Key Scottish Environment Statistics 2009
Annual publication containing summary of key statistics on environmental trends in Scotland
Air Quality
Particulate (PM 10) concentrations: 1993-2008
Annual mean concentration (µg/m 3)
Annual mean concentration (µg/m 3)
Site 1 |
1993 |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Glasgow Centre |
- |
- |
29 |
20 |
21 |
20 |
21 |
Edinburgh 2 |
30 |
26 |
23 |
18 |
20 |
19 |
15 |
Aberdeen |
- |
- |
20 |
19 |
20 |
17 |
18 |
Particulate pollution can harm the human respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and is linked to asthma and mortality. Smaller particles are the most damaging and current targets focus on particles less than 10µm in diameter (PM 10).
The greatest source of PM 10 is combustion. In particular, road transport accounted for around 21% of UK emissions of PM 10 in 2006. 3 Between 1990 and 2006, UK emissions of PM 10 fell by 50%. 3
The Air Quality Strategy 4 objectives for PM 10 come in two stages. Stage 1 (to be met by the end of 2004): a 24-hour mean of 50µg/m 3 not to be exceeded more than 35 times a year, and an annual mean of 40µg/m 3. Stage 2 (to be met by the end of 2010): a 24-hour mean of 50µg/m 3 not to be exceeded more than seven times a year, and an annual mean of 18µg/m 3. The stage 1 annual mean objective was met at all of the automatic monitoring sites in 2008. The stage 2 annual mean objective was met at 24 of the 39 automatic monitoring sites in Scotland, including - Aberdeen, Grangemouth and Inverness.
Source: Scottish Air Quality Database
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