Very small particles in the air affect how far we can see into the distance. The more particles there are, the lower the visibility. You might notice this on smoky days when you can’t see landmarks in the distance.
We measure visibility at some of our monitoring sites.
How to assess air quality and health risks
What causes low visibility
Visibility gets lower when it's:
- smoky
- dusty
- hazey.
Visibility on EPA AirWatch
We show visibility on EPA AirWatch as a distance in kilometres.
A low value means there are lots of small particles in the air and there is low visibility.
A high value (maximum of 70 km) means particle levels are low and visibility is good.
We don’t use air quality categories to display visibility data.
Current air quality standard for visibility
We report on visibility data every year. We do this by comparing our data to the State Environment Protection Policy (SEPP – Ambient Air Quality).
| Standard | Averaging time |
|---|---|
|
Minimum visible distance – 20 km (equivalent to a visibility reduction index of 2.35) |
1 hour |
Read more about air quality
Reviewed 1 September 2020
