An early deposit gauge for collecting particulates such as soot in air pollution, photographed c.1910, as illustrated in the book The Smoke Problem of Great Cities by Shaw and Owens, 1925.

A deposit gauge is a large, funnel-like scientific instrument used for capturing and measuring atmospheric particulates, notably soot, carried in air pollution and "deposited" back down to ground.[1]

Design and construction

Deposit gauges are similar to rain gauges. They have a large circular funnel on top, made of stone so it's not corroded by acid rain and mounted on a simple wooden or metal stand, which drains down into a collection bottle beneath. Typically the funnel has a wire-mesh screen around its perimeter to deter perching birds.[1] Most are made to a standardized design, known as a standard deposit gauge, introduced in 1916[2] and formalized in a British Standard in 1951,[3] which means the pollution collected in different places can be systematically studied and compared.[1][4][5] The bottle is removed after a month and the contents taken away for analysis of water (such as rain, fog, and snow), insoluble matter (such as soot), and soluble matter.[4]

Early history

The first gauges of this type were developed in the early 20th century by W.J. Russell of St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Coal Smoke Abatement Society.[1] Between 1910 and 1916, the design was refined and standardized by the Committee for the Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution, a group of expert, volunteer scientists studying air pollution of which Sir Napier Shaw, first director of the Met Office, was chair.[5] The first scientific paper featuring deposit gauge measurements was titled "The Sootfall of London: Its Amount, Quality, and Effects" and published in The Lancet in January 1912.[6][7] Thanks to the introduction of the deposit gauge, air quality in Britain was monitored systematically from 1914 onward and this played an important role in determining the effectiveness of efforts to control pollution.[8] By 1927, some deposit gauges were already showing 50 percent reductions in "deposited matter", although air pollution remained a major problem.[9]

Over the next few decades, deposit gauges were deployed in many British towns and cities, allowing rough comparisons to be made of pollution in different parts of the country.[10][11] According to pollution historian Stephen Mosley, by 1949, some 177 gauges had been deployed across Britain, so creating the world's first large-scale pollution monitoring network, but the number increased dramatically after the Great London Smog of 1952, reaching 615 in 1954 and 1066 in 1966.[4]

Modern use

Although deposit gauges were inaccurate and their limitations were well known from the start,[1][12][13] their widespread introduction still represented a considerable advance in the study and comparison of pollution at different times of the year and in different places.[4][14] In his book State, Science and the Skies: Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere, Mark Whitehead, geography lecturer at Aberystywth University, has described the deposit gauge as "perhaps the most important technological device in the history of Britain's air pollution monitoring".[15] Even so, from the mid-20th century, it was gradually superseded by more accurate instruments and better methods of data collection and analysis.

Today, although air pollution is more likely to be measured with automated, electronic sensors, deposit gauges are still occasionally used. Modern variants on the standard deposit gauge include the so-called "frisbee" gauge, in which the deposit collector is shaped like an inverted frisbee.[16] Other variants include the directional deposit gauge, which has four tall, removable bottles to collect deposits arriving from different directions.[17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Brimblecombe, Peter (1987). The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. Routledge. pp. 147–160. ISBN 9781136703294.
  2. ↑ Isaac, Peter (September 1953). "Air Pollution and Man's Health: In Great Britain". Public Health Reports. 68 (9): 868–870. doi:10.2307/4588576. JSTOR 4588576. PMC 2024105. PMID 13089018.
  3. ↑ BS 1747-13:1994: Deposit gauges for atmospheric pollution. London: British Standards Institution. 15 February 1994.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Mosley, Stephen (August 2009). "'A Network of Trust': Measuring and Monitoring Air Pollution in British Cities, 1912- 1960". Environment and History. 15 (3): 273–302. doi:10.3197/096734009X12474738131074. JSTOR 20723733. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Atmospheric Pollution". Nature. 94 (2355): 433–434. 17 December 1914. Bibcode:1914Natur..94..433.. doi:10.1038/094433a0. S2CID 3978590.
  6. ↑ Shaw, Napier; Owens, John Switzer (1925). The Smoke Problem of Great Cities. London: Constable & Company. pp. 78–90. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "The Sootfall of London: Its Amount, Quality, and Effects". The Lancet. 179 (4610): 47–50. 6 January 1912. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)51732-2. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  8. ↑ Hodgson, Susan; Khaw, Fu-Meng; Pearce, Mark; Mulloli, Tanja-Pless (July 2009). "Predicting black smoke levels from deposit gauge and SO2 data to estimate long-term exposure in the United Kingdom, 1956–1961". Atmospheric Environment. 43 (21): 3356–3363. Bibcode:2009AtmEn..43.3356H. doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.03.059. hdl:10044/1/29161. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  9. ↑ Report 14: Acid Rain. Watt Committee on Energy Publications. August 1984. p. 26. ISBN 9780203210314. Retrieved 14 April 2022. Smoke abatement led to a 50% reduction of total deposited matter in some of these gauges by 1927, but pollution continued to be a problem.
  10. ↑ Harris, D. Fraser (8 August 1925). "Atmospheric Pollution". British Medical Journal. 2 (3371): 262. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3371.262. JSTOR 25445979. PMC 2226833. PMID 20772144.
  11. ↑ Owens, John Switzer (27 March 1925). "Modern Atmospheric Conditions: With Special Reference to London". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 73 (3775): 434–457. JSTOR 41357699. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  12. ↑ Ashworth, J.R. (May 1948). "Atmospheric Pollution and the Deposit Gauge". Weather. Royal Meteorological Society. 3 (5): 137–140. Bibcode:1948Wthr....3..137A. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1948.tb00890.x. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  13. ↑ Meetham, A.R. (May 1948). "Notes on Atmospheric Pollution and the Deposit Gauge". Weather. Royal Meteorological Society. 3 (5): 140–143. Bibcode:1948Wthr....3..140M. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1948.tb00891.x. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  14. ↑ Lucas, D.H. (1969). "Developments in Air Pollution Measurement". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A. 265 (1161): 143–151. Bibcode:1969RSPTA.265..143L. doi:10.1098/rsta.1969.0043. JSTOR 73721. S2CID 92486401. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Whitehead, Mark (2011). "5: Instrumentation and the Sites of Atmospheric Monitoring". State, Science and the Skies: Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere. Wiley. ISBN 9781444399868. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  16. ↑ Vallack, H.W. (1995). "A field evaluation of Frisbee-type dust deposit gauges". Atmospheric Environment. 29 (12): 1465–1469. Bibcode:1995AtmEn..29.1465V. doi:10.1016/1352-2310(95)00079-E. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  17. ↑ Harrison, Roy (2007). Understanding Our Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry and Pollution. London: Royal Society of Chemistry. p. 295. ISBN 9781847552235.

Further reading

  • Brimblecombe, Peter (1987). The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. Routledge. pp. 147–160. ISBN 9781136703294.
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