About this data

Source: Pringle et al. (2025), Air Quality Stripes (airqualitystripes.info), CC BY 4.0

• From 2000, values come from a dataset combining satellite and ground-based measurements (van Donkelaar et al., 2021). Before 2000 they come from simulations of the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1), scaled so the model matches the satellite-based values for 2000 to 2002. Values before 1998 are not checked against measurements, which are scarce for PM2.5 before the 1990s.
• The model works on a grid about 200 km across, so the figures are averages over a wide area around each city. They smooth out local extremes, such as the London smog of December 1952, and the worst conditions in city streets were much higher.
• The model does not include nitrate particles, one component of PM2.5.
• Source paper: Pringle, K. J. et al. (2025), Visualising historical changes in air pollution with the Air Quality Stripes, Geoscience Communication 8, 229–236. The project also covers Exeter, which can be added to the chart.

This chart appears in Air pollution.