london’s air: the year you were born, and now

born 1950 292 → 10 µg/m³ in december 1952 a smog killed about twelve thousand people in five days. the clean air act followed in 1956. the air is about fifty times cleaner than victorian london.

method annual mean smoke (pre-1990) and PM2.5 (post-1990) in µg/m³, harmonised approximately from Fouquet 2011, Brimblecombe 1987 and DEFRA/LAQN.

born 1970 60 → 10 µg/m³ about 6× cleaner than when you were born.

coal was banned from the city’s grates. that was most of it. what is left comes from exhausts and, on bad days, from farms and fires far away.

born 1990 25 → 10 µg/m³ about 2.5× cleaner than when you were born.

coal was banned from the city’s grates. that was most of it. what is left comes from exhausts and, on bad days, from farms and fires far away.

born 2010 15 → 10 µg/m³ about 1.5× cleaner than when you were born.

coal was banned from the city’s grates. that was most of it. what is left comes from exhausts and, on bad days, from farms and fires far away.

how this number is built

method

annual mean smoke (pre-1990) and PM2.5 (post-1990) in µg/m³, harmonised approximately from Fouquet 2011, Brimblecombe 1987 and DEFRA/LAQN.

range

±30% on historical years

confidence

estimate

weakness

two different metrics stitched together; the shape is robust, the exact ratio is not.

becomes a feed

London Air Quality Network, hourly

dispute

dispute LGR-079 · corrections are credited

data

channels.json (sign-in) · full entry · CC BY 4.0