How does Berlin’s
pollution change
during the day?

This graph gives a visual reference to how the different air pollutants behave over a period of 24 hours in Berlin.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)

As seen in the graph, the contribution of traffic to the overall NO2 immission in Berlin can be observed in the NO2 curve. The increase starts at 5 a.m. and reaches its peak at 8 a.m. After that the value flattens out again and starts a second increase at about 3 p.m. that reaches its peak at 7 p.m.

Ozone (O3)

The ozone level rises from about 8 a.m., reaching its peak at 4 p.m. and then fall again. Here can be recognised when the sun shines and the temperature increases in Berlin.

Particulate matter (PM10)

The PM10 values* show a major peak at 1 a.m. Afterwards the value flattens out again. Over the rest of the day there is a slight increase until 11 a.m. and another towards 9 p.m. at the end of the day.
The steep increase at 1 a.m. can be traced back to the New Year’s Eve with its many fireworks in the Berlin area. Notably, this amount of particulate matter is clearly visible in the graph despite the average value conversion on the balance of the entire year.

Insight

This graph consists of hourly data throughout 2019 with the values for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10). The measurements were taken from all official stations in Berlin.

*In this graph the data for PM2.5 is substituted with its bigger sibling PM10. PM10 behaves similar to PM2.5 over the course of the day.
Up to the publication of this webpage the Senate of Berlin has not been able to give out the hourly data for PM2.5 because of an internal authorization process linked to their usage of multiple measurement techniques, not all based on hourly measurements.