Authors Hao Wu, David Carslaw, Louisa Kramer
Compilation date 13 January 2022
Customer Slough Borough Council
Approved by David Madle
Copyright Ricardo Energy & Environment
EULA http://ee.ricardo.com/cms/eula/

Contract reference Report reference

This report has been produced for Slough Borough Council and examines the impact of lockdown measures on evolving ambient air quality data. This analysis focuses on NOx, NO2 (and ozone data where measured) from January 2020 through December 2021, and uses proven modelling techniques to discount the influence of weather on ambient pollutant concentrations. Details of this methodology can be found in this blog. At roadside locations NOx concentrations will be closely linked to primary emissions and should show the direct impact of reduced local traffic on air pollution. NO2 will be from a mixture of primary emissions and secondary chemical reactions but should again be closely linked to local traffic reduction.

N.B. Both measured and modelled data reported here are provisional pending full QA/QC processes.

Time Series

First let’s look at the daily concentrations of the pollutants since January 2020 and get a general sense of the trend of pollutant concentrations. The dark green shading represents periods when either a UK-wide or England-wide Lockdown was in place. The light blue shading indicates the periods during which various restrictions on a regional level have been implemented.

Slough Brands Hill London Road

NO2

NOx

Slough Chalvey

NO2

NOx