Methodology and data sources

BushfireSmoke Australia brings together hourly PM2.5 observations from Australian government monitoring networks, limited PM10-only coverage where PM2.5 is unavailable, three independent research forecasts, and separate fire and hotspot context. It is designed to make those sources easier to compare without presenting them as an official forecast, warning or health service.

Current PM2.5 observations

Latest one-hour PM2.5 concentrations are shown in micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³). Readings that a provider marks as invalid or unavailable are not displayed. Each source has a current-data window based on its publication cadence; older readings are labelled stale and are hidden after the source-specific hard limit. Coverage and update timing vary between states and territories, so the absence of a reading does not indicate clean air.

What contributes to PM2.5?

PM2.5 describes particle size, not its source. In Australia it can include bushfire and planned-burn smoke, domestic wood-heater smoke, vehicle and industrial emissions, sea salt, fine soil dust, and particles formed in the atmosphere from gases. The mix changes with location, season and weather. A PM2.5 monitor reports the combined concentration and cannot by itself show how much came from smoke. See the Australian State of the Environment overview and the NSW EPA Lower Hunter particle study for Australian source information.

PM10-only coverage

Selected South Australian and New South Wales locations are included with hourly PM10 where no PM2.5 reading is supplied and they add useful geographic coverage. They are labelled PM10 on the map and monitor pages. PM10 readings are not assigned PM2.5 categories and are excluded from PM2.5 medians, summaries, NowCasts and forecast plots.

PM2.5 display categories

Hourly observations and hourly model values use the Australian enHealth one-hour PM2.5 framework: Good (below 12.5 µg/m³), Fair (12.5 to below 25), Poor (25 to below 50), Very Poor (50 to below 150), and Extremely Poor (150 and above). The same categories are published by agencies in NSW, Victoria and Queensland. They provide display context, not an AQI number or a replacement for local health advice. Read the Australian enHealth framework.

Forecast models

NASA GEOS-CF, Copernicus CAMS and FMI SILAM are independent atmospheric-composition research forecasts of total surface PM2.5. They are not smoke-only forecasts, measurements, emergency warnings or regulatory guidance. The models are displayed separately and are never blended.

The forecast map follows each model's published grid and valid times, and point forecasts use the nearest grid cell from each model independently. Light map shading is used for lower PM2.5 concentrations, with values below 5 µg/m³ left transparent so monitor locations remain readable.

SILAM also provides a separate modelled mineral-dust layer. Dust is converted to µg/m³ using SILAM's supplied air density. The dust layer is map context only: it is never included in PM2.5 forecast plots, summaries or model ranges.

Wind

The optional wind layer follows the selected forecast time and shows GEOS-CF near-surface model winds. It provides broad directional context only: near-ground wind does not describe smoke movement at every altitude or account for local terrain and weather.

Fire and hotspot context

Fire reports are sourced from all eight state and territory fire agencies and may be delayed or use generalised locations. Tasmania's permits and registered burns come from the official, optional TasALERT public map layer. Where an agency feed provides warning descriptions, protective instructions or burn schedules, location pages reproduce that material as escaped plain text inside an expandable detail section. Map markers use the published TasALERT incident artwork and nationally consistent Australian Warning System fire-warning artwork. Queensland incident points are supplemented with active Queensland Fire Department CAP-AU warnings where a spatial and place-name match can be made. Yellow, orange and red triangles are shown only for official Advice, Watch and Act, and Emergency Warning levels. Incidents without a published warning use a solid black-and-white diamond. Planned, prescribed, permitted and registered burns without an official warning are separated into an optional layer, use a dashed diamond, and appear in collapsed lists on location pages. A planned burn carrying an official Advice, Watch and Act, or Emergency Warning remains prominent with that warning. The symbol does not indicate fire size. Recent fire boundaries from Geoscience Australia are context only and do not prove that a fire is currently active. DEA Hotspots shows recent VIIRS thermal detections with confidence of at least 50. A hotspot is not a confirmed fire, and its symbol does not indicate fire size or severity. DEA Hotspots is not to be used for safety of life decisions.

Tasmania Fire Service feed disclaimer: This information is extracted from the Tasmania Fire Service's Fire Incident Response Management (FIRM) system. This information is not necessarily 'real time' information, but is provided as a general indication of current activity. During outages of the TFS Website members of the public should refer to their ABC Local Radio for bushfire information and updates. The map displays when the TFS feed was last received.

Capital and state summaries

Capital areas use Australian Bureau of Statistics Greater Capital City Statistical Areas. Melbourne subregions use the nine SA4 regions within Greater Melbourne. Headline current values are the median of the latest reporting government monitors, with the monitor range and highest site shown alongside them. State pages group monitors by jurisdiction. Always use official Bureau of Meteorology and emergency-service pages for warnings.

National outlook

The AI-written national outlook summarises the latest reporting government monitors, separate NASA GEOS-CF, CAMS and SILAM PM2.5 capital forecasts, and agency fire context. SILAM dust is excluded. It does not blend model values, attribute PM2.5 to a fire, or provide health or emergency advice. When an AI summary is unavailable, the site may show a directly assembled data summary instead; the label identifies which version is displayed.

Derived values

The station 12-hour PM2.5 NowCast follows the US EPA weighting method for recent hourly concentrations. Capital, metro and state NowCasts apply the same method to hourly area medians. Rolling 24-hour values provide additional context. These are derived concentrations, not Australian regulatory indices or compliance determinations, and they are not assigned an hourly display category.

Data sources, licences and attribution

Government PM2.5 observations are reproduced under the licence each publisher applies. The table names the organisation, its jurisdiction and the licence in short form, and each organisation links to the interface the data was taken from. Full terms for every source, including any conditions, are returned by /api/sources. Content on this build was sourced on 26 August 2026 (UTC).

This site is not endorsed by any of the agencies listed.

Privacy-friendly analytics

This site uses a self-hosted Umami service to count visits and understand broad usage patterns. Visitor IP addresses are not stored. The tracker does not use cookies, is restricted to the bushfiresmoke.au domains, respects browser Do Not Track settings, and excludes search query strings.

Contact

For questions, corrections or data-source issues, email contact@bushfiresmoke.au. Do not use this address to report an emergency; call Triple Zero (000) and follow the relevant emergency service.

Limitations and safety

Conditions can change quickly, monitor coverage is uneven, and research models have limited resolution and uncertainty. Concentrations and colour bands on this site are not a national Australian AQI. For health advice, warnings and emergency information, use the relevant state or territory authority and emergency services.