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Air in Govan Mbeki
Air in 2025 (modelled): nitrogen dioxide near the ground averaged 41 µg/m³, 4.1 times WHO’s guideline of 10; winters 48 µg/m³, summers 31 µg/m³.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) comes mostly from burning: power stations, vehicles, industry. Near the ground is what people breathe. The column is all of it in the air above, from the ground to the top of the sky, which is what a satellite sees. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) comes mostly from burning coal. Ozone forms in sunlight from other pollutants.
Modelled, not measured: these figures come from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service’s reanalysis, a weather and chemistry model that takes in satellite readings. Its cells are about 80 km across, so a busy road or a smoky winter evening in one suburb is smoothed into the region around it. It is not a reading at any address.
2025
- 41 µg/m³Nitrogen dioxide near the groundThe year’s mean; 4.1 × WHO’s guideline
- 48 µg/m³In winterJune to August, against 31 µg/m³ in summer (last five years)
- 263 µmol/m²NO2 in the column aboveWhat a satellite sees, not what you breathe
- 417 µmol/m²SO2 in the column aboveMostly from burning coal
- 31 µg/m³Ozone near the groundThe year’s mean
WHO’s 2021 guideline for nitrogen dioxide is 10 µg/m³ as a yearly mean. It is a long-term health guideline, not a legal limit (South Africa’s national standard for the yearly mean is set separately), and these are modelled regional means, not readings where you live.
Month by month
| Month | NO2 near the ground | Ozone near the ground | NO2 column | SO2 column |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | 35 µg/m³ | 39 µg/m³ | 200 µmol/m² | 331 µmol/m² |
| November 2025 | 36 µg/m³ | 36 µg/m³ | 230 µmol/m² | 331 µmol/m² |
| October 2025 | 40 µg/m³ | 42 µg/m³ | 249 µmol/m² | 392 µmol/m² |
| September 2025 | 43 µg/m³ | 40 µg/m³ | 260 µmol/m² | 426 µmol/m² |
| August 2025 | 53 µg/m³ | 33 µg/m³ | 300 µmol/m² | 489 µmol/m² |
| July 2025 | 51 µg/m³ | 24 µg/m³ | 327 µmol/m² | 544 µmol/m² |
| June 2025 | 49 µg/m³ | 22 µg/m³ | 325 µmol/m² | 498 µmol/m² |
| May 2025 | 49 µg/m³ | 21 µg/m³ | 369 µmol/m² | 538 µmol/m² |
| April 2025 | 41 µg/m³ | 22 µg/m³ | 257 µmol/m² | 386 µmol/m² |
| March 2025 | 38 µg/m³ | 30 µg/m³ | 256 µmol/m² | 412 µmol/m² |
| February 2025 | 30 µg/m³ | 30 µg/m³ | 202 µmol/m² | 348 µmol/m² |
| January 2025 | 31 µg/m³ | 34 µg/m³ | 186 µmol/m² | 305 µmol/m² |
| December 2024 | 33 µg/m³ | 39 µg/m³ | 193 µmol/m² | 318 µmol/m² |
| November 2024 | 42 µg/m³ | 45 µg/m³ | 222 µmol/m² | 353 µmol/m² |
| October 2024 | 39 µg/m³ | 53 µg/m³ | 262 µmol/m² | 443 µmol/m² |
| September 2024 | 39 µg/m³ | 44 µg/m³ | 233 µmol/m² | 374 µmol/m² |
| August 2024 | 49 µg/m³ | 35 µg/m³ | 291 µmol/m² | 456 µmol/m² |
| July 2024 | 51 µg/m³ | 25 µg/m³ | 272 µmol/m² | 397 µmol/m² |
| June 2024 | 48 µg/m³ | 21 µg/m³ | 332 µmol/m² | 509 µmol/m² |
| May 2024 | 52 µg/m³ | 23 µg/m³ | 370 µmol/m² | 610 µmol/m² |
| April 2024 | 38 µg/m³ | 23 µg/m³ | 264 µmol/m² | 425 µmol/m² |
| March 2024 | 34 µg/m³ | 31 µg/m³ | 225 µmol/m² | 400 µmol/m² |
| February 2024 | 35 µg/m³ | 37 µg/m³ | 203 µmol/m² | 368 µmol/m² |
| January 2024 | 36 µg/m³ | 42 µg/m³ | 185 µmol/m² | 332 µmol/m² |
Over the last five years the NO2 column averaged 312 µmol/m² in winter against 199 µmol/m² in summer, and the SO2 column 493 µmol/m² against 337 µmol/m²: still winter air holds what is burnt close to the ground, and more is burnt to keep warm.
Every year since 2003
Show the numbers
| When or what | Figure |
|---|---|
| 2003 | 33 µg/m³ |
| 2004 | 33 µg/m³ |
| 2005 | 35 µg/m³ |
| 2006 | 33 µg/m³ |
| 2007 | 34 µg/m³ |
| 2008 | 37 µg/m³ |
| 2009 | 35 µg/m³ |
| 2010 | 37 µg/m³ |
| 2011 | 36 µg/m³ |
| 2012 | 38 µg/m³ |
| 2013 | 36 µg/m³ |
| 2014 | 37 µg/m³ |
| 2015 | 39 µg/m³ |
| 2016 | 38 µg/m³ |
| 2017 | 38 µg/m³ |
| 2018 | 37 µg/m³ |
| 2019 | 40 µg/m³ |
| 2020 | 38 µg/m³ |
| 2021 | 38 µg/m³ |
| 2022 | 40 µg/m³ |
| 2023 | 40 µg/m³ |
| 2024 | 41 µg/m³ |
| 2025 | 41 µg/m³ |
See it in the Copernicus Browser, the European Space Agency’s free viewer, on the newest image: Sentinel-5P, nitrogen dioxide · Sentinel-5P, sulphur dioxide. These are Sentinel-5P’s observed columns for one day, not our modelled yearly figures; days with cloud have gaps.
Every municipality, ranked · Everything we hold for Govan Mbeki · On the explore map
Source
Modelled, not measured: these figures come from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service’s reanalysis, a weather and chemistry model that takes in satellite readings. Its cells are about 80 km across, so a busy road or a smoky winter evening in one suburb is smoothed into the region around it. It is not a reading at any address.
How we worked this out
What we changed: we averaged the reanalysis’s monthly means over each place by its area in each 0.75 degree cell, turned NO2 and ozone on the model’s lowest level from mass mixing ratio into micrograms per m3 with the month’s air density (surface pressure and temperature), and the columns from kg per m2 into micromol per m2.
Particles (PM2.5, PM10) and sulphur dioxide near the ground are not shown yet: the model reads them far higher over Gauteng and the Highveld than is plausible for a regional mean, so they wait for a check against ground stations.
Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2003 to 2025. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (2020): CAMS global reanalysis (EAC4) monthly averaged fields. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Atmosphere Data Store, DOI 10.24381/fd75fff2. Inness, A. and others (2019): The CAMS reanalysis of atmospheric composition, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3515 to 3556. Under CC BY 4.0.
Dataset: air quality by municipality, release of 12 November 2026.