European air quality maps for 2015, ETC/ACM

The paper provides the annual update of the European air quality concentration maps and population exposure estimates for human health related indicators of pollutants PM10 (annual average, 36th highest daily average as 90.4 percentile), PM2.5 (annual average), ozone (26th highest daily max. 8-hr running average as 93.2 percentile, SOMO35) and NO2 (annual average), and vegetation related indicators (AOT40 for vegetation and for forests) for the year 2015. The report contains also an NOx annual average concentration map for 2015.  The paper summarises trends in exposure estimates for the period 2005-2015 on PM10 and ozone, and for the period 2007-2015 on PM2.5. The analysis is based on interpolation of annual statistics of the 2015 observational data reported by EEA Member countries and stored in the Air Quality e-reporting database.  The paper presents the mapping results including an uncertainty analysis of the interpolated maps, as well as the probabilities of exceeding relevant thresholds.  These maps, with their spatial exceedance and exposure estimates, are intended to be used for the assessment of European air quality by the EEA and its ETC/ACM, and for (interactive visual) public information purposes through the EEA website.