The Air Quality Portal Kosovo (AQP) is a public service providing current air quality information from a network of 12 monitoring stations. It also provides a 3-day forecast of predicted air quality based on mathematical modelling.

A key objective of the AQP is to provide answers to the following questions:

  • What are the current air pollution levels?
  • What are the potential impacts of air pollution on my health?
  • How can I reduce this impact?

As well as being designed to inform the government and general population of Kosovo, the AQP may also be used by environmental specialists, scientists, civil society and academia. The AQP includes monitoring data, which can be downloaded as excel or comma separated value (CSV) formats for further analyses.

All data in the AQP are presented in the Kosovo time zone except for the Terria Map time slider which shows data in the time zone of device it is being viewed from.

Data from Kosovo Monitoring Stations

Color coded emojis on the AQP map show the current air quality based on measurements at the respective monitoring stations. Color coding corresponds to the Air Quality Index (AQI) level – good, fair, moderate, poor, very poor, extremely poor. The AQI is a standard European approach for measuring, classifying and comparing air quality using a standard set of parameters and reflects the potential impact of air quality on health.

By clicking on the monitoring stations in the AQP, information on health, pollutant concentrations: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3) and basic weather conditions as well as the AQI level will be accessible.

Kosovo Forecast Service

The measurement of air quality data, regardless of accuracy, can only provide information at the location of a particular air quality monitoring station. To provide accurate estimates of air quality and air quality forecasts over the whole of Kosovo, a mathematical model has been developed which is used to generate the 3-day forecasts available on the AQP. The model utilizes weather forecasting and air pollution dispersion models based on reduced number of 4 pollutants: PM10, PM2.5, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3).

Forecasts can be accessed through the ‘Forecast data’ drop down menu in the AQP and are available at two levels – for the whole of Kosovo (using a 1 km grid for rural areas and 0,5 km in cities) and for Pristina with more detailed modelling and higher resolution maps (200 m grid in the city and 50 m grid along the main streets).

Forecasts are used to predict the pollutant concentrations, the AQI level and potential health effects. Therefore, allowing activities to be planned in a way which reduces exposure to high pollution levels.

Mobile Application

For ease of access, information on air quality in Kosovo is also available through a smartphone application, which was developed in consultation with Kosovo Hydrometeorological Institute (KHMI), the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA), the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP), Millennium Foundation Kosovo (MFK) and other stakeholders.