Airport Night Noise Contours for EU Agglomerations and Major Airports

European Union data on night-time noise levels around airports, produced under the Environmental Noise Directive. The dataset covers airports within areas with at least 100,000 people and airports with over 50,000 air traffic movements per year. It contains Lnight values, representing the annual average noise level in decibels during the night period from 2300 to 0700.

Use Cases

• Modeling noise exposure for population health studies based on Lnight values.
• Assessing compliance with the Environmental Noise Directive based on strategic noise mapping results.
• Analyzing spatial noise pollution patterns around major European airports.
• Supporting urban planning decisions for noise mitigation near airports.

Strengths

• Data is produced under a specific EU directive (2002/49/EC), suggesting a standardized methodology.
• Focuses on areas with significant population (≥100,000) and high-traffic airports (≥50,000 movements), targeting relevant noise sources.
• Provides a specific noise metric (Lnight) for a defined night period (2300-0700).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Strategic noise mapping analysis undertaken to meet the requirements of the Environmental Noise Directive.

Time Range

Annual average results; specific years are not stated.

Freshness

Last updated: unknown

Geography

European Union, covering specified agglomerations and airports.