Ricardo clocks up over 1 billion records of UK air quality measurements

Ricardo’s UK-based Air Quality Measurements team is proud to have reached a truly impressive milestone: our records now comprise more than 1.25 billion air quality measurements and 420 million calculated statistics. This impressive data set comes from more than 14,200 locations across all UK monitoring networks and 44,200 site pollutants and has been built up from over a century of air quality monitoring in the UK.

Ricardo’s essential role in supporting and maintaining this nationally significant archive of UK air quality measurements is predicated on being the trusted delivery partner for key long-running projects for national or regional government clients or local authority clients. These include:

• Managing UK national AQ monitoring networks, including extensive historical records for smoke and sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, hydrocarbons, PAHs and acid rain
• Providing QA/QC of the UK Automatic and Urban Monitoring Network (AURN)
• Developing and maintaining the UK AIR website on behalf of Defra
• Managing regional monitoring networks and AQ websites for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Operating local authority monitoring networks and websites

Describing the scale of the achievement, Paul Willis, Technical Director Air Quality and Environment said: "Air pollution is a global health emergency. Ninety nine per cent of the world's population breathes polluted air every day, so it is unsurprising that air quality continues to be at the forefront of government and public concern."

"We are proud of the achievements of our Air Quality Measurements team in reaching this significant milestone. We are equally proud that our world-renowned air quality scientists continue to be the trusted experts to our long-term clients and that, thanks to our data and evidence, we are enabling policymakers to facilitate decisions that will reduce avoidable deaths and illnesses related to air pollution.”

“Air pollution is a global problem that requires a global solution and we look forward to continuing our work with all our clients to measure, analyse and solve air quality problems both in the UK and around the world.”

Ricardo’s history in air quality

In the UK first co-ordinated measurements began in 1912, when a national network of so-called deposit gauges were set up, led by Irish physician John Switzer Owens. Concern surrounding industrial pollution in the UK began to rise drastically forty years later, specifically, with the infamous Great Smog of 1952 which engulfed London as a result of the poor dispersion of smoke and sulphur dioxide from domestic coal burning. At the time excess deaths related to this air pollution were estimated to be around 4000 but modern estimates suggest that this may be as high as 10, to 12,000. The event led to the introduction of the UK Clean Air Acts and served as a wakeup call for the need for more regulated air quality monitoring.

The Great Smog was the start of Ricardo’s history in air quality monitoring. The Government’s Warren Spring Laboratory (WSL) was established in 1958 to establish the UK’s network of daily black smoke and sulphur dioxide measurements of air pollution, primarily in response to the first Clean Air Act of 1956. In 1961 WSL established the National Survey in 1961 which at its height monitored black smoke and sulphur dioxide at around 1200 sites in the UK. WSL set up the UK’s first automatic air quality monitoring stations in 1972.

The first Air Quality Directives for ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, particulates and lead were mandated in the mid-1980s and following this, WSL was tasked with establishing the required European Union compliance monitoring networks across the UK. WSL was subsequently also involved in the implementation of the first twelve Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) monitoring stations for reporting real-time air quality information to the public in 1992. 

Ricardo's current air quality measurement highlights

AURN

The AURN has expanded with multiple interactions over time as public and political interest in air quality has increased, with plans to continue to grow to over 250 monitoring locations by 2026. Ricardo is currently the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) unit for the AURN network outside of London, reporting measurements of NO_x, PM₁₀, PM_2.5, CO, O₃, and SO₂ across the UK - our responsibilities in maintaining the quality of data and AURN operations stretch across a wide range of expertise within our Air Quality Measurements team.

UK-AIR website

We maintain, operate, and update the UK-AIR website on behalf of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the UK Developed Administrations to meet their national commitments for air quality reporting and keeping the public informed on air pollution. The UK-AIR website as is stands today is a world-renowned resource that is continually expanding and provides comprehensive services. It has been at the forefront of meeting UK Government commitments for over 25 years now.

Air quality monitoring network sites

We manage multiple air quality monitoring network sites for our clients to provide both insightful policy analysis and real-time reporting of air quality data to the public. This includes provision and mapping of hourly data from automatic sites, forecasts, smart phone apps, air quality alert services and educational pages for young people. 

Air quality expertise for local authorities

For local authorities including Air Quality Information for Oxfordshire (oxonair.uk) and Kent and Medway Air Quality (kentair.org.uk) we apply our many years of technical and digital expertise to build bespoke air quality websites and reporting services for local authorities. These include comprehensive educational resources aiming to increase public understanding of local air quality, as well as modelled maps, air pollution forecasts, video explanations on air quality issues, and daily data summaries.

UK air quality sensor networks

Our most recent challenge is in applying our expertise in QA/QC to the rapid expansion in “low-cost” air quality sensor networks across the UK. This includes the end-to-end process of sensor installation data management, data correction, ratification and reporting.

If our Air Quality Measurements team can support your organisation, please get in touch: info@ricardo.com