CERC news

Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) featured in Air Quality News

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) has been featured in the April 2026 issue of Air Quality News. The article outlines how the tool links air quality modelling outputs with estimates of health and economic impacts to support policy development.

Developed by the University of Birmingham, the tool combines high-resolution air pollution data with population datasets and established epidemiological relationships to quantify outcomes such as premature mortality, disease incidence, healthcare costs, and productivity losses.

In current applications, high-resolution air pollution maps are generated by CERC using ADMS-Urban. These outputs provide the exposure data required for AQ-LAT to calculate health and economic impacts at a local scale.

This method has been applied to evaluate policy scenarios in the West Midlands, as a part of the WM-Air project, and in Oxfordshire, by OxonAir (a partnership between Oxfordshire County Council and the county's city and district councils).

This approach allows users to quantify the impacts of air quality interventions in terms of both pollutant concentrations and their associated health and economic outcomes. If you would like to know more about combining ADMS-Urban with AQ-LAT, please get in touch.

HARMO conference papers & other recent co-author publications

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The outcomes of several projects have recently been shared through international conference presentations, co-authored publications and technical reports. We were co-authors on four peer-reviewed papers during 2025, with another article already published in 2026. These studies reflect ongoing collaboration with universities, government and research institutes across a range of applied air quality topics.

CERC's Dr Martin Seaton and Dr Victoria Hamilton attended the HARMO conference Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes), which aims to improve consistency and best practice in atmospheric dispersion modelling.

Martin presented work assessing the impact of thermally driven flows on regulatory air dispersion modelling (paper here). This is particularly important in complex terrain and coastal environments, and forms part of CERC's contribution to the Environment Agency's research on the thermal transport of air pollution from regulated industries.

RIVM (the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) presented results from a study comparing eight widely used atmospheric dispersion and deposition models, including ADMS, to which CERC contributed. The study investigated ammonia and nitrogen oxides at the local scale (paper here) and highlighted the variability and complexity associated with modelling deposition.

Victoria presented an extension of the study, evaluating alternative concentration-dependent deposition (CDD) methods against current UK guidance (paper here). The image shows the modelled concentration and deposition results for the four CDD methods tested. Depending on model choice, resulting deposition can differ by up to a factor of 10 for low concentration values, and a factor of 3 for high values. Models accounting for bi-directional exchange of ammonia ('Big-leaf' and DEPAC) predict more accurate values for this case study.

The presentations and extended abstracts are now available on the HARMO website:
https://www.harmo.org/conference.php?id=23

Further recent co-authored work includes:

Ongoing research with Dr Zhong (University of Greenwich) in the West Midlands, including studies of urban heat islands and scenario modelling of bus electrification as a part of the WM-Adapt, WM-Net-Zero and WM-Air projects
Work led by Dr Tom Clemens (University of Edinburgh) examining the effects of air pollution on birth outcomes in Scotland

The studies make use of a range of CERC tools, including ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Urban Temperature & Humidity, ADMS 6.

Links to all the publications are available here:
https://cerc.co.uk/environmental-software/CERC-coauthor-publications.html

We look forward to continuing these collaborations during 2026.

Booking is now open for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 11-12 November 2026, Manchester

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

You can now book your tickets for the 2026 ADMS User Group Meetings, which will be held at voco Manchester on 11th and 12th 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 26th October. 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 in the summer.

Modelling data centres in ADMS 6 - free upgrade to 1000 point sources

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

CERC first released ADMS in 1994, and much has changed since then. Computers are more powerful, disc space more plentiful and the modelling requirements of users have changed. After listening to the feedback during the 2025 ADMS UGM, we have revisited ADMS 6's 'point' source limit.

Anyone attending the UGM will have noted that data centres were a hot topic. Modelling data centres demands the inclusion of hundreds of point sources, and the current default licence limit is proving too restrictive. We are therefore increasing the default from 300 to 1000 in the next ADMS 6 release, due in late Spring / early summer 2026.

However, there is no need to wait for that release if you are finding the current point source count is holding you back. For any user with support, simply get in touch with us, giving your licence details, and we will issue you with an upgraded licence, free of charge.

We are working hard on ADMS 6.1 right now. As well as increasing the number of point sources, we are also adding functionality for determining the probability of exceeding air pollution limits for sources which are only on for a limited number of hours, such as back-up generators supporting data centres. Details on this and more will be given as we progress towards the next ADMS release.

Hint: If you select Contact helpdesk from the Help menu in ADMS, it will pre-fill a new email for you with the relevant licence information we need, so you don’t need to type it.

UK Environment Agency Thermal Transport of Air Pollution from Regulated Industries (TAPRI) project reports published

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The UK Environment Agency have published a suite of reports resulting from their research project to assess the impacts of thermal air flows on atmospheric pollutant dispersion.

The TAPRI project explored how certain local weather patterns - thermal flows such as sea breezes, warm city air, or cold air from hillsides - can affect how air pollution disperses from industrial and waste sites. Real-world examples, data analysis, and computer modelling were used to explore how often these weather patterns occur, how much they impact air quality, and how they might change in the future.

There are six reports, comprising summary reports, stakeholder consultation and an exploration of the project outcomes.

The CERC report is titled Case studies on thermal flow conditions. CERC's analyses of meteorological, land use and topographical data for selected 'pilot areas' are presented, leading to a better understanding of thermal flows. We explored approaches that could be used to model air quality impacts of thermal flows, using the models ADMS and KLAM-21 and using Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data.

The work was carried out by CERC in collaboration with Air Quality Consultants (AQC) and John Moncrieff (University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences), as part of Defra's Research Development & Evidence Framework Agreement.

The image shows 'The Barber' katabatic wind that blows down the Grey Valley in Greymouth, New Zealand.

Assessing health and financial impacts of county-wide air quality policy

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

As part of their Air Quality Strategy, Oxfordshire County Council have released their report describing the generation of data for assessing the health impacts and associated financial costs of air pollution. The impacts were calculated using a combination of CERC's ADMS-Urban model and University of Birmingham's Air Quality Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT). The AQ-LAT calculates the impact of PM_2.5 and NO₂ pollution on health outcomes, mortality and associated healthcare costs.

To create input for AQ-LAT, CERC modelled air pollution concentrations associated with the introduction of a range of positive interventions. These interventions included both national policies, such as achieving Net-Zero, and local policies, such as introducing all electric bus routes in selected towns.

The effectiveness of each policy was assessed by comparing modelled results from each policy scenario with the baseline. We generated highly detailed pollution maps across Oxfordshire using ADMS-Urban and then processed outputs to generate the air pollution data required as input to AQ-LAT. The first figure shows a detailed pollution map, focused on Oxford.

Our combined results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of certain policies; the second figure shows how Oxfordshire ranked the health savings of single-sector interventions using AQ-LAT. Reduction in industrial emissions, tighter regulation on domestic wood burning, and displacing road freight are the most impactful single sector interventions.

Multi-sector interventions, such as the National Net-Zero Pathway, result in the biggest gains for human health. Please see CERC and Oxfordshire County Council's ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Roads User Group meeting presentation for more details.

ADMS-Urban and AQ-LAT are extremely compatible, and together represent a product that is detailed, scalable, and informative. Please get in touch if you would like to know more.

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.

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.