Indoor Air Quality at an Urban Primary School in Madrid (Spain): Influence of Surrounding Environment and Occupancy.

Monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools is critical because children spend most of their daytime inside. One of the main air pollutant sources in urban areas is road traffic, which greatly influences air quality. Thus, this study addresses, in depth, the linkages of meteorology, ambient air pollution, and indoor activities with IAQ in a traffic-influenced school situated south of Madrid.

Real-Time Measurements of Indoor-Outdoor Exchange of Gaseous and Particulate Atmospheric Pollutants in an Urban Area.

Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risks to health, causing millions of deaths and deleterious health effects worldwide, especially in urban areas where citizens are exposed to high ambient levels of pollutants, also influencing indoor air quality (IAQ). Many sources of indoor air are fairly obvious and well known, but the contribution of outside sources to indoor air still leads to significant uncertainties, in particular the influence that environmental variables have on outdoor/indoor pollutant exchange mechanisms. This is a critical aspect to consider in IAQ studies.