Neighborhood-Scale Microclimate and TVOC-Equivalent Sensor-Response Screening with a Low-Cost Arduino Station in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA

Abstract

This exploratory field study evaluated a low-cost Arduino-based environmental station deployed at one residential location in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. The system logged near-ground air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, wind speed, wind direction, and output from an uncalibrated SGP30 metal-oxide gas sensor. Local meteorological series were compared descriptively with contemporaneous regional values associated by a commercial weather-data service with Teterboro Airport. The archived plots contain approximately 168 hourly positions; therefore, the analysed record is reported as an approximately seven-day winter screening period, pending confirmation from the raw dataset. Mean local relative humidity was 64.1%, compared with 71.2% regionally. Mean daytime temperature differed by 0.22 °C, which was smaller than the manufacturer-stated ±0.5 °C accuracy of the local sensor and was not considered evidence of a site effect. Mean nighttime temperature was 1.44 °C higher locally, but this contrast cannot be separated from differences in height, shielding, elevation, and siting. Mean local wind speed was 7.71 mph, compared with 9.94 mph regionally; the 2.23-mph difference was essentially equal to the estimated calibration uncertainty. SGP30 output ranged from 2 to 124 ppb-equivalent and was lower during higher-wind periods, but the output was not calibrated against certified gas standards and cannot be interpreted as an ambient TVOC concentration or as source-specific evidence. The station demonstrated educational and screening utility, whereas the non-standard enclosure, 0.30-m measurement height, single-site design, incomplete comparator metadata, short duration, and lack of reference co-location preclude regulatory, causal, or neighbourhood-wide conclusions.