Carbon monoxide Data

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas formed by incomplete combustion of fuels, in particular from road motor vehicles and burning wood and coal for home heating. It also occurs naturally, for example, from wild fires. CO can affect human health by interfering with the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and by aggravating heart conditions.

Road motor vehicles are the main source of carbon monoxide, followed closely by wood or coal burning for home heating. These two sources contribute 50 and 43 percent respectively of the combined carbon monoxide emissions produced by home heating, on-road vehicles and industry over a year.

Column units:
- Disp_graph column: 1= displayed on graph; 0 = not displayed on graph
- Variable column: mg_m3 = milligrams per cubic metre (mg/m3)

This dataset relates to the "Carbon monoxide concentrations" measure on the Environmental Indicators, Te taiao Aotearoa website.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas formed by the incomplete combustion of fuels, particularly from motor vehicles, from burning wood and coal, and using unflued gas heaters for home heating. It also occurs naturally; for example, from wild fires.
Carbon monoxide can affect human health by interfering with the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and by aggravating heart conditions. It has a relatively long life in the atmosphere – about three months. This is due to the slow rate at which carbon monoxide oxidises, forming carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas). Carbon monoxide also has an important role in forming smog.
More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.