the air quality in different types of environments, such as in the influence areas of traffic and wood burning, as well as in areas far away from traffic and other emission sources in Kallio and Luukki. The results of each monitoring sites can be used to evaluate air quality in other similar environments.

Information about monitoring sites (in Finnish),

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In 2024, air quality is monitored in busy areas in the Helsinki city centre (Mannerheimintie 5, Helsinki), Mäkelänkatu (Mäkelänkatu 50, Helsinki), Teollisuuskatu (Teollisuuskatu 18, Helsinki), Leppävaara (Läkkisepänkuja 1, Espoo), Tikkurila (Neilikkatie 3, Vantaa) and in Hämeenlinnanväylä (Kaivoksela, Vantaa). In detached house areas air quality is monitored in Vartiokylä (Huivipolku, Helsinki) and Lintuvaara (Punarinnantie, Espoo). One mobile station monitors air quality in Vuosaari Harbour. In background areas air quality is monitored in Kallio (urban background, Brahe sports field, Helsinki) and Luukki (Luukintie, Espoo, regional background).

The air quality monitoring sites have several measuring instruments used to monitor several different air pollutants. In addition to monitoring sites, air quality is also monitored at several different locations with smaller individual measuring instruments. Passive samplers, for example, have been used to monitor the impact of traffic on air quality in several hundred different locations. The monitoring results can be viewed in HSY’s map service kartta.hsy.fi.

In addition to monitoring sites, the impact of wood burning on the air quality in detached housing areas is also monitored with individual samplers and analysers (LDSA and PAH monitoring results). We also monitor dust levels near construction sites and along some major roads and streets with indicative measuring instruments.