air quality & air quality indices a world...

AIR QUALITY & AIR QUALITY AIR QUALITY & AIR QUALITY INDICESINDICES

A WORLD APART?A WORLD APART?

Frank de LeeuwCITEAIR workshop

31 March 2006, Brussels

AQ Indices, Frank de Leeuw 2CITEAIR workshop, Brussels, 31 March 2006

Topics for todayTopics for today

• Comparison of operational Air Quality indicator

• short introduction to AirBase


based on a report available from based on a report available from the ETC/ACC web sitethe ETC/ACC web site

http://air-climate.eionet.eu.int

look for: reportsand next: technical papers

Air Quality IndicatorsAir Quality Indicators


What is an Air Quality Index??What is an Air Quality Index??

Index (according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary):

• forefinger• list of books forbidden to Roman Catholics,

or to be read by them only in expurgated editions

• quantity indicating relative level of prices or wages at a particular date compared with that at a date taken as standard


What is an Air Quality Index??What is an Air Quality Index??

A numerical relation expressing the relative levels of air quality in a region derived from air quality measurements at specific locations in that region, frequently used to inform the public on air quality.

It is as old as “automatic” measurements: – Paris, daily bulletin on ozone levels at 12 stations (Sainte-

Claire Deville Ch. Comptes Rendus 69, 99-101, 1869);– Ontario (Shenfield L., J. Air Pollution Control Assoc. 20,

612,1970)


Comparing different approachesComparing different approaches

horriblevery badbadvery poor

poorModerate

fairly good

goodvery good

exellentrating

10987654321index

6. sehr slecht5. slecht

4. ausreichend3. befriedigend

2. gut1. sehr gut

Index

Banding Index

1

2 Low

3

4

5 Moderate

6

7

8 High

9

Very High 10


The common principles:The common principles:

• composed from 4-5 sub-indices• based on short-term health-related

targets and/or information and alert levels

• the worst wins (TSP)• (near) on-line information; hourly/daily

update• applicable in forecast mode


DrawbacksDrawbacks

• No relation between AQI-value and pollutant mix

• Health effects of pollutants not comparable

• Long-term health effects not considered• Assessment of long-term changes in air

quality


Classes, colours, namesClasses, colours, names

horriblevery badbadvery poor

poorModerate

fairly good

goodvery good

exellentrating

10987654321index

6. sehr slecht5. slecht

4. ausreichend3. befriedigend

2. gut1. sehr gut

Index

Banding Index

1

2 Low

3

4

5 Moderate

6

7

8 High

9

Very High 10


Overview of Overview of AQIsAQIs Belgium France Germany UK Citeair # numerical levels, (scale)

10 (1-10) 10 (1-10) 6 (1-6) 10 (1-10) 5 (0- >100)

# colours 10 3 6 4 5 # verbal classes1 10 6 6 4 5

component PM10 PM10 PM10 PM10 PM10

averaging time 24h mean 24h mean 24h mean daily max of 24h running

means

daily max of 1h means or24h

mean

component O3 O3 O3 O3 O3 averaging time daily max of

8h running means

daily max of 1h means


daily max of 1h means or of 8h running means


component NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 averaging time daily max of 1h

means daily max of 1h




means

component SO2 SO2 SO2 SO2 SO2

averaging time 24h mean daily max of 1h means


15 minute means4


component CO CO CO

averaging time daily max of 8h running

means

daily max of 8h running

means

daily max of 8h running

means


Class boundaries ozoneClass boundaries ozone

ozone concentration (ug/m3)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

index class

BE FR UK Citeair DE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Class boundaries PM10Class boundaries PM10

PM10 concentration (ug/m3)

0

50

100

150

200

250

index class

BE FR UK Citeair DE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Class boundaries NO2Class boundaries NO2

NO2 concentration (ug/m3)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

index class

BE FR UK Citeair DE

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Comparing the Comparing the AQIsAQIs

• 10 station from AirBase, 2003 data

• 4 + 1 traffic• 4 (sub)urban

background• 1 rural background

traffic

urban

rural


Madrid, traffic stationMadrid, traffic station

ES0125A

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1-1-03 01 10-2-03 01 22-3-03 01 1-5-03 01 10-6-03 01 20-7-03 01 29-8-03 01 8-10-03 01 17-11-03 01 27-12-03 01

CitairUK


PraguePrague--traffic; London backgroundtraffic; London background

0

10

20

30

40

0 2 4 6 8 10

CZ0065A - UK index

Cita

ir in

dex

0

4

8

12

16

20

0 2 4 6 8 10

GB0620A - UK index

Cita

ir in

dex


Comparison at daily baseComparison at daily base

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

CZ0065A ES0125A ES1426A GB0682A GR0035A GB0566A GB0620A NL0204A NL0248A NL0249A

UKCitairFRBEDE


CH0002R Payerne

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

CH0010A Zürich

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

DE0600A DENI016:Oker-Mitte Bei der Eiche

0

1

2

3

4

5

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

ES1357A ES1357A-BURGOS 2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

LongLong--term applicationterm application


AQIAQI--trend trend compared withcompared withtrend in trend in concentrationconcentration

GB0615A SHEFFIELD CENTRE

0

1

2

3

4

5

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

GB0615A

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

PM10NO2O3SO2


SK0005A Namestie Slobody

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

citeairUKDEATMOBE

SK0005A

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

PM10NO2O3SO2


Conclusions on AQIConclusions on AQI

• Similar concepts but widely different implementation

• resulting sometimes in conflicting information• while blaming different pollutants• although correlation is good.• Index values sensitive for choice of PM10

correction factors?• trend in AQI and in air quality may differ• CO and SO2 of minor importance


AirBaseAirBase


AirBase Info AirBase Info SystemSystem > Contents of AirBase> Contents of AirBase

AirBase is Web based pan European air quality databaseAirBase is publicly and freely accessible onthe InternetMetadata of air quality measurement stations in Europe (information about networks, stations and measurement configurations)About 4300 stations with measurement data, about 40 components


AirBase Info AirBase Info SystemSystem > Contents of AirBase > Contents of AirBase ((continuedcontinued))

Air quality measurement data (rawdata, statistics, exceedances) of more than 30 countries (EEA32 + Balkan countries)Oldest data from 1976Time series up to 2004; next update-cycle (2005) data starts in October


AccessingAccessing AirBase atAirBase at airbaseairbase..eioneteionet..eueu.int.int

• AirView offers interactive Web-based accesswith on-demand selection of information(component, stations, period etc..). Data presented in maps, graphs, tables.

• XML-dumps: the complete database (metainformation, statistics and exceedances; rawdta as ASCII-files). Excel-macro’s available foreasy access.


Some examples0 - 7 days

7 - 35 days

35 - 50 days

> 50 days

PM10exceedance days (> 50 ug/m3)

2004data coverage > 75%

source: AIRBASE


Top 25 most polluted cities (> 100 000 Top 25 most polluted cities (> 100 000 inhinh))

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

ALBACETE

BYTOM

SOSNOWIEC

OSTRAVA

LIEGE

KATOWICE

CHARLEROI

WROCLAW

ROTTERDAM

OLOMOUC

BRUXELLES/BRUSSEL

S GRAVENHAGE

PRAHA

BURGOS

GENT

LISBOA

WARSZAWA

BRATISLAVA

AMSTERDAM

BRNO

MADRID

DORDRECHT

LINZ

PLZEN

GDYNIA

PM10 annual mean -2004

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

THESSALONIKI

ATHINAI

BOLOGNA

ALBACETE

PARMA

NICE

VARESE

TRIESTE

TORINO

PALERMO

JAEN

MODENA

MARSEILLE/AIX

ROMA

NIMES

TOULON

BRNO

PALMA DE MALLORCA

AUGSBURG

KOSICE

SEVILLA

MILANO

GRASSE-CANNES-ANTIBES

MULHOUSE

LODZ

Ozone SOMO -2004


Ozone trend 1999Ozone trend 1999--2004; 2004; c. c. 1040 stations1040 stations%

-tage

of st

atio

ns

change in concentration per year

annual mean (ug/m3)/yr

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

< -3 -3 - -2 -2 - -1 -1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 2 2 - 3 > 3

26th highest daily max (ug/m3)/yr

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

< -3 -3 - -2 -2 - -1 -1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 2 2 - 3 > 3

SOMO35, (ug/m3).day/yr

0

5

10

15

20

25

< -500 -500 - -250

-250 - -125

-125 - 0 0 - 125 125 -250

250 -500

> 500

AOT40, rural stations; (ug/m3).h/yr

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

< -1000 -1000 - -500

-500 - -250

-250 - 0 0 - 250 250 -500

500 -1000

> 1000

98-percentile hourly values (ug/m3)/yr

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

< -3 -3 - -2 -2 - -1 -1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 2 2 - 3 > 3

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