Office of Air Monitoring

The Office of Air Monitoring is responsible for coordinating the statewide ambient air quality monitoring program and ensures that state and local air quality programs operating ambient air monitors in Florida meet federal requirements for network design, instrument siting and operation, and quality assurance. Florida’s monitoring network has developed over the decades in which it has been in operation and currently assesses the air quality for almost 92 percent of Florida’s more than 19 million citizens.

The Office of Air Monitoring is responsible for the following functions:

• Management of statewide ambient air monitoring operations
• Management and performance of data quality and data validation functions
• Submittal of ambient air monitoring data to the EPA
• Preparation and coordination of statewide quality assurance documentation
• Performance of statewide quality assurance audit activities
• Operation of DEP ambient air monitoring sites
• Calibration, certification, installation and purchase of ambient air monitoring equipment
• Performance of service and repair functions for ambient air monitoring equipment

The Office of Air Monitoring is the Primary Quality Assurance Organization (PQAO) which also:

• Ensures that the ambient air quality data collected statewide are properly compiled, verified and entered into the state's air quality database then submitted to the EPA for inclusion in its Air Quality System where it is available for use nationally
• Maintains a calibration Standards Laboratory to support the statewide auditing and monitoring programs to ensure data produced are of similar quality
• Provides quality assurance oversight for all of the ambient air quality monitoring conducted throughout the state, including data collected by local programs
• Visits each monitoring site annually to assess the accuracy of the data being produced. Auditors perform triennial management systems audits of each of the state's and local agency's monitoring programs to evaluate the general condition of the quality assurance functions
• Supports the state-operated air quality monitoring network with maintenance and repair of all the equipment used in that network, which currently consists of 41 monitoring sites supporting 84 monitors operated by division staff and an additional 61 sites with 133 monitors operated by local program staff

The public has the ability to access ambient air quality data by visiting Florida’s Air Quality System.