Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Summary Report
| Authors | Jack Davison |
| Compilation date | 24 May 2023 |
| Customer | Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea |
| Approved by | Luke Doman |
| Copyright | Ricardo Energy & Environment |
| EULA | http://ee.ricardo.com/cms/eula/ |
| Contract reference | ED13596 | Report reference | 2022 |
1 Introduction
This is a monthly summary report for Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for the period January to December 2022.
This is a dynamic report containing embedded data from which the report tables, plots and graphs are generated. The embedded data allows the reader a level of interaction with some of the report findings, providing additional insight. This approach enables a more easily navigated and streamlined report providing an engaging and intuitive reader experience.
Maps for example can be panned and zoomed with different layers and markers turned on and off and with popup information by clicking on markers or hovering the mouse over them. Tables may contain much more information than initially displayed and can be set to show different numbers of rows, and can be filtered sorted or searched to display only specific information of interest. Some time series plots can be tracked with the mouse cursor to obtain specific time/date stamps and values and the reader can zoom into a specific time window by dragging with the cursor and double left clicking to return to the full plot extent.
The report is easily navigable using the floating table of contents on the left pane which tracks with the reader’s progress through the report and expands and collapses to a level of detail related to the subheadings used. The layout of the report is also dynamic, with some sections split into specific ‘tabs’ (e.g. per pollutant or per site) for ease of access to those sections.
2 Monitoring stations
A summary of site information is presented in the interactive map and table below. Full site information can be obtained using the URL hyperlink in the popup for each monitoring station on the map.
The below map can be zoomed in and out of by using your mouse scroll wheel, or using the widget at the top-left. Clicking on the green numbered marker in the centre of the map will expand out to reveal the individual nearby sensors. A satellite view can be toggled on and off using the menu at the top-right. Clicking on individual circular markers will show the name of the site and the pollutants it measures.
Clicking on the headers of these tables will sort them. The whole tables can also be searched by using the box at the upper-right.
3 Data description
Data contained within this report is managed by Ricardo and stored in a dedicated, secure database. The data within this report is provisional and subject to change, and as such should be treated with caution.
Some of the plots provided in this report use associated meteorological data (typically wind speed and wind direction) in order to show measured pollutant concentrations in a dispersion context. Very few monitoring stations provide quality controlled met data, therefore these reports import data from the Met Office DataPoint 1.
Gaseous pollutant mass units are at 20 °C and 1013 mb. NOx mass units are NOx as NO2 μg m-3. Particulate matter concentrations are reported at ambient temperature and pressure.
3.1 Relevant Pollution Limit Values
Legal limits for different pollutants in the UK are set out in the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. The regulations include Limit Values (LV), Target Values (TV) and Long Term Objectives to protect human health. The Limit Values and Target Values for local authorities in England are summarised in the table below. Local authorities don’t typically measure ozone, benzene, B[a]P or metals that are captured within Defra’s national networks. All pollutants measured have been included in this data summary for completeness, irrespective of their significance for local authority policy interests.
4 Data Analysis
4.1 Summary statistics
The following tables present pollutant statistics for the period in reported month. The Low, Moderate and High indicates the number of days for a particular pollutant when the concentrations are in the corresponding AQI bands in the reported time period.
NO2
PM10
PM2.5
4.2 AQ index distribution
The plots below illustrate the distribution of AQ index values for each site by pollutant. It shows the number of days the reported pollutant concentration was within each index. More information on the AQ Index is available from UK-Air 2.
Zooming in on specific periods of the plot can be done by dragging a box over the section of the main plot frame. To return to the default (all data) zoom level, double click the plot. Hovering over each bar will show a tooltip displaying the specific number of days at each daily air quality index. Clicking on the legend will toggle the different indices on and off.
NO2
Figure 1: Distribution of AQI for NO2.
PM10
Figure 2: Distribution of AQI for PM10.
PM2.5
Figure 3: Distribution of AQI for PM2.5.
4.3 Boxplots
The plots below are box and whisker plots to show the distribution in concentrations for each monitoring station. The boxes demarcate the lower quartile, median and upper quartile. The whiskers extend to the maximum and minimum values within median ± 1.5 times interquartile range (IQR). Values outside the median ± 1.5 times IQR are generally considered as outliers.
Hovering over each boxplot will show tooltips of the specific summary statistics.
NO2
Figure 4: Boxplot for NO2 concentration.
PM10
Figure 5: Boxplot for PM10 concentration.
PM2.5
Figure 6: Boxplot for PM2.5 concentration.
4.4 Time series plot
The plots below show the time series of concentrations. Each pollutant is presented on a different tab and all sites are shown on each plot for comparison. A daily average resolution has been chosen as the most appropriate metric over a variety of different time windows.
Holding the mouse over the lines will highlight specific values and time stamp for that record for each station. Clicking on the legend will toggle on and off specific traces, and double clicking on it will isolate single traces. These plots can be zoomed in a similar way to other interactive plots, although the range-slider at the bottom of the plot can also be used to examine a specific time period of interest.
NO2
Figure 7: Time series plot of daily average NO2 concentration.
PM10
Figure 8: Time series plot of daily average PM10 concentration.
PM2.5
Figure 9: Time series plot of daily average PM2.5 concentration.
4.5 Time Variation plot
These plots show concentrations over different time intervals such as diurnal, day of week and month of year. The plot showing seasonal variation will show only the months during the period covered in this report. The topmost frame shows the concentrations as they vary by hour of the day and day of the week. The hour of the day variation is summarised on its own in the lower left pane and the variation by day of the week is shown in the lower right pane. These plots often help explain variations in concentration according to the emissions activity associated with them. For example, NOx concentrations at roadside sites tend to exhibit peaks according to morning and evening traffic rush hours and tend to decline over weekends when there is generally lower traffic volumes.
NO2
Figure 10: Time variation of hourly NO2 concentration.
PM10
Figure 11: Time variation of hourly PM10 concentration.
PM2.5
Figure 12: Time variation of hourly PM2.5 concentration.
4.6 Calendar plot
The plot below shows daily variation in concentrations by pollutant (one on each tab) across the period of the report, as laid out in a calendar style. This allows intuitive viewing of day to day headline trends in the wider context of the period. The background colours shown for each day relate to the concentration.
NO2
RBKC Holland Park Avenue (mobile sensor)
Figure 13: NO2 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 1 (mobile sensor)
Figure 14: NO2 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 2 (mobile sensor)
Figure 15: NO2 calendar plot.
RBKC Sedding Street (mobile sensor)
Figure 16: NO2 calendar plot.
PM10
RBKC Holland Park Avenue (mobile sensor)
Figure 17: PM10 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 1 (mobile sensor)
Figure 18: PM10 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 2 (mobile sensor)
Figure 19: PM10 calendar plot.
RBKC Sedding Street (mobile sensor)
Figure 20: PM10 calendar plot.
PM2.5
RBKC Holland Park Avenue (mobile sensor)
Figure 21: PM2.5 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 1 (mobile sensor)
Figure 22: PM2.5 calendar plot.
RBKC Kensington High Street 2 (mobile sensor)
Figure 23: PM2.5 calendar plot.
RBKC Sedding Street (mobile sensor)
Figure 24: PM2.5 calendar plot.
4.7 Back trajectory analysis
The back trajectory plot shows data from the HYSPLIT model (NOAA HYSPLIT 3) run in analysis mode. This shows the air mass back trajectories for the period covered by the report. Two different kinds of plot are shown. One statistically groups the trajectories into similar clusters and shows the proportion of time during the report period that each represents (Figure 25). This is useful to get an overview of air mass origins during the report period. Plots in Trajectories associated with top ten most polluted days provide information on the trajectory direction associated with the top 10 measured concentrations.
4.7.1 Trajectory clusters
4-day air mass back trajectories arriving at the sites for 2022 are grouped into 4 clusters.
Figure 25: Back trajectory clusters for the month reported.
Air mass back trajectories over these spatial scales do not vary locally so the receptor location used in this report has been selected from a range of national receptor locations maintained by Ricardo Energy & Environment. The receptor point is used here is London Bridge Place which is 3.3km away from the centre of all monitoring stations analysed in this report.
4.7.2 Trajectories associated with top ten most polluted days
The average daily concentration for each pollutant across all the sites is calculated, with the top 10 most polluted days identified and linked to its back trajectory data in the plot below.
NO2
Figure 26: Trajectory plot for top ten highest daily NO2 concentration.
PM10
Figure 27: Trajectory plot for top ten highest daily PM10 concentration.
PM2.5
Figure 28: Trajectory plot for top ten highest daily PM2.5 concentration.
4.8 Polar plot map
The maps below show polar plots for each pollutant at each monitoring station superimposed on the region to help understand the relative strength and direction of sources. The distance from the plot origin shows the wind speed.
These plots are useful to help identify primary pollutants which are emitted directly into the atmosphere, especially when multiple plots are used in conjunction to ‘triangulate’ a common source. For pollutants with a secondary component (i.e. formed through chemical reactions in the atmosphere, e.g. NO2, PM2.5 and O3) the directional signature seen in the measurements may not be as strong.
These maps can be controlled in similar ways to other maps in this report. Importantly, pollutants can be swapped between using the menu at the top-right.
Figure 29: Polar plot map.
| Name | Luke Doman |
| Address | Ricardo Energy & Environment, Gemini Building, Harwell, Didcot, OX11 0QR, UK |
| Telephone | 01235 753710 |
| luke.doman@ricardo.com |