CERC news

MAQS Coupled System 1.4 released

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

MAQS is CERC's innovative automated system for coupling the high-resolution air quality model ADMS-Urban to a regional air quality model. The output comprises predictions of pollutant concentrations for an urban area, which take into account both regional and local pollutant transport and chemistry effects.

The utilities and scripts in the new version have been updated to include the following features:

Compatibility with the recently released ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Airport version 5.1
Automatic update of existing input configuration (.cfg) files from previous versions of MAQS into the new version
Allows the use of a site properties data file with ADMS-Urban to allow spatially varying site parameters for each grid cell
Extraction of surface roughness length at the met. site from regional meteorological data files for use by ADMS-Urban

For full details on the changes within MAQS 1.4 please see the What's New document.

West Midlands air quality forecasting and alert system launched

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) launched their new air quality forecasting system for the West Midlands this week. The region’s mayor, Richard Parker, switched the system on yesterday, Tuesday 16^th December. Residents can now sign up for air quality alerts and check daily air pollution levels at cleanair.wmca.org.uk.

CERC developed and support this system, which generates high-resolution, 3-day air quality forecasts and alerts for the region's seven local authorities. The system delivers geo-referenced 5-metre resolution forecast maps for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), ozone (O₃), and particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) and alerts via text, email, and voicemail. Alerts are triggered when pollution levels reach moderate or higher on the UK Government’s Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI). The system is fully integrated into the WMCA's air quality data platform, which also shows current air pollution levels across WMCA's network of air quality sensors.

An innovative feature of this system is that the alert messages are tailored to personal activities. For example, people with wood burning stoves that are not their main heating source will be encouraged to minimise their use when a pollution alert is in effect, to reduce their own pollution exposure as well as their neighbours'. Alert messages also include practical tips to help people minimise their exposure to poor quality air, for example by seeking out areas with lower pollution when exercising outdoors.

CERC has over 15 years of experience in operational air quality forecasting, with a proven track record through services like London's airTEXT, Manchester's Clean Air Greater Manchester service, and York's air quality alert service. These systems are powered by CERC's world-leading ADMS-Urban model, which incorporates local emissions data, urban morphology, and regional pollution transport to deliver street-level accuracy.

The project to develop this system built on CERC's longstanding collaboration with the University of Birmingham through initiatives such as WM-Air, WM-NZ, and WM-Adapt. These projects demonstrate how high-resolution air quality and temperature modelling can inform regional policy, leading to health and environmental benefits over the West Midlands region.

Clean air campaigners and NHS lung health experts have welcomed the action being taken by the Mayor and the WMCA to cut premature deaths linked to poor air quality. The image shows WMCA Mayor Richard Parker with Nicky MacDuff, nurse consultant in respiratory medicine, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, and Florence Cadge, clean air campaigner with Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition.

2025 ADMS User Group Meetings – presentations are available to download

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Following this year's ADMS User Group Meetings, which took place in Bristol on 26-27 November, PDF copies of the presentations are now available to download from the CERC website User Area. Model users with a valid support contract, including all annual licence holders, are entitled to register for password-protected access to the User Area. To register, or to be reminded of your password, click here.

Major new release of GASTAR: dense gas dispersion model

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

GASTAR version 4.0 offers a major redesign for CERC's dense gas dispersion model, harmonising it with the ADMS family in layout and output formats.

GASTAR is typically used for modelling accident and emergency response scenarios and site safety involving releases of flammable and/or toxic materials from accidents such as cryogenic spills, catastrophic tank failure, pipe fractures and multi-phase jets.

New features include:

An intuitive initial Setup screen for title, source material and all modelling options
Simplified selection and management of the source material
Output in CERC's .gst and .gtd formats, compatible with the 2-D plotter
Support for drag-dropping files (input and output)
Improved graph colours, symbols and font handling for the integrated line graphs

All the new features are described in detail in the What's New? guide.

As usual with CERC models, the new version is backwardly compatible with earlier versions. Users with support will get this version within the next few working days.

For further information on this release or any CERC products please contact us.

Heathrow Airport expansion proposal: air quality sensitivity analysis

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

As part of the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), the UK Government assessed Heathrow Airport expansion proposals produced by seven organisations. Two schemes remain under active consideration by the Government. For one of these, the Heathrow West scheme, promoted by Arora Group / Heathrow West Limited, CERC was part of a support team of specialist consultants engaged by Arora Group for their submission to the ANPS review. For the proposed expansion scheme, which includes a 2,800 m third runway, CERC's air quality analysis included:

a semi-quantitative analysis of operational phase human health impacts;
a qualitative analysis of relative potential effects at ecological receptors; and
a further qualitative analysis of construction phase impacts.

As part of our analysis, we considered potential traffic disruptions during the construction of road schemes relating to airport expansion. These were based on disruption caused by current works for upgrading M25 Junction 10; the figure shows traffic speeds recorded for a section of the M25 before and during the works. This is an area of concern for which the Government has requested further information from promoters of the two remaining schemes. CERC's report is included as Appendix D of Arora Group's submission, with a summary of the air quality analysis in Section 10.

Amines chemistry module online training course offered by CERC

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CERC are pleased to announce that we offer an updated online training course for ADMS, specifically for the amine chemistry module.

The course covers:

Introduction to the atmospheric chemistry of amines and N-amine formation
Overview of the amine chemistry scheme in ADMS
Using the ADMS amine chemistry module
The Amine Chemistry User Input Tool

More information about the course can be found here.

CERC's online training courses are extremely popular both in the UK and internationally. If you would like further information about the training courses offered by CERC, and how to book a place, please visit the training schedule on the CERC website, or email training@cerc.co.uk.

CERC are currently carrying out the Environment Agency Carbon Capture Atmospheric N Amines Formation Estimation Tools (CANFET) project. This involves gathering evidence on alternative models for estimating N-amines and devising and applying a methodology for model intercomparison.

CERC previously carried out another Environment Agency-led research project on amine chemistry modelling: Improving Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Air Quality Risk Assessment Techniques.

These and other aspects relating to the amines chemistry module will be covered at this year's ADMS 6 User Group Meeting in Bristol on 26^th November 2025.

Clean Air Routes London: a new interactive map for healthier walking and cycling routes

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CERC is proud to announce the launch of Clean Air Routes London, a free interactive map developed by Westminster City Council (WCC) and supported by Defra, designed to help people navigate London using routes with the best available air quality. Launched on World Car Free Day, the tool encourages people to walk or cycle while avoiding areas with high pollution levels. By entering a start and end point, users receive up to three route options ranked by air quality, helping them choose the healthiest journey.

Clean Air Routes London is underpinned by CERC's airTEXT air quality forecasting system, which uses our world-leading ADMS-Urban dispersion model to generate street scale forecasts for key pollutants including NO₂ and PM_2.5. The forecasts are updated twice daily and are calibrated using real-time air quality measurements. Under the project, CERC developed an API for WCC delivering near-instant results for walking and cycling routes across Greater London. The API ranks routes based on personal air pollution exposure, which is calculated using journey time, route geometry, and hourly airTEXT pollution data, allowing users to plan cleaner journeys up to three days in advance.

CERC has over 15 years of experience delivering air quality forecasting and alert services, including airTEXT, which serves over 22,000 subscribers across London and the South-East. Our expertise in air pollution modelling, software development, and cloud-based systems ensures that Clean Air Routes London is both scientifically robust and technically resilient.

Visit cleanairroutes.org to plan your next journey and discover cleaner, healthier routes across London!

CERC present research at the Harmo23 conference

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CERC are presenting recent research studies at the upcoming 23^rd international Harmo conference (Harmo23), to be held in Hamburg, Germany, from 15^th to 19^th September 2025. This conference series is part of an initiative aimed at harmonising dispersion modelling for regulatory purposes.

CERC's Associate Director of Software, Dr Martin Seaton, will present key results from the Thermal Transport of Air Pollution from Regulated Industries (TAPRI) project, commissioned by the English Environment Agency's Chief Scientist's Group. CERC defined thermal flow types and their characteristics, and analysed meteorological, land use and topographical data for selected cases to better understand thermal flows and model their air quality impacts.

CERC Scientist Dr Victoria Hamilton will present results from CERC's work on an inter-comparison of methods for modelling deposition of ammonia from intensive farms.

CERC also contributed to a third presentation at the conference, relating to the project for RIVM on benchmarking nitrogen deposition models.

Draft agendas now available for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 26-27 November 2025, Bristol

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

There is still time to book your tickets for the 2025 ADMS User Group Meetings, which will be held at M Shed, Bristol on 26th and 27th November.

ADMS 6 User Group Meeting, 26th November: view draft agenda
ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Roads User Group Meeting, 27th November: view draft agenda

Tickets are available to order through Eventbrite until 23:30 on Monday 10th November. Organisations with a valid software support contract are entitled to one or more tickets free of charge depending on the type of licence held.

Major new release of ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Roads & ADMS-Airport 5.1

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Version 5.1 is a major update of ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Roads and ADMS-Airport with many powerful new features to aid modelling, data processing and visualisation.

ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Roads and ADMS-Airport are comprehensive tools for investigating air pollution, taking account of complex urban morphology including street canyons and road tunnels.

ADMS-Roads is designed primarily for networks of roads that may be in combination with industrial sites, for instance small towns or rural road networks.

ADMS-Urban can model large urban areas providing output from street-scale to urban-scale.

ADMS-Airport has all the features of ADMS-Urban, and can also incorporate all relevant emission sources at airports including using algorithms designed specifically to model dispersion from aircraft engines.

New features include:

Urban Canopy and Advanced Street Canyon Mapper tools for faster calculation of urban morphology parameters without requiring separate GIS software
The latest emission factors from Defra's Emission Factor Toolkit, EFT 13.1
A verification mode for checking model inputs and generating information about the model run
A shape file (.shp) merging tool, including field adding, deleting and renaming
Compatibility with ADMS 6 .apl files
Plus many enhanced usability functions throughout the Mapper and interface.

All the new features are described in detail in the What's New? guides.

Users with support will get this version within the next few working days.

For further information on this release or any CERC products please contact us.

London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2022 released

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The latest version of the London Atmospheric Inventory (LAEI 2022) has been published on the London Datastore. The LAEI 2022 includes traffic flow and emissions data for nearly 80,000 roads in the Greater London area as well as emissions data for all other sources of air pollution defined on a 1-km grid. Data are provided for a 2022 base year with projections to 2025 and 2030.

The latest release shows a 23% reduction in NO_x emissions between 2019 and 2022, largely driven by reductions in road transport emissions, with emissions forecast to reduce by a further 29% by 2030. PM_2.5 emissions have reduced by 6% over the same period, while PM₁₀ emissions in 2022 remain broadly similar to 2019 levels.

The comprehensive data available in the LAEI allows CERC to carry out detailed air quality modelling for a wide range of current and future cases including air quality forecasting and the assessment of the impacts of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

The Consultancy team's first project using the 2022 LAEI will be to assess progress towards the aim set out in the City of London Air Quality Strategy 2025-2030 for over 90% of the Square Mile to meet an annual mean of 30 µg/m³ for nitrogen dioxide by 2030.

We will use ADMS-Urban to model the impact of all emissions in London. The impact of the Central London's complex urban topography on road traffic emissions will be taken into account using the ADMS Advanced Canyon and Tunnels options. Non-road emissions will be modelled using grid sources. The resulting 1-metre resolution concentration maps will then be calibrated using local monitoring data.

CERC has carried out similar assessments for the City of London annually since 2018. One aim of the previous air quality strategy was for 90% of the Square Mile to meet the national air quality standard for annual mean NO₂ of 40 µg/m³ by 2025. Over the past seven years, changes have included the introduction of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, new traffic restrictions at Bank Junction, and the introduction of the Beech Street Zero Emissions Street, as well as changes brought about by the Covid pandemic. The effects of all of these changes on emissions were incorporated into CERC's modelling. The modelling showed that the percentage of the Square Mile meeting the standard increased from 30% in 2018 to 93% in 2020, since when it has remained approximately constant.

CERC working with Vodafone on Mayor of London’s Breathe London sensor network

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CERC is delighted to be part of the new consortium running the Mayor of London's Breathe London network. The consortium will coordinate all 136 existing air quality sensor sites across the capital, introducing advanced methodologies for sensor calibration and data quality assurance, and engaging key community groups and organisations such as schools, NHS Trusts and Local Authorities to make accurate air quality data available to everyone in London, and mobilise communities in the fight against toxic air.

CERC's role is to provide a robust and reliable operational calibration and quality control system, and secure online access to the current and historical NO2 and PM2.5 measurements through the Breathe London API. The network calibration system was developed using an innovative scale-separation technique pioneered by consortium members Professor Rod Jones and Dr Olalekan Popoola from the University of Cambridge. Amy Stidworthy from CERC's Forecasting and Data Services team explains the network calibration method and gives examples of comparisons with measurements from reference-standard instruments in this video.

The Breathe London Consortium is led by Vodafone, who also provide sensor connectivity and hosting infrastructure, and brings together leading experts in all aspects of air quality. Airly provides the sensors, Scotswolds provides expert oversight of sensor installation and data quality, Global Action Plan leads community engagement including the website, and Ricardo will conduct an independent annual review of sensor data quality.

Announcing the new phase of Breathe London, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: I am delighted that Vodafone will deliver the next stage of my pioneering Breathe London programme by leading a consortium of partners and utilising their technical expertise and advanced connectivity. Reducing London's air pollution is one of my top priorities and this advanced monitoring network will provide invaluable data to help organisations across the capital take action on air quality and protect public health.

You can read the full press release online.

Booking is now open for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 26-27 November 2025, Bristol

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

You can now book your tickets for the 2025 ADMS User Group Meetings, which will be held at the M Shed on 26th and 27th November.

The annual ADMS User Group Meetings are a great opportunity to hear the latest ADMS model news and advice from CERC consultants and model developers, to hear talks by model users about their own applications of the software, and to network with other model users.

Tickets are available to order through Eventbrite until 23:30 on Monday 10th November. Organisations with a valid software support contract are entitled to one or more tickets free of charge depending on the type of licence held. The draft programme will be published soon.

Calculating health impacts of air pollution in Oxfordshire

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Oxfordshire County Council are working with CERC and the University of Birmingham to calculate the air quality and health impacts of potential policy scenarios including the county and national Net Zero ambitions.

CERC are using ADMS-Urban to calculate detailed pollution maps across all of Oxfordshire in order to generate input data into the University of Birmingham's Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) which estimates ward-level impacts of PM_2.5 and NO₂ on health outcomes, mortality and associated healthcare costs.

The differences in the dispersion of pollutants in the City of Oxford compared to the rest of the county, which is largely rural, have been taken into account by using the Advanced Street Canyon and Urban Canopy tools in ADMS-Urban as well as varying area-wide dispersion parameters.

Base-year concentration maps have been generated and the concentrations averaged by Lower layer Super Output Area (LSOA) for use in AQ-LAT (see figure).

CERC are currently finalising the future scenario testing with Oxfordshire County Council. A baseline for 2035 using projected road and non-road emissions has been produced including proposed traffic filters, electrification of the bus fleet and Oxford City's Zero Emission Zone. The impact of additional policies, including the reduction of traffic, further electrification of the vehicle fleet and reductions in domestic wood burning, will be evaluated by adjusting the emissions, modelling the impact on ambient concentrations and calculating the resulting impact on health.

Online Training Courses Offered by CERC

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

CERC are pleased to announce they now offer seven online courses:

The latest course to go online being ADMS-STAR.

The CERC online training courses have been extremely popular both in the UK and overseas. Here are a couple of recent comments from attendees:

".....thank you for the smooth registration process and help received prior to the course. We were very impressed with the quality of the slides and worked example material."

"I would like to give some praise in my report to your course which is very thorough and one of the best I have seen so far."

If you would like further information about the training courses offered by CERC, and how to book a place, please visit the training schedule on the CERC website, or email training@cerc.co.uk.