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Air quality

The NT Government has conducted particulate monitoring in the Darwin region since 2004.

In late 2010 monitoring was expanded to include a full ambient air quality monitoring station located near Palmerston. Another station was installed at Winnellie in mid-2012, and a third station was installed at Stokes Hill in May 2017.

In accordance with the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (AAQ NEPM) each station houses the following instruments for monitoring air pollutants:

  • Dichotomous Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) particulate monitor to simultaneously measure particulates with aerodynamic equivalent diameters of 10 micrometres or less and 2.5 micrometres or less.
  • Carbon Monoxide (CO) analyser
  • Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx, NO and NO2) analyser
  • Ozone (O3) analyser
  • Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) analyser

All instruments used to measure the air pollutants comply with the Australian Standards stipulated in the AAQ NEPM. To assist in interpretation of the air quality data, meteorological data is also collected from instruments on the same site.

In general, the primary air pollutant in Darwin and Palmerston is particulates (PM2.5 and PM10) in smoke from distant and local vegetation burning during the Dry season.

Other air pollutants CO, NO2 and SO2 all occur at very low levels compared to large cities in other parts of Australia, while O3 occurs at moderate levels, typically due to natural processes.

You can monitor air quality with the AirRater app.

The NT EPA Air Quality Network website provides real-time and historical air pollutant concentrations as well as meteorological data. Air quality is measured at three NT EPA air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) in the Darwin Region and one in Katherine (run by the Katherine Town Council).

This website also displays Air Quality Category (AQC) values. AQC is an indication of how polluted the air is when measured against relevant AAQ NEPM standards, or health guidelines.

Each air pollutant is assigned one of the five colour-coded AQCs to describe air quality:

  • Good - green
  • Fair - yellow
  • Poor - orange
  • Very poor - reddish
  • Extremely poor - brownish.

The overall AQC for each site is based on the worst category.

Each Air Quality Category has associated health action level advice to assist the public in understanding how current pollution levels might affect their health. General guidance on recommended preventative actions to take is provided on the air quality monitoring website. At present this advice relates particularly to PM2.5 which is usually emitted from smoke events, the most common cause of poor air quality in the Top End.

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  • The NT EPA has issued a regulatory statement PDF (562.4 KB) to provide clarity in relation to how potential and actual air pollution emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing activities and other sources are assessed and monitored in the Northern Territory.

  • Australia's Environment Ministers established a National Clean Air Agreement (NCAA) in 2015 to ensure a clean air future for Australia through the introduction of various national collaboration initiatives.

    The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is contributing to the development of the NCAA initiatives.

    Some of the initiatives are described below, and more information can be found on the NCAA website.

  • The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is contributing to the review of the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure (AAQ NEPM) standards under an NCAA initiative.

    This is in order to strengthen the standards to bring them in line with current international standards and the latest scientific evidence on health impacts of the air pollutants.

  • Non-road spark ignition engines and equipment (NRSIEE) which include outdoor power equipment and marine engines are significant contributors to air pollution in Australia.

    New outdoor power equipment and marine engines are now regulated under the Commonwealth Product Emissions Standards Act 2017 with requirements set out in the Product Emissions Standards Rules 2017:

    • From 1 July 2018, only products certified as meeting Australia's emissions standard, or have an exemption, are allowed into Australia. In addition, products manufactured in Australia must also meet the standards or have an exemption.
    • Also, from 1 July 2020, only products certified as meeting Australia's emissions standard, or have an exemption, can be supplied in Australia.

  • Under the National Clean Air Agreement, jurisdictions are committed to adopt the new emissions standard (AS/NZS 4013:2014) and efficiency standard (AS/NZS 4012:2014) for wood heaters.

    In line with the new standards to reduce emissions from new wood heaters:

    • from 1 September 2019, all new solid fuel home heaters sold (locally or imported) must have at least 60% efficiency and an emissions limit of 1.5grams of PM10 emitted per kilogram of fuel burned.
Last updated:
05 June 2024

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