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Air in Newcastle

Air in 2025 (modelled): nitrogen dioxide near the ground averaged 21 µg/m³, 2.1 times WHO’s guideline of 10; winters 28 µg/m³, summers 13 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

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

MonthNO2 near the groundOzone near the groundNO2 columnSO2 column
December 202515 µg/m³52 µg/m³86 µmol/m²102 µmol/m²
November 202515 µg/m³50 µg/m³104 µmol/m²114 µmol/m²
October 202522 µg/m³53 µg/m³132 µmol/m²169 µmol/m²
September 202524 µg/m³50 µg/m³142 µmol/m²185 µmol/m²
August 202534 µg/m³37 µg/m³197 µmol/m²253 µmol/m²
July 202529 µg/m³36 µg/m³176 µmol/m²213 µmol/m²
June 202529 µg/m³32 µg/m³179 µmol/m²186 µmol/m²
May 202524 µg/m³31 µg/m³150 µmol/m²159 µmol/m²
April 202521 µg/m³31 µg/m³138 µmol/m²137 µmol/m²
March 202517 µg/m³41 µg/m³97 µmol/m²106 µmol/m²
February 202511 µg/m³45 µg/m³80 µmol/m²89 µmol/m²
January 202514 µg/m³48 µg/m³82 µmol/m²99 µmol/m²
December 202414 µg/m³59 µg/m³116 µmol/m²165 µmol/m²
November 202420 µg/m³58 µg/m³124 µmol/m²156 µmol/m²
October 202418 µg/m³63 µg/m³106 µmol/m²128 µmol/m²
September 202427 µg/m³54 µg/m³179 µmol/m²219 µmol/m²
August 202428 µg/m³47 µg/m³170 µmol/m²191 µmol/m²
July 202428 µg/m³36 µg/m³171 µmol/m²161 µmol/m²
June 202428 µg/m³33 µg/m³160 µmol/m²164 µmol/m²
May 202429 µg/m³33 µg/m³149 µmol/m²182 µmol/m²
April 202418 µg/m³34 µg/m³134 µmol/m²153 µmol/m²
March 202414 µg/m³45 µg/m³99 µmol/m²136 µmol/m²
February 202414 µg/m³50 µg/m³87 µmol/m²128 µmol/m²
January 202413 µg/m³51 µg/m³70 µmol/m²97 µmol/m²

Over the last five years the NO2 column averaged 179 µmol/m² in winter against 89 µmol/m² in summer, and the SO2 column 200 µmol/m² against 109 µmol/m²: still winter air holds what is burnt close to the ground, and more is burnt to keep warm.

Every year since 2003

2003: 17 µg/m³2004: 16 µg/m³2005: 18 µg/m³2006: 17 µg/m³2007: 17 µg/m³2008: 18 µg/m³2009: 19 µg/m³2010: 19 µg/m³2011: 17 µg/m³2012: 18 µg/m³2013: 18 µg/m³2014: 18 µg/m³2015: 18 µg/m³2016: 18 µg/m³2017: 18 µg/m³2018: 19 µg/m³2019: 20 µg/m³2020: 19 µg/m³2021: 20 µg/m³2022: 21 µg/m³2023: 21 µg/m³2024: 21 µg/m³2025: 21 µg/m³200320082013201820232025
Nitrogen dioxide near the ground, each year’s mean (modelled). The line is WHO’s yearly guideline, 10 µg/m³.
Show the numbers
Nitrogen dioxide near the ground, the mean of each year, 2003 to 2025: every figure
When or whatFigure
200317 µg/m³
200416 µg/m³
200518 µg/m³
200617 µg/m³
200717 µg/m³
200818 µg/m³
200919 µg/m³
201019 µg/m³
201117 µg/m³
201218 µg/m³
201318 µg/m³
201418 µg/m³
201518 µg/m³
201618 µg/m³
201718 µg/m³
201819 µg/m³
201920 µg/m³
202019 µg/m³
202120 µg/m³
202221 µg/m³
202321 µg/m³
202421 µg/m³
202521 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 Newcastle · 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.

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