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Air in Phumelela

Air in 2025 (modelled): nitrogen dioxide near the ground averaged 17 µg/m³, 1.7 times WHO’s guideline of 10; winters 21 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 202513 µg/m³53 µg/m³80 µmol/m²95 µmol/m²
November 202512 µg/m³54 µg/m³91 µmol/m²100 µmol/m²
October 202517 µg/m³58 µg/m³112 µmol/m²129 µmol/m²
September 202518 µg/m³56 µg/m³123 µmol/m²163 µmol/m²
August 202525 µg/m³48 µg/m³158 µmol/m²202 µmol/m²
July 202521 µg/m³44 µg/m³128 µmol/m²148 µmol/m²
June 202521 µg/m³41 µg/m³138 µmol/m²140 µmol/m²
May 202520 µg/m³38 µg/m³120 µmol/m²121 µmol/m²
April 202519 µg/m³36 µg/m³118 µmol/m²105 µmol/m²
March 202516 µg/m³44 µg/m³99 µmol/m²107 µmol/m²
February 202511 µg/m³47 µg/m³85 µmol/m²98 µmol/m²
January 202513 µg/m³50 µg/m³83 µmol/m²95 µmol/m²
December 202413 µg/m³58 µg/m³108 µmol/m²141 µmol/m²
November 202417 µg/m³61 µg/m³120 µmol/m²150 µmol/m²
October 202415 µg/m³66 µg/m³102 µmol/m²132 µmol/m²
September 202419 µg/m³59 µg/m³133 µmol/m²169 µmol/m²
August 202420 µg/m³54 µg/m³120 µmol/m²136 µmol/m²
July 202420 µg/m³44 µg/m³115 µmol/m²95 µmol/m²
June 202423 µg/m³38 µg/m³138 µmol/m²143 µmol/m²
May 202424 µg/m³39 µg/m³122 µmol/m²148 µmol/m²
April 202417 µg/m³37 µg/m³112 µmol/m²126 µmol/m²
March 202416 µg/m³46 µg/m³116 µmol/m²157 µmol/m²
February 202415 µg/m³48 µg/m³95 µmol/m²131 µmol/m²
January 202412 µg/m³52 µg/m³67 µmol/m²84 µmol/m²

Over the last five years the NO2 column averaged 140 µmol/m² in winter against 88 µmol/m² in summer, and the SO2 column 153 µmol/m² against 106 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: 15 µg/m³2004: 14 µg/m³2005: 14 µg/m³2006: 14 µg/m³2007: 14 µg/m³2008: 15 µg/m³2009: 15 µg/m³2010: 15 µg/m³2011: 15 µg/m³2012: 15 µg/m³2013: 15 µg/m³2014: 15 µg/m³2015: 15 µg/m³2016: 15 µg/m³2017: 16 µg/m³2018: 16 µg/m³2019: 17 µg/m³2020: 16 µg/m³2021: 16 µg/m³2022: 18 µg/m³2023: 17 µg/m³2024: 18 µg/m³2025: 17 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
200315 µg/m³
200414 µg/m³
200514 µg/m³
200614 µg/m³
200714 µg/m³
200815 µg/m³
200915 µg/m³
201015 µg/m³
201115 µg/m³
201215 µg/m³
201315 µg/m³
201415 µg/m³
201515 µg/m³
201615 µg/m³
201716 µg/m³
201816 µg/m³
201917 µg/m³
202016 µg/m³
202116 µg/m³
202218 µg/m³
202317 µg/m³
202418 µg/m³
202517 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 Phumelela · 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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