UK Networks¶

The UK operates several regional air quality monitoring networks that provide high-quality, reference-grade data.

AURN (Automatic Urban and Rural Network)¶

The UK's primary national air quality monitoring network, operated by the Environment Agency.

Coverage¶

~150 monitoring sites across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Mix of urban background, roadside, and rural sites
Continuous monitoring since 1973

Available Pollutants¶

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Ozone (O3)
Particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10)
Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
Carbon monoxide (CO)

Usage¶

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

# Get all AURN sites
sites = aeolus.networks.get_metadata("AURN")
print(sites[['site_code', 'site_name', 'location_type', 'latitude', 'longitude']])

# Download data
data = aeolus.download(
    sources="AURN",
    sites=["MY1", "KC1"],  # Marylebone Road, Kensington
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

Location Types¶

Type	Description
Urban Background	Representative of city-wide exposure
Urban Traffic	Near major roads
Suburban	Residential areas
Rural	Away from direct sources

SAQN (Scottish Air Quality Network)¶

Additional monitoring sites operated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Note: SAQD is also accepted as an alias for SAQN for backwards compatibility.

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

# Get SAQN sites
sites = aeolus.networks.get_metadata("SAQN")

# Download
data = aeolus.download(
    sources="SAQN",
    sites=["ED3"],
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

WAQN (Welsh Air Quality Network)¶

Welsh monitoring network operated by Natural Resources Wales.

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

data = aeolus.download(
    sources="WAQN",
    sites=["CARD"],  # Cardiff
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

NI (Northern Ireland Network)¶

Northern Ireland network operated by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

data = aeolus.download(
    sources="NI",
    sites=["BEL1"],  # Belfast
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

AQE (Air Quality England)¶

Local authority monitoring sites across England, providing additional coverage beyond the national AURN network.

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

sites = aeolus.networks.get_metadata("AQE")
data = aeolus.download(
    sources="AQE",
    sites=sites["site_code"].head(3).tolist(),
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

LAQN (London Air Quality Network)¶

London's main regulatory monitoring network, managed by the Environmental Research Group (ERG) at Imperial College London. Provides hourly data from ~250 monitoring sites across Greater London, covering all 33 London boroughs.

Data is accessed via the London Air JSON API. No API key is required.

Available Pollutants¶

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
Ozone (O3)
Particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10)
Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
Carbon monoxide (CO)

Usage¶

import aeolus
from datetime import datetime

# Find sites near a location
sites = aeolus.find_sites("LAQN", near=(51.5074, -0.1278), radius_km=5)

# Download data
data = aeolus.download(
    sources="LAQN",
    sites=["MY1", "KC1"],
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)

Data Quality¶

UK regulatory networks provide ratified data:

Quality assured by trained personnel
Calibrated reference-grade instruments
Regular maintenance and audits
Traceable to national standards

Data is typically ratified within 6-12 months of collection. Recent data may be marked as provisional.

Combining UK Networks¶

Download from multiple UK networks simultaneously:

data = aeolus.download(
    sources={
        "AURN": ["MY1", "KC1"],
        "SAQN": ["ED3", "GLA4"],
        "WAQN": ["CARD"],
    },
    start_date=datetime(2024, 1, 1),
    end_date=datetime(2024, 1, 31)
)