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Welcome to the UK Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) website
Air quality is monitored across the UK through a variety of sites located at strategic locations which continuously capture ambient air quality levels for selected pollutants.
The information produced by this network plays a vital role in assisting the Government to:
- comply with European Air Quality Directives
- monitor progress in relation to the National Air Quality Strategy targets
- provide relevant information to the public
Monitoring data is collected, quality checked, ratified and made available to you through Defra's National Air Quality Archive website.
It is important to know where these sites are located, which air quality conditions they represent, and which pollutants they measure. This map shows the position of the automatic monitoring stations part of the AURN network. You can find detailed site information including:
- Location data (Grid references, site address, site photos, site location map)
- Site type (Roadside, urban background, rural, etc)
- Detailed site description of the local environment;
- Pollutants measured
Click anywhere to close this window and see the map
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How to use the map to display the AURN stations
First select an option in the drop-down menu (Stations can be displayed by site type, pollutant measured, geographical area and now current air quality level). You can then choose to display only a group of sites by selecting/unselecting the relevant checkboxes. For example, you can map:
- the stations located in a specific region/area
- the stations of a certain site classification (roadside, urban background, ...)
- the stations that measure only a given pollutant
- the stations currently recording 'high' air quality levels
By default, only active stations are shown. However, it is also possible to see previous stations by clicking on the 'Show active and closed stations' radio button (not available if 'Current Pollution Level' was selected). Although closed, it is still possible to access past monitoring data for these stations.
If you hover the mouse on a station on the map, its name will be displayed. If you then click on a site, a window will open, showing further information. Another click on the name of the station in this window will send you to the webpage specific to this site, showing all available information including full site description, photos of the surroundings, and link to current and past air quality data.
If you selected 'Geographical Area', you can also zoom in and see the list of stations located in a specific region, by clicking on the relevant region link next to the checkbox. To zoom out at UK level, just click on the 'Back to All Stations' link.
It is also possible to use the following map features:
- Zoom in/out using either the '+' and '-' buttons on the top left corner or double clicking with the mouse (left to zoom in/right to zoom out)
- Pan up/right/down/left using either the relevant buttons on the top left corner, or just clicking and dragging with the mouse
- Right-click on a station to display a zoom context menu allowing to zoom in directly to street level, or zoom out back to the UK level
- Switch between the 'Map', 'Satellite' or 'Terrain' (default) map views, using the buttons on the top right corner
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What Are Other Networks?
The primary response of the AURN is the reporting of compliance monitoring against Directive 2008/50/EC. However, the extensive infrastructure of the AURN provides a means by which other national networks can locate equipment and operate accordingly. Such networks include the Black Smoke and Hydrocarbon networks. Pollutants monitored as part of these networks have been included on this site where they are co-located with AURN monitoring equipment. For full details of other networks reference should be made to the following additional sources of information:
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Current Pollution Level
Only the most recently collected hourly data is displayed in this view. As live data, the ‘No data’ symbol will be displayed at a number of sites when one of the following occurs:
- Failed communications
- Equipment switched ‘Out of Service’ due to site maintenance/calibrations, instrument repair or site audits
- Faulty equipment
- Invalid valid data being removed
Data will return when the next valid data point is collected or the instruments are switched back into service.
This method of displaying data differs from other ‘Near Real Time’ services that display the last valid data point observed. Therefore a value from a previous hour may be displayed.
