Air quality monitoring by hour, ACT
liveHourly ambient air quality readings from the ACT Government's monitoring stations at Civic and Monash from January 2011 and Florey from February 2014. Each row carries the station name, its position as text, the date and time, the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, ozone over one, four and eight hours, carbon monoxide, PM10 and PM2.5 over one hour and their rolling averages, the Air Quality Index for each pollutant and the site's overall index.
Also called: ACT Air Quality Monitoring Data, Canberra air quality index history, ACT PM2.5 and PM10 readings, Civic Florey Monash air quality stations.
- What is in each row?
- One hour at one of the ACT's air quality monitoring stations (Civic, Florey and Monash), with the pollutant concentrations measured there and the Air Quality Index the publisher works out for each pollutant and for the site.
- Has the data been checked?
- The publisher says the readings are unverified. They may have had no or only preliminary quality assurance, and may change after calibration changes, power failures or instrument failures.
- Why are some pollutants blank at some stations?
- Not every station measures every pollutant. A blank cell is a reading the station did not make or report for that hour.
Made for agents
Connect your AI agent
Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 22 fields, count and filter across all 386,883 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries ACT Health's attribution. No key.
Then ask it: What does Air quality monitoring by hour, ACT hold, and what changed in the newest version?
claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcpOne command. No key, no account, no sign-up.
Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector, and paste https://publicdata.au/mcp.
On the web and in the desktop app.
https://publicdata.au/mcpStreamable HTTP. Cursor, VS Code or any client that connects to a remote MCP server.
Using https://publicdata.au/llms.txt, how many people died on Queensland roads in 2025, by month?For an assistant that reads the web and has no connector.
The dashboard above, live. Click to filter, add panels, share a link or embed a frame.
Query APIFilter and count from a URLaggregate?group=name&metric=avg.pm2_5
Average PM2.5 (µg/m³) by station: 8.63 Monash, 8.19 Florey, 6.95 Civic.
Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 6 more formats
Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version never changes.
In your own tools
Use it in Excel, R, Python and more
Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.
The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/latest/ redirects to the newest version.
https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/latest/data.csvIn Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.
https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/latest/data.csvIn Power BI Desktop choose Get data, then Web, paste this address and choose Anonymous when asked how to sign in. A scheduled refresh reads the same address, so the report follows each new version.
library(publicdataau)
df <- pd_read("act-air-quality")
pd_attribution(df)install.packages("publicdataau"). pd_read() fetches the version's Parquet file; pd_rows() and pd_aggregate() ask the query API instead, and pd_connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
import publicdata_au as pd_au
df = pd_au.read("act-air-quality")
df.attrs["publicdata"]["attribution"]pip install "publicdata-au[pandas]". read() fetches the version's Parquet file; rows() and aggregate() ask the query API, and connect() attaches the DuckDB file.
INSTALL httpfs; LOAD httpfs;
ATTACH 'https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/data.duckdb' AS act_air_quality (READ_ONLY);
SELECT name, count(*) FROM act_air_quality.records GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 2 DESC;The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS and only the blocks a query touches are read. Parquet works the same way: FROM read_parquet(url).
const res = await fetch("https://publicdata.au/api/v1/datasets/act-air-quality/aggregate?group=name&metric=avg.pm2_5");
const { rows, publicdata } = await res.json();
console.log(rows, publicdata.attribution);The query API answers a page on any site as well as Node, with no key. It returns the rows and the attribution the licence asks for.
What is in it
Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised. Cells were typed and headers were made snake_case. The publisher's header is kept beside every field in schema.json. Rows were left alone.
| Field | Type | Publisher's header | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | string | Name | |
| gps | string | GPS | The publisher's own text of the station's coordinates, as (latitude, longitude). |
| datetime | datetime | DateTime | Local time in Canberra, as the publisher gives it. |
| no2 | number | NO2 | Nitrogen dioxide, 1-hour average in parts per million. |
| o3_1hr | number | O3_1hr | |
| o3_4hr | number | O3_4hr | 4-hour rolling average in parts per million. |
| o3_8hr | number | O3_8hr | 8-hour rolling average. |
| co | number | CO | Carbon monoxide, 8-hour rolling average in parts per million. |
| pm10_1hr | number | PM10 1 hr | |
| pm2_5_1hr | number | PM2.5 1 hr | |
| pm10 | number | PM10 | |
| pm2_5 | number | PM2.5 | |
| aqi_co | number | AQI_CO | |
| aqi_no2 | number | AQI_NO2 | |
| aqi_o3_1hr | number | AQI_O3_1hr | |
| aqi_o3_4hr | number | AQI_O3_4hr | |
| aqi_o3_8hr | number | AQI_O3_8hr | |
| aqi_pm10 | number | AQI_PM10 | 24-hour rolling PM10 index. |
| aqi_pm2_5 | number | AQI_PM2.5 | 24-hour rolling PM2.5 index. |
| aqi_site | number | AQI_Site | |
| date | date | Date | |
| time | string | Time | 24-hour time as the publisher types it. |
Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json.
A sample of 10 rows
From the latest version, newest first by date and time, each station in turn, then in the publisher's order, with every field. A blank cell is shown as null.
| name | gps | datetime | no2 | o3_1hr | o3_4hr | o3_8hr | co | pm10_1hr | pm2_5_1hr | pm10 | pm2_5 | aqi_co | aqi_no2 | aqi_o3_1hr | aqi_o3_4hr | aqi_o3_8hr | aqi_pm10 | aqi_pm2_5 | aqi_site | date | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monash | (-35.418302, 149.094018) | 2026-10-04T17:00:00 | 0 | 0.028 | 0.027 | 0.027 | 0.29 | 2.85 | 3.99 | 3.67 | 2.89 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 34 | 42 | 7 | 11 | 34 | 2026-10-04 | 17:00:00 |
| Florey | (-35.220606, 149.043539) | 2026-10-04T17:00:00 | 0 | 0.025 | 0.025 | 0.024 | 0.35 | 0.71 | 70.7 | 2.39 | 33.6 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 31 | 37 | 4 | 134 | 134 | 2026-10-04 | 17:00:00 |
| Civic | (-35.285307, 149.131579) | 2026-10-04T17:00:00 | null | 0.019 | 0.02 | 0.019 | 0 | 5.3 | 5.27 | 3.11 | 1.75 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 25 | 30 | 6 | 7 | 25 | 2026-10-04 | 17:00:00 |
| Florey | (-35.220606, 149.043539) | 2026-10-04T16:00:00 | null | null | null | 0.023 | null | 0 | 48.93 | 1.84 | 37.36 | null | null | null | null | null | 3 | 149 | null | 2026-10-04 | 16:00:00 |
| Monash | (-35.418302, 149.094018) | 2026-10-04T16:00:00 | null | null | null | 0.026 | null | 3.65 | 3.48 | 3.38 | 2.51 | null | null | null | null | null | 6 | 10 | null | 2026-10-04 | 16:00:00 |
| Civic | (-35.285307, 149.131579) | 2026-10-04T16:00:00 | null | null | null | 0.019 | null | 0.93 | 1.95 | 2.73 | 1.59 | null | null | null | null | null | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2026-10-04 | 16:00:00 |
| Florey | (-35.220606, 149.043539) | 2026-10-04T15:00:00 | 0 | 0.025 | 0.024 | 0.023 | 0.35 | 0 | 26.44 | 1.15 | 45.38 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 31 | 35 | 2 | 181 | 181 | 2026-10-04 | 15:00:00 |
| Monash | (-35.418302, 149.094018) | 2026-10-04T15:00:00 | 0 | 0.027 | 0.027 | 0.025 | 0.29 | 2.92 | 2.65 | 3.21 | 2.28 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 34 | 38 | 6 | 9 | 34 | 2026-10-04 | 15:00:00 |
| Civic | (-35.285307, 149.131579) | 2026-10-04T15:00:00 | null | 0.02 | 0.019 | 0.018 | 0 | 4.05 | 0.03 | 3.16 | 1.33 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 2026-10-04 | 15:00:00 |
| Florey | (-35.220606, 149.043539) | 2026-10-04T14:00:00 | 0 | 0.025 | 0.024 | 0.022 | 0.35 | 0 | 0 | 1.21 | 54.11 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 30 | 33 | 2 | 216 | 216 | 2026-10-04 | 14:00:00 |
The first row as JSON
As it appears in data.json.
GET https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/latest/data.json
{
"name": "Civic",
"gps": "(-35.285307, 149.131579)",
"datetime": "2026-09-04T13:00:00",
"no2": null,
"o3_1hr": 0.022,
"o3_4hr": 0.018,
"o3_8hr": 0.012,
"co": 0.0,
"pm10_1hr": 0.0,
"pm2_5_1hr": 0.0,
"pm10": 7.1,
"pm2_5": 2.0,
"aqi_co": 0.0,
"aqi_no2": 0.0,
"aqi_o3_1hr": 22.0,
"aqi_o3_4hr": 23.0,
"aqi_o3_8hr": 18.0,
"aqi_pm10": 14.0,
"aqi_pm2_5": 8.0,
"aqi_site": 23.0,
"date": "2026-09-04",
"time": "13:00"
}
Query it without downloading
The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.
How filters work
Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive except with ilike. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.
| Operator | What it matches |
|---|---|
| eq.value | Equal to the value. |
| neq.value | Not equal to the value. A blank cell does not match. |
| gt.value | Greater than the value. |
| gte.value | Greater than or equal to the value. |
| lt.value | Less than the value. |
| lte.value | Less than or equal to the value. |
| like.*text* | Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters. Case-sensitive. |
| ilike.*text* | The same as like, ignoring case. |
| in.(a,b,c) | Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma. |
| is.null | Blank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher. |
| Parameter | What it does |
|---|---|
| select | Fields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent. |
| order | field.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. The publisher's row order when absent. |
| limit | Rows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent. |
| offset | Rows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you. |
| group | On aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated. |
| metric | On aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent. |
| format | json, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers. |
Without a version the API answers from the newest loaded version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer that never changes. /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists the loaded versions. The 2 newest versions are loaded; versions lists them.
The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.
https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each queryable dataset is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.
Smaller files
The same rows split by a field, one JSON file each. Each file carries the same provenance header.
By name (3 files)
by/name/index.json lists every file with its row count.
What changed
One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.
- 2026-10-04 386,883 rows22 fieldsutf-8-sig31c17a5c4a32
- 2026-10-03 386,799 rows22 fieldsutf-8-sige985425f989b
versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (15 MB, every version's Parquet and manifest)
Questions
How do I download Air quality monitoring by hour as a CSV file?
Open https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON, Arrow. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.
Can I open Air quality monitoring by hour in Excel?
Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 386,883 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.
What years does Air quality monitoring by hour cover?
The current version covers 2011 to 2025. Each release from ACT Health becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online.
How often is Air quality monitoring by hour updated?
ACT Health releases it hourly, checked weekly. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.
Can I use Air quality monitoring by hour commercially?
Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.
Is this the official source for Air quality monitoring by hour?
No. The publisher is Health Protection Service, ACT Health Directorate, and its page is https://www.data.act.gov.au/d/94a5-zqnn. This site republishes the publisher's file without changing its content. The original sits beside every version as source.csv with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.
How do I get only the rows for one name?
Every version has one JSON file per value of name, 3 files in the current version, listed with row counts at https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/by/name/index.json. For example https://publicdata.au/d/act-air-quality/v/2026-10-04/by/name/civic.json holds the 138,169 rows where name is Civic.
What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.csv so the change can be checked.