WIREDGOV

A new portal is providing free, public access to nearly two decades of air quality data across the UK.

The Met Office Air Quality Data Portal is now live, making national data from January 2003 until December 2019 available in one place for the first time.

It gives users access to aggregated data and other resources, so they can get detailed insight and greater understanding into air pollution levels in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The platform uses geospatial technology from Esri UK, and hosts Met Office data from its UK Air Quality Reanalysis dataset, generated as part of the Clean Air Programme.

Paul Agnew, Scientific Manager – Air Quality Modelling at the Met Office, recently said:

“Our Air Quality Data Portal offers a detailed insight into UK surface air pollution, and how it varies by location and over time. 

“The portal demonstrates our commitment to making atmospheric data publicly available. We hope it will give users a better understanding of air pollution and its impacts, so they can help improve air quality for a heathier future.”

The portal has been created for a variety of users, including academic researchers (atmospheric science and pollution health impacts), central and local government officers, air quality professionals and the public.  

Users can visualise and analyse the portal data in map and timeseries format, or download it in a variety of formats to use offline and share with others.

They can search and extract data on different pollutants for specific locations across the UK and time periods, enabling them to obtain statistics and calculate averages. 

For example, a science teacher could find out how average levels of sulphur dioxide, produced from the combustion of coal or crude oil, have changed in the UK since 2003. Or a researcher, who is looking into the health impacts of particulate matter from road transport, could establish which areas of the UK have the highest emissions.

Story Maps are available to give users in-depth information about topics including: sources and emissions of UK air pollution, differences between urban and rural air quality, and notable past episodes of poor air quality.

There is also an introduction to air pollution in the UK, including information on key pollutants, and how air pollution is forecast and measured.  

Using data from the Met Office Air Quality Reanalysis, the portal provides monthly and yearly averages of surface pollution levels at locations throughout the UK. This is based on hourly measurements from 1 January 2003 up to and including 31 December 2019.

The Met Office is involved in air quality research projects, both at local scales over days to weeks, and at the global scale for periods of decades up to 100 years into the future. It provides five-day national air quality forecasts for the public, as well as advice for those more susceptible to high levels of air pollution. 

The Clean Air programme is led by the Met Office and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). It supports high quality multi-and inter-disciplinary research and innovation to develop practical solutions to air quality issues in the UK.