Toulouse. Tree bark to measure air quality –
After Toulouse and Balma, scientists from the participatory research project NanoEnvi are launching the AirGéo project to measure air quality in 5 countries on 3 continents.
To initiate this project led by the CNRS and the Belmont Forum, a residency bringing together scientists, artists, locals and citizens will be organized from January 18 to 28, 2022 in Sébikotane in Senegal, to develop 200 sensors from bark that will be deployed in the city.
Tree bark is used as the basis for low environmental impact “passive sensors” for air quality assessment. This type of original device was tested by the CNRS team in the city of Toulouse in 2019. More than 150 households had thus taken part in the participatory NanoEnvi project.
The NanoEnvi project
NanoEnvi is a participatory research project launched in 2018, funded by the CNRS and led by the Toulouse Environmental Geosciences laboratory (GET-CNRS/Toulouse III University – Paul Sabatier/IRD/CNES) of the Midi-Pyrenees Observatory (OMP).
The objective was to establish a map of the magnetic nanoparticles “emitted by road traffic” in certain streets of Toulouse, housing and on the banks of the Garonne, in order to better understand the distribution of these nanoparticles likely to have a impact on health.
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