The Role of Weather in Air Pollution
BBC | Aug 01 2024
You can see it, smell it, and even taste it. Air pollution can have a massive impact on our lives.
Here in the UK air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health according to the government, and is estimated to cause between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths every year.
The impact it has on our lives can often be linked to prevailing weather conditions too.
What causes air pollution and why does it matter?
The air pollution that we can breathe in comes from a number of different sources, and in different concentrations depending on your proximity to them.
Transport, industry, agriculture and even our own homes all have a part to play, emitting potentially dangerous gases and particulates into the atmosphere.
Almost every organ in our bodies can be impacted by air pollution. The World Health Organization, says that particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone are of a particular public health concern.
Short-term exposure to air pollution can cause asthma as well as other respiratory and cardiovascular health impacts. These can worsen with longer term exposure and in some cases result in reduced life expectancy.
How does weather affect air quality?
Certain areas, like those close to busy urban roads, will tend to have greater spikes in pollution, but our weather can influence general air quality over a larger area.
Areas of high pressure settling across the UK often have the biggest influence in pollution levels building up. This is due to the lighter winds close to Earth’s surface meaning pollution doesn’t disperse widely, but also due to a process that occurs higher up in the atmosphere.
Under areas of high pressure a layer of warmer air can form in the sky above us, called a temperature inversion, which then acts like an invisible ceiling.