Otwock air quality map

Are there many facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Otwock?

There are a lot of very interesting facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Otwock and they can easily be found by using the link on the main city page. The live air pollution map on the main city page acts as a link that will open a new set of pages filled with all the up-to-date information.

Once the new set of pages re-opens, the colour of the map will be the first thing to notice. The current colour is greenish/yellow which shows the air quality as “Moderate”. The colours are used as standard across the whole IQAir website and vary between pale green and dark maroon. Colours get darker as the air quality worsens. The full meaning of each colour is shown in the legend at the foot of the screen.

There will also be several coloured discs spread across the map. These represent the sites of all the ground-level air monitoring stations there are in the region although they are not all under the jurisdiction of the city. Some of them are maybe overlapping each other and are hard to see, if so, the map can be slightly enlarged which will allow the discs to separate. Each of the discs displays a number at its centre which is the United States Air Quality Index reading or US AQI for short. It is calculated by recording the levels of up to six of the most prolific pollutants found in the city air. They are usually both sizes of Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

When the US AQI figure has been verified, it will be used as a metric when comparing air quality in different towns and cities all over the world. The whole system is actively encouraged by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Looking back to the initial main page, it can be seen in the coloured banner at the top of it that the current air quality is “Moderate” with a US AQI reading of 67. The yellow-coloured background also suggests this level of quality. Three of the main pollutants were measured but it is PM2.5 that is considered to be the main one. It had a recorded level of 19.6 µg/m³ (microns per cubic metre) which is almost four times higher than the suggested target figure of 5 µg/m³ as recommended by the WHO.

Immediately below the air pollution map for Otwock can be seen the number of contributors there are and the number of ground-level monitoring stations they operate. Currently, there are two contributors who collect and collate all the data about air quality from one station in the city. Both contributors are government bodies; one is the Inspekcja Ochrony Środowiska which operates 175 stations across the country and has over 405,000 followers. The other is unidentifiable at the moment.

Are there many more fascinating facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Otwock?

There are a lot more fascinating facts and figures about air quality on the air pollution map for Otwock. There is a “full-screen” icon at the top right-hand corner of the first page, when pressed, a whole new set of pages will open up at maximum size so no information will remain obscured.

There will now be four options visible on the left-hand side of the screen which can each be disabled to see the effects they have on the map.

The first option reveals the locations of all the ground-level air monitoring stations there are, both in and around the city. Each station can be individually selected from the appropriate disc and explored further because they all contain a lot of useful information about their own specific districts. These figures are constantly updated and are extremely valuable if travelling around the area.

The next option shows the position of any wildfires there are that are burning uncontrollably in the region. At the time of writing in May 2023, there were no reports of any wildfires in proximity to the city. When fires are detected option four needs to be looked into because it shows the speed and direction of the prevailing winds and will give a good indication of where the smoke from the fires may drift to.

Option number three uses colour to show the current state of the air. It does this by flooding the background of the map with the appropriate colour. If the viewer finds this too distracting it can be deactivated so the colour will disappear and the map will revert to its usual colour scheme.

On the right-hand side of the screen is a table that shows the top seven most heavily polluted cities ranked in order of cleanliness. There are more facts and figures to be seen in the full-ranking section where the rest of the participating world cities can be viewed in descending order.

Nearby the contributors’ section is another which shows where the most polluted areas of the city are according to the data released by the monitoring stations. There is also a section that shows which station is the most popular according to the number of followers they have. But because Otwock has only one station, both lists are very short!

Can the cause of the polluted air be discovered on the air quality map for Otwock?

It is not possible to see the source of the polluted air on the air quality map for Otwock but it is a proven fact that most pollution comes from the low emission of households that burn low-quality coal and waste.

What are PM2.5 and PM10 which are often cited on the air quality map for Otwock?

When pollutants caused by burning solid fuels or resulting from the operation of internal combustion engines float in the air, they are inhaled with each breath. PM2.5 is suspended dust whose diameter does not exceed 2.5 micrometres. It is they that get into the bloodstream, because of their extremely small size and can cause a number of serious diseases. PM10 is dust whose diameter does not exceed 10 micrometres and its negative impact is most visible in the form of irritation of the respiratory tract.