All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodiesDo something for our planet, print this page only if needed. Even a small action can make an enormous difference when millions of people do it!
Indicator Specification
This indicator shows the effect that transport has on air quality, focusing on particulate matter (both PM10 and PM2.5) and NO2. The negative impacts of these pollutants on human health are outlined in CSI004 (EEA, 2018a). Road transport is the largest source (or one of the largest sources) of emissions for these selected pollutants. Especially in urban areas, where the majority of the European population lives and works, the contribution of road transport emissions to observed pollutant concentrations is particularly high, leading to increased exposure to those pollutants. It is, therefore, relevant to compare concentrations observed at traffic stations (stations located close to road traffic emission sources, which are often in city centres) with those observed at background stations.
This indicator compares concentrations of pollutants at background stations with those at traffic stations. This comparison provides an estimate of the increased levels of air pollution to which the population is exposed in areas with relatively high levels of road traffic. It also provides a measure of the impact of the technical and non-technical measures adopted to reduce the road transport sector's contribution to observed pollutant concentrations.
The indicator makes use of official data submitted to the EEA’s Air Quality e-Reporting database.
This indicator reports pollutant concentrations at traffic and background stations in micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3).
This indicator provides information relevant to current European air quality legislation related to the setting of national emissions targets, the reduction of transport-related emissions (discussed in detail in TERM003 (EEA, 2018b)) and the protection of human health from harmful air pollutant levels (EU, 2008). It is related to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Air Quality Guidelines (WHO, 2000, 2006) for protecting public health.
EU ambient air quality limit values set by Directive 2008/50/EC for the protection of human health
WHO Air Quality Guidelines
Data submitted to the EEA's Air Quality e-Reporting database have been used. The selected stations include station types classified as 'traffic' for the traffic map and 'background' for the background map. Only stations for which at least 75 % of data per calendar year are valid are used. This means that, in the case of daily values, only those stations with more than 274 valid daily values per calendar year (or 275 days in a leap year) are used and, in the case of hourly values, only those stations with more than 6 570 valid hourly values per calendar year (or 6 588 hours in a leap year) are used.
Average yearly data were obtained for PM2.5 and NO2. For PM10, the annual series of daily values is ordered and percentile 90.41 (P90.41) selected. P90.41 represents, in a complete series, the 36th highest value; if it is above 50 µg/m3, it suggests an exceedance of the PM10 daily limit value. Using P90.41 diminishes the effect of the missing values.
No gap filling is applied to the air quality data in the EEA air quality databases.
No methodology references available.
No uncertainty has been specified.
Air quality data are officially submitted by national authorities. It is assumed that data have been validated by the national data suppliers. The number of reported stations varies across countries.
Station characteristics and representativeness are often insufficiently documented. Locally (i.e. at the station level), the indicator is subject to year-on-year variations due to meteorological variability.
No uncertainty has been specified.
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/exceedances-of-air-quality-objectives-7 or scan the QR code.
PDF generated on 26 Apr 2024, 12:15 AM
Engineered by: EEA Web Team
Software updated on 26 September 2023 08:13 from version 23.8.18
Software version: EEA Plone KGS 23.9.14
Document Actions
Share with others