Recommendations for a new Air Quality Index have been published by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP).

COMEAP proposes retaining the current 10 point scale and four bands (low, moderate, high and very high), but recommends that some of the bands be made more stringent to reflect the latest scientific understanding of the health effects of air pollution.

COMEAP also recommends the removal of carbon monoxide from the index, as outdoor levels have fallen dramatically since the index was last revised in 1998, and the addition of PM2.5 as EU directives now require its regulation in the UK. Additionally, COMEAP is proposing the use of ‘trigger’ values to give people advanced warning of likely short-term increases in air pollution which could affect health.

Members of the COMEAP sub-group include Professor Frank Kelly, Professor Ross Anderson and Dr Gary Fuller from King’s.

Read the full report here.

A big thank you to all who attended the annual London Air Quality Network Seminar on 1st July.

The seminar attracted over 100 delegates from the air quality community who participated in a range of sessions covering the challenges of NO2 and PM10 in London.

A special thank you to our guest speakers from Paris; Jean Sciare from LSCE and Christian Renaudot from AirParif and also to Thomas Kuhlbusch from IUTA, Germany. Thanks also to our chairmen Tim Williamson from DEFRA and Simon Cousins from the GLA.

All the presentations from the seminar are now available on our website here.

After a few late nights and a constant supply of tea and chocolate cake, the Android version of London Air is almost ready to go.

We're looking for volunteers to help beta test it before we release it to the public.

If you, or anyone you know has an Android smartphone and would like a sneak peak at our newest mobile app please email erg-android@kcl.ac.uk and we'll send you the download link and installation instructions.

After a few more late nights and even more Yorkshire tea (easily the best) and some award winning chocolate cake this time, we completed an update to hugely popular iPhone app to include Nowcast maps.

Nowcast maps combine real-time measurements from across the LAQN with a detailed model of London to produde London-wide pollution maps for NO2 and PM10 every hour. We're now bringing this innovation to our mobile apps.

If you, or anyone you know has an iPhone or iPod touch smartphone and would like to try out the latest update please email erg-iphone@kcl.ac.uk and we'll send you some instructions on how to install it.

On the 14th June 2011 Professor Martin Williams from King’s took part in a press conference to launch the UNEP/WMO Report on Black Carbon & Ozone.

UNEP, in conjunction with WMO, undertook an assessment of the impacts of black carbon and ozone, so-called 'Short-Lived Climate Forcers' on the earth’s climate and on human health and vegetation crop damage across the world. The assessment gives for the first time gave an objective review of the impact of black carbon on climate.

The report investigated a series of 16 measures to reduce levels of black carbon, ozone and methane across the world. Reducing the Short-Lived Climate Forcers has a big impact on human health, particularly in Asia, globally avoiding around 2.4 million premature deaths and also reducing crop losses, thereby improving food security.

Highlights of Professor Williams at the briefing can be seen in the video above.

Read the full report here.

The modelling team at King’s ERG has extended the scope of its emission prediction capabilities to cover the whole of England, Scotland and Wales.

The new model allows King’s to individually calculate emissions for all of the roads routinely surveyed by DfT. This covers a network of 17696 survey sites and equates to 50 342 km.

The pollutants covered include: benzene, 1,3 butadiene, CH4, CO, CO2, exhaust PM10, exhaust PM2.5, HC, N2O, NOX, NO2, PAH, SO2, tyre and break PM10 and tyre and brake PM2.5 and can be estimated for any given year, both future and past. The image above illustrates the road traffic NOX emissions for the year 2009 for the whole of the UK.

The latest paper on NOX and NO2 trends in the UK prepeared by the modelling team for Defra is available here.

A new version of the openair air pollution data analysis package developed by King’s Dr David Carslaw has been released.

This release includes updates to import data from the Scottish Air Quality Network and more functionality to consider source attribution.

The user manual has been updated and refreshed and in the coming months new functions will allow data to be plotted on Google Maps anywhere in the world.

The new manual can be found here.

Read the latest newsletter here.

One of London’s longest running monitoring sites re-opened on 15th July having been closed for the past 2 ½ years

The Enfield 1 monitoring site was installed in Bush Hill Park library in mid 1995. The site was part of a borough-led investment programme which kick-started the development of the London network as we know it today.

The site provided valuable measurements to track changes in NOX and NO2 concentrations in Enfield and suburban north London until early 2009 when the library was closed for refurbishment. Re-opening the monitoring site will allow this strategically important time series to continue.

July 5th 2011, the 55th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, saw the launch of the Healthy Air Campaign. Spearheaded by Environmental Protection UK.

The campaign, which is advised by Professor Frank Kelly, brings together a coalition of health, environment and transport charities to increase public awareness and understanding of the health impacts of air pollution and help communities reduce those impacts.

The campaign aims to:

• Promote active lifestyles among individuals, as part of a joined-up sustainable transport, air quality and public health approach within communities.
• Drive action to effectively monitor, report and reduce air pollution at a local and national level.
• Advocate a new government air quality and public health strategy integrated across departments.

Visit the Healthy Air Website.

A selection of air quality stories from around the web this month:

- Pollutionwatch July 2011 Dr Gary Fuller's monthly Pollutionwatch series for the Guardian.

- Air pollution may be ‘health timebomb’ for London’s deprived children.
- EXHALE project collaborator Faisal Abdu'Allah's olympics air quality film.
- Video of The Environmental Audit Committee's latest meeting on air quality 6th July.
- Air quality: the UK's invisible health crisis. Green MP Caroline Lucas writes for the Guardian.
- Air Quality demo on the streets of London.
- Edinburgh University link PM10 to increased chance of blood clots.

And Finally:
- Catalytic Clothing.
- Could scented candles kill you?...Probably not.