Martin Doyle and Stephen Dorling
Of the many different air pollutants, tiny particles in the atmosphere are thought to present one of the most significant current risks to human health. Limit values and objectives have been established in order to manage the concentrations of particulate matter in the atmosphere. At this present time, the PM10 metric (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10mm or less) is established as the standard to which local and national authorities must adhere.
In order to meet the strict standards set out by the UK Government (via the Air Quality Strategy) and the European Union (via the Air Quality Framework Directive and Daughter Directives) it is important to identify and quantify all sources and pathways which contribute to total PM10 concentrations regardless of health effects.
A significant component of the particulate matter experienced across the UK is transported long distances over regional scales. These long range sources include pseudo-natural phenomena such as forest fires, desert dust and biomass burning along with anthropogenic aerosols from Europe and the Eastern US. Inter-annual variations in weather conditions leads to unwelcome 'surprises' in terms of the number of long range particulate pollution episodes which can occur, limiting the potential positive effects of local air quality management efforts, for example of congestion charging.
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Current and archived particulate conditions
Case studies
