Environmental odor metrology
Les odeurs dans l’environnement

Solving odor-related problems requires objective, sensitive, reproducible and representative measurements of the various odor components. Thus, it would be illusory to attempt to represent the perception of a population based solely on descriptions made by an expert nose, or by carrying out physico-chemical measurements in the atmosphere alone.

A panoply of "tools" has therefore been developed, drawing on the results of academic research and methodologies developed in the perfume and food industries. Decision-makers can consider two types of measures:

• measurements at source, to characterize the odor-emitting environment. These are olfactometric measurements or specific physico-chemical measurements;

• measurements in the receiving environment, with impact studies that may or may not involve the local population, or crisis analyses.