The quality of the air we breathe in Albacete

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On January 13th, we had the opportunity to meet at the Albacete Tribune a fairly extensive article that highlighted the poor air quality recorded in Albacete in 2015, describing it as the worst in the last decade.

The information was based on the monthly air quality reports of Castilla-La Mancha, the ICA and the levels of particles recorded, so perhaps the statement was somewhat risky at the outset, or at least excessively generalist, something that we certainly cannot reproach this publication, since they are not experts in this field and are based on the sources they consider to be the most accredited. In fact, we continue to encourage the Albacete Tribune to continue as before, echoing this type of environmental news and bringing our profession and devotion closer to the general public.

The fact is that the news was curious to us, and as experts in the operation and control of air quality networks that we are, with proven experience in their design, as well as in the study and mining of their data, it led us to consider...

What has happened to Albacete's air quality and its control in the last decade?

The first thing was to get hold of the control data for the last decade for the Albacete station. Oddly enough, on the Castilla - La Mancha website, the data are divided. Between 2006 and 2011 we can find the annual data for the Albacete station in the History of the station, while data from 2013 onward are found by month and for all seasons in the Monthly history section.

When we downloaded the data, it was precisely the year 2012, the year of changes for the Castilla-La Mancha network, and the odd month left in the available history after this year. After requesting it from the control network, the available information (but not all) was immediately sent to us by email, which is always to be appreciated... for the rest of the data the literal answer was “the available data are those that appear on the network”, so for the present study they will be considered as null data.

When collecting and assembling the air quality data available for Albacete over the last 10 years (2006 to 2015), we found a validated data file of 86,183 rows and 16 variables, that is, a total of 1,379,000 data to handle, so we used the R free software And the Openair package in order to extract the maximum amount of information and to be able to obtain valid conclusions to put in this post.

We leave you the final file in case you want to download it... Data for Albacete 2006-2015.

The particles of Albacete.

The article in La Tribuna de Albacete based much of its statement on the concentrations of particles recorded in the city. Well, the first conclusion we can reach is that During 2015, nothing special happened in Albacete for this pollutant, the recorded values being within the expected trend.

While it is true that there were several significant episodes of Saharan intrusion, affecting particle levels on certain days (as in much of Spain), The recorded values are not the highest in the decade, as can be seen in the following graph, where you can see the distribution of particle data by years.

In fact, The trend, once the data are seasonally adjusted, it seems to be To the downside throughout the decade of analysis, remaining in the last three years at what seems to be a stable minimum of concentration for the study area, after which it does not seem possible to continue with the downward trend. In this regard, it is worth asking... Have we already reached the maximum potential for particle reduction in our city?.

This, of course, does not mean that the levels of particles recorded in Albacete are precisely low, since the average values recorded during 2015 are close to 30 µg/m³ For PM₁₀, when the annual limit value is 40 µg/m³, being within the usual range already described by previous studies as characteristic in Spain for urban background areas.

In fact, 9.6% of the time the available data is above 50 µg/m³, corresponding to the daily limit value set by the Royal Decree 102/2011, of 28 January, in its annex I, which can exceed a maximum of 35 days, and in the case of Albacete this value is exceeded in 2015 by up to 27 days (prior to the discount for Saharan intrusions that the administration finally considered).

Similar concentrations can also be observed for PM_2.5, with average annual levels of 12 µg/m³ , when the annual limit value is 20 µg/m³, so we can imagine what levels were recorded in years such as 2006, or 2009.

In 2015, Albacete presented levels of particles within the usual average, not exceeding any of the limit values set by the regulations, which does not mean that these values are not high in themselves.

The distribution of particle levels, of course, is still marked by urban activity in the middle of the day and by the aridity of the area, with concentrations increasing in the hottest months of the year.

In fact, the correlation between particle values seems to be stronger with meteorological factors (solar radiation, temperature or humidity) than with the emission of primary pollutants resulting from anthropogenic activities, which confirms the fact that a large part of the recorded particles are due to the aridity of the area and to the resuspension of particles.

In the following graph of the distribution of values as a function of time factors (hours of the day vs months of the year, divided by years), you can see how:

• There were worse years than 2015 (as can be clearly seen in the years 2006, 2009 or 2012),
• Los highest levels are recorded during the summer months, in the central area of each graph, and
• There is a Clear difference between the central hours of the day, starting at 09:00am and practically until 12:00pm (just when we have higher levels of insolation and greater urban activity), And the night hours, in which environmental conditions allow for deposition and reduction of levels.

What if The quality of control and surveillance data seems to have deteriorated considerably of this air pollutant, with a considerable loss of data during the years 2013 (with only 68% of valid data) and 2014 (with only 59% of valid data), recovering the required levels of valid data starting in the second quarter of 2015, it is understood that after the corresponding maintenance and/or change of the measurement equipment.

The particles However, they are not the only air pollutant that marks air quality in Albacete, far from it, but we don't want to abuse the patience of our readers, so in future editions, if you liked this post, we will continue to explain the evolution of air quality recorded by the Albacete station for pollutants such as ozone or nitrogen oxides.

Featured photo of Victor Fernandez Salinas.

[:en]

On January 13th, we had the opportunity to meet at the Albacete Tribune a fairly extensive article that highlighted the poor air quality recorded in Albacete in 2015, describing it as the worst in the last decade.

The information was based on the monthly air quality reports of Castilla-La Mancha, the ICA and the levels of particles recorded, so perhaps the statement was somewhat risky at the outset, or at least excessively generalist, something that we certainly cannot reproach this publication, since they are not experts in this field and are based on the sources they consider to be the most accredited. In fact, we continue to encourage the Albacete Tribune to continue as before, echoing this type of environmental news and bringing our profession and devotion closer to the general public.

The fact is that the news was curious to us, and as experts in the operation and control of air quality networks that we are, with proven experience in their design, as well as in the study and mining of their data, it led us to consider...

What has happened to Albacete's air quality and its control in the last decade?

The first thing was to get hold of the control data for the last decade for the Albacete station. Oddly enough, on the Castilla - La Mancha website, the data are divided. Between 2006 and 2011 we can find the annual data for the Albacete station in the History of the station, while data from 2013 onward are found by month and for all seasons in the Monthly history section.

When we downloaded the data, it was precisely the year 2012, the year of changes for the Castilla-La Mancha network, and the odd month left in the available history after this year. After requesting it from the control network, the available information (but not all) was immediately sent to us by email, which is always to be appreciated... for the rest of the data the literal answer was “the available data are those that appear on the network”, so for the present study they will be considered as null data.

When collecting and assembling the air quality data available for Albacete over the last 10 years (2006 to 2015), we found a validated data file of 86,183 rows and 16 variables, that is, a total of 1,379,000 data to handle, so we used the R free software And the Openair package in order to extract the maximum amount of information and to be able to obtain valid conclusions to put in this post.

We leave you the final file in case you want to download it... Data for Albacete 2006-2015.

The particles of Albacete.

The article in La Tribuna de Albacete based much of its statement on the concentrations of particles recorded in the city. Well, the first conclusion we can reach is that During 2015, nothing special happened in Albacete for this pollutant, the recorded values being within the expected trend.

While it is true that there were several significant episodes of Saharan intrusion, affecting particle levels on certain days (as in much of Spain), The recorded values are not the highest in the decade, as can be seen in the following graph, where you can see the distribution of particle data by years.

In fact, The trend, once the data are seasonally adjusted, it seems to be To the downside throughout the decade of analysis, remaining in the last three years at what seems to be a stable minimum of concentration for the study area, after which it does not seem possible to continue with the downward trend. In this regard, it is worth asking... Have we already reached the maximum potential for particle reduction in our city?.

This, of course, does not mean that the levels of particles recorded in Albacete are precisely low, since the average values recorded during 2015 are close to 30 µg/m³ For PM₁₀, when the annual limit value is 40 µg/m³, being within the usual range already described by previous studies as characteristic in Spain for urban background areas.

In fact, 9.6% of the time the available data is above 50 µg/m³, corresponding to the daily limit value set by the Royal Decree 102/2011, of 28 January, in its annex I, which can exceed a maximum of 35 days, and in the case of Albacete this value is exceeded in 2015 by up to 27 days (prior to the discount for Saharan intrusions that the administration finally considered).

Similar concentrations can also be observed for PM_2.5, with average annual levels of 12 µg/m³ , when the annual limit value is 20 µg/m³, so we can imagine what levels were recorded in years such as 2006, or 2009.

In 2015, Albacete presented levels of particles within the usual average, not exceeding any of the limit values set by the regulations, which does not mean that these values are not high in themselves.

The distribution of particle levels, of course, is still marked by urban activity in the middle of the day and by the aridity of the area, with concentrations increasing in the hottest months of the year.

In fact, the correlation between particle values seems to be stronger with meteorological factors (solar radiation, temperature or humidity) than with the emission of primary pollutants resulting from anthropogenic activities, which confirms the fact that a large part of the recorded particles are due to the aridity of the area and to the resuspension of particles.

In the following graph of the distribution of values as a function of time factors (hours of the day vs months of the year, divided by years), you can see how:

• There were worse years than 2015 (as can be clearly seen in the years 2006, 2009 or 2012),
• Los highest levels are recorded during the summer months, in the central area of each graph, and
• There is a Clear difference between the central hours of the day, starting at 09:00am and practically until 12:00pm (just when we have higher levels of insolation and greater urban activity), And the night hours, in which environmental conditions allow for deposition and reduction of levels.

What if The quality of control and surveillance data seems to have deteriorated considerably of this air pollutant, with a considerable loss of data during the years 2013 (with only 68% of valid data) and 2014 (with only 59% of valid data), recovering the required levels of valid data starting in the second quarter of 2015, it is understood that after the corresponding maintenance and/or change of the measurement equipment.

The particles However, they are not the only air pollutant that marks air quality in Albacete, far from it, but we don't want to abuse the patience of our readers, so in future editions, if you liked this post, we will continue to explain the evolution of air quality recorded by the Albacete station for pollutants such as ozone or nitrogen oxides.

Featured photo of Victor Fernandez Salinas.

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