Monitoring and reporting

Southampton City Council has been monitoring the air quality in the city for many years. The first automatic real time air quality monitoring analysers were installed at Six Dials junction in 1994. This station is part of the national network funded by central government.

There are currently four automatic air quality monitoring stations in the city.

1. Brintons Road, Six Dials Junction, St Marys. This is the largest station in the city. It currently monitors.

• Nitrogen dioxide
• Particulate dust, PM10 (less than 10 microns in diameter)
• Particulate dust PM2.5 (less than 2.5 microns in diameter)
• Ozone
• Sulphur Dioxide
• Benzene

2. Onslow Road This station is a small roadside cabinet, monitoring

• Nitrogen dioxide

3. Victoria Road, Woolston This station is a small roadside cabinet, monitoring

• Nitrogen dioxide

4. Redbridge Road This station was installed in late 2015, monitoring

• Nitrogen dioxide
• Particulate dust, PM10 (less than 10 microns in diameter)

There are also approximately 60 nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes located throughout the city.

Historically, automatic monitoring has been undertaken at the Civic Centre, Bitterne Road, Millbrook Road and within the grounds of Redbridge Community School.

We have a network of more than 90 diffusion tubes across Southampton to measure levels of NO2. The tubes are changed on a monthly basis and analysed by Gradko Laboratories of Winchester.

All current and historical (discontinued) nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube locations are available to view on the interactive map below and a list of annual NO2 diffusion tube reports for Southampton can be found on the reports page.

Use the link below to view the location of the nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes on an interactive map.

View the interactive map

Through the Air Quality Action Plan, the council have implemented a series of new low-cost sensors across the city. These sensors monitor a wide array of pollutants including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM2.5), and Ozone in near real-time. The data presented by these sensors is indicative, meaning they are not as accurate or reliable as our automatic monitoring stations and should not be used to make comparisons with air quality objectives or guidelines.

Data from these monitors and the automatic monitoring network are available on EarthSense and Airly for school site monitors. These present a map of predicted concentrations of NO2 and PM2.5 across the city to help residents understand what their local air quality is like throughout the day. Further information on this resource is available on EarthSense and Airly.