The Institution of Environmental Sciences

Air Quality Links

Air Quality related website review; everything from air quality data on your doorstep to the equipment needed to monitor it.

With acknowledgement to Alex Ledbrooke, Cornwall Air Quality Forum (www.cornwall-airquality.org.uk)

Air Quality Management Resource Centre (AQMRC) – University of the West of England – In their owns words (and I’d have to agree) ‘This site includes information on: events run by the Centre (and others), AQMAs in the UK, useful links to relevant legislation and other organisations working within the air quality management field, and information on some of the regional air quality groups working within the South West.

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aqm/centre/index.html (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

National Society for Clean Air (NSCA) – The NSCA offer masses of information which can be daunting but the site is well constructed making it easy to find. The topics are diverse and make good use of external sites. There is also a list of forthcoming NSCA events listed. My only criticism is the site appearance is a little bland in appearance.

www.nsca.org.uk/pages/index.cfm (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

World Health Organisation (WHO) – A search for ‘air quality’ in the WHO’s search engine found proximately 11,800 matches! Amongst this bounty of information, the most useful sections include WHO air quality guidelines, an up to date list of reports (one added the day before I accessed the site) and the link to the AQ2.2 software download. If you’re looking for health effects and air quality, look no further than this site.

www.euro.who.int/air (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

NETCEN - The UK National Air Quality Information Archive - Everybody knows the NETCEN site. The site is full of statistics from the UK Automatic Urban Network with useful facilities for downloading selected data from all the monitors. The site also provides information about Local Air Quality Management including help for Local Authorities declaring AQMAs etc.

www.airquality.co.uk/archive/index.php(Date accessed: 27/10/05)

Encyclopaedia of the Atmospheric Environment– The Manchester Metropolitan University run the site and as the name suggests it includes a lot about the environment. The Air Quality section covers all sorts from Asthma to Wildlife with some sections offering two levels of detail which is chosen by either selecting the Bart Simpson icon (easy) or Mr Burns (doesn’t he own a nuclear power plant?). A good site for young students or members of the public.

www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/english.html (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

Air Pollution Information System (APIS)– Searching the myriad of information on the APIS website is geared around four main search categories; Pollutants, Impacts by Issue, Impacts by Ecosystem and Legislation and Agreements. Each search is met with a large page of text which goes into plenty of detail for most users but the whole lot could do with a more lively appearance.

www.apis.ac.uk/index.html (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

Air Quality Management Magazine – Essential reading for anyone working in the air quality industry. Whilst not giving away too much the site gives you the headlines from past and present magazine editions which can be downloaded (not the most recent issues). This monthly magazine will keep you updated on research and project progress, new equipment and conference reports from around the UK and beyond. An informative and entertaining read aided by editor Jack Pease’s quirky quips.

www.air-quality-management.co.uk/ (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

UK Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC) – You’ll need a boat for this one, it requires a lot of trawling! No internal search engine means scrolling up and down the pages to get what you want and even then it’s easy to miss things. There is a lengthy introduction, a list of publications, a list of work, a list of events, a list…, you get the idea. I can only hope the member’s area is special.

www.admlc.org.uk/links.htm (Date accessed: 27/10/05)

Friends of the Earth– It would seem air quality isn’t top of the agenda for Friends of the Earth. There is no dedicated section for air quality or even the environment. Using their search engine did reveal a list of press releases and articles but these are not sorted into categories making it impossible to search for something specific. Overall this is a very disappointing website.