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Air quality comparison · Iraq, 779 km apart

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Basrah Air quality index (AQI) today

Basrah has cleaner air than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah right now: AQI 53 (Moderate) against 71 (Moderate).

Both sit in the same EPA band, so the health advice is the same for each today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 53 against 147, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days. Al Mawşil al Jadīdah has more tree cover.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah

Iraq

AQI 71

Moderate

PM2.5
19.9 µg/m³1.3× WHO guideline
Main pollutant
PM2.5
Source
Model estimate
Reading
Nov 11, 12:00 local
Basrah

Iraq

AQI 53

Moderate

Cleaner right now

PM2.5
8.9 µg/m³
Main pollutant
PM2.5
Source
Model estimate
Reading
Nov 11, 02:00 local

Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah71Basrah53

Head to head

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Basrah at a glance

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah is ahead on 3 of 5 measures, and Basrah on 2. The better figure in each row is marked.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah compared on air quality, forest loss and tree cover
Al Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah
Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better.7153 (better)
PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³.19.98.9 (better)
Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days.53 (better)147
Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center.0.3% (better)0.1%
Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy.93.3K (better)93.9K

Air quality today

What is the air like in Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah right now?

Basrah has cleaner air than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah right now: AQI 53 (Moderate) against 71 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah's PM2.5 is about 1.3× the WHO's 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³.

Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either.

Al Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah

19.9PM2.5, µg/m³8.9
8.2PM10, µg/m³130.9
8.2Nitrogen dioxide, µg/m³13.2
66Ozone, µg/m³45

Concentrations at the same moment as the index above, for the pollutants both places report. Lower is better. The dark marks on the PM2.5 and PM10 rows show the WHO's 24-hour guidelines (15 and 45 µg/m³).

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah: Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 245 km, e.g. Silopi and Sulaymaniyah. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 245 km, US EPA index.

Basrah: Estimate · model corrected with 3 station cities within 145 km, e.g. Kuwait City and Al Jahra. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 3 ground-station cities within 145 km, US EPA index.

The past week

Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?

But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 53 against 147, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days. A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon; the week says whether it was the weather or the place.

Cleaner days
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah7Basrah0
Average AQI
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah53Basrah147
Worst day, AQI
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah74Basrah229
Al Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah
50100150200Nov 5Nov 6Nov 7Nov 8Nov 9Nov 10Nov 11
The daily numbers (7 days)
Daily air quality index for Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah
DayAl Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah
Nov 574146
Nov 664147
Nov 754229
Nov 856138
Nov 938103
Nov 1050147
Nov 1138116

Daily averages from the CAMS atmospheric model for both places, so the week compares like with like. They can differ from today's reading at the top of the page wherever that comes from a ground station.

What it means today

Is it safe to go outside in Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah today?

Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. Both are in the same EPA band today (Moderate), so the advice is the same.

Exercise outdoors

Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.

Windows

Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.

Masks

Not needed for most people.

Air purifier

Worth running if you are sensitive.

Against everywhere else

How do Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah compare with the rest of the world?

Right now Al Mawşil al Jadīdah's air is cleaner than 37% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Basrah's is cleaner than 56%. Within Iraq, that is 42% and 81% of its 49 measured places.

Cleaner air than…

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah
Beats 37%
Basrah
Beats 56%

More tree cover than…

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah
Beats 1%
Basrah
Beats 0%

Includes model estimates as well as station readings, so it can differ from our most polluted and cleanest air rankings, which use station readings only.

Satellite timelapses

Watch both change, year by year

A clear satellite photo a year of the land around each city. Press play, turn on the forest cleared since the first year, or drag the before and after.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah

Satellite image of the area around Al Mawşil al Jadīdah, August 2017

2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.

Basrah

Satellite image of the area around Basrah, August 2017

2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.

Trees

Which has more trees, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah or Basrah?

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah has more tree cover: 0.3% of the land within 2 km of its center against 0.1% around Basrah, or about 942 trees against 314.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah0.3% of a 30% target
Basrah0.1% of a 30% target

The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.

Tree figures for Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah
Al Mawşil al JadīdahBasrah
Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area.942 (better)314
Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better.93.3K (better)93.9K
CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing.20.7K kg (better)6.9K kg

Tree cover on the satellite image

The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah0.3% tree cover · Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search, Sep 17, 2026
Basrah0.1% tree cover · Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search, Sep 16, 2026

Reading these numbers

How this comparison is made

Air quality index

The US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations: ground stations where a place has them nearby, and the CAMS atmospheric model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so it is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place. The guideline marks are from the WHO's 2021 air quality guidelines.

Trees and forest

Tree cover is the share of ground under canopy within 2 km of each center, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It measures that circle, not the whole municipality, which is what makes the two comparable. Forest loss comes from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.

More on the method on the About Airleaf page.

Frequently asked

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Basrah: your questions answered

Is Basrah cleaner than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah?

On air quality, yes, right now: Basrah reads AQI 53 against 71, a gap of 18 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 53 against 147, and it was the cleaner of the two on 7 of those days.

Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah today?

The advice is the same for both today. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. Al Mawşil al Jadīdah reads AQI 71 and Basrah reads AQI 53.

Which has more trees, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah or Basrah?

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah has more tree cover: 0.3% of the land within 2 km of its center against 0.1% around Basrah, or about 942 trees against 314. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.

How many more trees do Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah need?

Al Mawşil al Jadīdah needs about 93,305 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Basrah about 93,934 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.

Are Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Basrah measured the same way?

The method is the same: the US EPA index for air, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail over an identical radius for trees. Both readings are model estimates, with no ground station close enough to either. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.

How often does the Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Basrah comparison update?

The air readings refresh about once an hour, and each reading's local time is shown at the top of the page. Tree cover comes from the latest clear satellite image of each area (Sep 17, 2026 and Sep 16, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.

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