Global Air Quality
Exploring 19 years of particulate matter in the air we breathe This story map explores 19 years of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the air we breathe. This is done by exploring a few different things:
- Recent PM 2.5
- 19-year Average PM 2.5
- Human Impact
- Trends
PM 2.5 are small particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter that are in the air we breathe. These tiny particles can be ingested into your lungs and bloodstream, causing a great risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. They can come from many different sources such as power plants, vehicles, fires, dust, and many others.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “Ambient (outdoor) air pollution in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide per year in 2016; this mortality is due to exposure to small particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5), which cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and cancers.” Studying where PM 2.5 concentrations exist can help policymakers form new laws to help protect the health of their population.
Some of the things we can learn from these maps:
- What is the average annual PM 2.5 value over 19 years? (1998-2016)
- What is the annual average PM 2.5 value for each year from 1998 to 2016?
- What is the statistical trend for PM 2.5 over the 19 years? (downward or upward)
- Are there hot spots (or cold spots) of PM 2.5 over the 19 years?
- How many people are impacted by the air quality in an area?
- What is the death rate caused by the joint effects of air pollution?
van Donkelaar, A., R. V. Martin, M. Brauer, N. C. Hsu, R. A. Kahn, R. C. Levy, A. Lyapustin, A. M. Sayer, and D. M. Winker. 2016. Global Estimates of Fine Particulate Matter Using a Combined Geophysical-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites. Environmental Science & Technology 50 (7): 3762-3772. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05833.
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | September 11, 2026, 07:30 (UTC) |
| Created | March 24, 2026, 21:06 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Global Air Quality |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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Exploring 19 years of particulate matter in the air we breathe This story map explores 19 years of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the air we breathe. This is done by exploring a few different things:
PM 2.5 are small particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter that are in the air we breathe. These tiny particles can be ingested into your lungs and bloodstream, causing a great risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. They can come from many different sources such as power plants, vehicles, fires, dust, and many others. According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “Ambient (outdoor) air pollution in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide per year in 2016; this mortality is due to exposure to small particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM2.5), which cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and cancers.” Studying where PM 2.5 concentrations exist can help policymakers form new laws to help protect the health of their population. Some of the things we can learn from these maps:
van Donkelaar, A., R. V. Martin, M. Brauer, N. C. Hsu, R. A. Kahn, R. C. Levy, A. Lyapustin, A. M. Sayer, and D. M. Winker. 2016. Global Estimates of Fine Particulate Matter Using a Combined Geophysical-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites. Environmental Science & Technology 50 (7): 3762-3772. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05833. |
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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5123.29 |
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2020-08-17 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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public |
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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This work is licensed under the Esri Master License Agreement. View Summary | View Terms of Use |
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Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
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Location
Location of the dataset.
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/arcgis-content::global-air-quality |
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Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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lisa_berry |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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lisa_berry |
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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2023-07-27 |
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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a3d0b0835b9e45b69f55e5ce94d84ddf |
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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English |
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/arcgis-content::global-air-quality |
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Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
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Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
Source of the dataset.
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None |
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Version notes
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Is version of another dataset
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Other versions
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
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Number of data relations
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Number of entities
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Number of data properties
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
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