LAQM Tools

Estimated Background Air Pollution Maps for 2004
and Projections for Other Years

These maps are provided to assist local authorities in support of review and assessment of local air quality. These are the maps referred to in the LAQM TG(03) update.

The following maps of estimated background annual mean air pollutant concentrations at a 1 km x 1 km grid resolution are available for the year 2004: NO_x, NO₂, PM₁₀, PM₁₀ secondary. Co-ordinates are given for the centre of each 1 km x 1 km grid square. The following maps of projected concentrations are also available: NO_x (2005, 2010), NO₂ (2005, 2010), PM₁₀ (2005, 2010).

Methods to estimate concentrations in other years using Year Adjustment Factors 2004 are discussed in TG(03) and the LAQM TG(03) update. When projections are required for years for which maps are available, then these maps should be used in preference to applying the year adjustment factors to the 2004 maps. Projections for other years should always be projected forwards from the nearest available map (e.g. NO₂ projections for 2008 should be calculated from the 2005 map). This is because the maps incorporate spatial variation in the expected emission trends of pollutants, which cannot be incorporated into the year adjustment factors, which are designed to represent typical trends.

The data are provided as a single file for each local authority including the concentrations for NO_x, NO₂ and PM₁₀.

Please Note:

The mapped PM10 data on this page between 6 Jan - 11 Jan 2006 had been scaled incorrectly. The data were corrected on 12 Jan 2006.

Download Estimated Background Air Pollution Data for 2004 and Projections for Other Years

Estimated backgroud air pollution data is now available from the interactive map on the LAQM home page.

Northern Ireland Data Sets

Two sets of mapped concentration data are available for local authorities in Northern Ireland:

1. Files for individual local authorities, with receptors at the centres of 1km squares on the GBOS grid. These data are available from the drop-down menu above. The locations of the receptors have been converted to the NIOS grid in these files. These data are likely to be appropriate for analyses for which background concentrations are only required for a small number of locations, or in which background concentrations will be combined with other geographical information on the GBOS grid.

2. A single file (zip) containing data for the whole of NI is available from the link below, in which the values for receptors at the centres of 1km squares in the NIOS grid have been calculated as the area weighted averages of teh GBOS base data. These data are likely to be appropriate for analyses in which teh background concentrations will be combined with other geographical information on the NIOS grid. (Note: Some coastal grid squares are missing in this data set, or have much lower concentration values than adjacent squares as a result of the data conversion. Values for adjacent grid squares may be used if required.)

Download data for the whole of Northern Ireland, with receptors centred on the NIOS grid.

Updated Jan 2006

Two MS Excel spreadsheets, the first a simple tool for projecting forwards concentrations, the second, a full list of the year adjustment factors. Adjustment Factors 2001 for PM₁₀, NO₂ and other pollutants are available here.

Air Pollution Maps

Click the link below to download maps of estimated background concentrations in the UK for 2004
and projections for other years (pdf). Download Air Pollution Maps

Mapping Methodology

General information on the mapping methods is provided in the following report:

Stedman, J.R, Bush, A.J, Grice, S, Kent, A.J, Vincent, K.J, Abbott, J, Derwent, R., 2005.
UK air quality modelling for annual reporting 2004 on ambient air quality assessment under Council Directives 96/62/EC, 1999/30/EC and 2000/69/EC

2001 Maps

Maps from a base year of 2001 are available here.