The feasibility of low-cost high-density monitoring networks for urban CO2 concentration monitoring: A case study of Hangzhou

WU Jin-hui; XIAO Wei; CHEN Liang; HU Ning; WANG Jun; LIU Yuan-ze

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China Environmental Science ›› 2025, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (5) : 2377-2389.

The feasibility of low-cost high-density monitoring networks for urban CO₂ concentration monitoring: A case study of Hangzhou

WU Jin-hui^1,2, XIAO Wei¹, CHEN Liang³, HU Ning¹, WANG Jun¹, LIU Yuan-ze¹

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Abstract

Based on the high-density observation network of low-cost CO₂ analyzers deployed in Hangzhou, an analysis of CO₂ concentration spanning a complete one-year from April 2023 to March 2024 was conducted. The results showed that: (1) Under field observation conditions, low-cost instruments experience data gaps, with annual data collection rates at various stations ranging from 38.58% to 99.39%. The Mean Bias Error (MBE) for the two non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) instruments is (3.2 ±1.4) μmol/mol. Therefore, it is essential to enhance the data collection rate at stations when deploying high-density network. (2) Observation from NDIR-based low-cost instruments were highly sensitive to environmental variations, but could be effectively corrected by machine learning-based calibration schemes. After correction, the correlation coefficient R² between the network data and high-precision observation improved from 0.33 to 0.77, with the MBE of 1.2μmol/mol. (3) The high-density network of low-cost CO₂ analyzers was can effectively capture the spatio-temporal variability of CO₂ concentration. Diurnal variations and spatial distributions across stations reflected seasonal variations characteristics of urban CO₂ sources and sinks. The deployment of this network has demonstrated the feasibility of operating a low-cost, high-density monitoring system in cities with complex underlying surfaces, such as those in China. This approach provided a basis for estimating urban carbon emissions and evaluating the effectiveness of emission reduction measures.

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CO₂concentration / Hangzhou / high-density network / low-cost instrument

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WU Jin-hui, XIAO Wei, CHEN Liang, HU Ning, WANG Jun, LIU Yuan-ze. The feasibility of low-cost high-density monitoring networks for urban CO₂ concentration monitoring: A case study of Hangzhou[J]. China Environmental Science. 2025, 45(5): 2377-2389

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