Air pollution stripes: making the invisible visible

A coalition comprising the University of Leeds, the University of Edinburgh, North Carolina State University and the UK Met Office has devised a graphical representation of historic air quality for every capital city in the World.

The illustrations, which were inspired by the climate stripes created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in 2018, reveal the steady improvement of air quality across Europe and North America, in stark contrast with the obvious deterioration in parts of Africa and Central Asia.

The team had a decision to make in terms of the colour scheme, eventually opting for blue at the clean air end of the spectrum and black at the other.

The lightest of the blue stripes indicate that the WHO 2021 Air Quality Guidelines were met.

Dr Jim McQuaid, an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Composition in the Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment said: ‘We created these to try to illustrate the complex data that computer models generate, into something that is much easier to understand.

‘To me it’s all about that lightbulb moment when someone understands it; that sudden ‘oh yeah now I get it!’ I wanted it to be simple enough that non-experts could look at it and be able to understand it without having done science since leaving school.

‘The bottom line is that air pollution is one of the world’s leading risk factors for death, it is thought to contribute to one in ten deaths globally.

‘Our Air Quality Stripes show the huge range in trends and concentrations around the world. The stripes demonstrate that there is still more work to be done to reduce people’s exposure to poor air quality, and in some places a great deal more!

Dr Kirsty Pringle from EPCC at the University of Edinburgh and co-director of the project, said: ‘Air pollution is often called the ‘invisible killer’, but these images make the invisible visible, showing the changes in particulate matter pollution over the decades.’

Dr Steven Turnock, a senior scientist from the UK Met Office who provided the data for the Air Quality Stripes project, said: ‘Presenting this scientific data as Air Quality stripes really brings into focus the stark contrast in air quality trends and people’s exposure to poor air quality depending on where they live.’