Air quality comparison · Iraq, 422 km apart
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Karbala Air quality index (AQI) today
Karbala has cleaner air than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah right now: AQI 57 (Moderate) against 74 (Moderate).
Both sit in the same EPA band, so the health advice is the same for each today. But over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 56 against 70, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 of those days. Karbala has more tree cover.
Iraq
AQI 74
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 21.7 µg/m³1.4× WHO guideline
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 11, 12:00 local
Iraq
AQI 57
Moderate
Cleaner right now
- PM2.5
- 13.8 µg/m³
- Main pollutant
- PM2.5
- Source
- Model estimate
- Reading
- Nov 10, 19:00 local
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah74Karbala57
Head to head
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah vs Karbala at a glance
Karbala is ahead on 4 of 5 measures, and Al Mawşil al Jadīdah on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Al Mawşil al Jadīdah | Karbala | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 74 | 57 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 21.7 | 13.8 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 6 days. | 56 (better) | 70 |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 0.3% | 10.6% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 93.3K | 60.9K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Karbala right now?
Karbala has cleaner air than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah right now: AQI 57 (Moderate) against 74 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah's PM2.5 is about 1.4× 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 JadīdahKarbala
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.
Karbala: Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 105 km, e.g. Baghdad and Baghdad. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 105 km, US EPA index.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 6 days?
But over the past 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 56 against 70, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 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 Jadīdah4Karbala2
- Average AQI
- Al Mawşil al Jadīdah56Karbala70
- Worst day, AQI
- Al Mawşil al Jadīdah74Karbala105
The daily numbers (6 days)
| Day | Al Mawşil al Jadīdah | Karbala |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 74 | 96 |
| Nov 6 | 64 | 94 |
| Nov 7 | 54 | 105 |
| Nov 8 | 56 | 72 |
| Nov 9 | 38 | 26 |
| Nov 10 | 50 | 25 |
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 Karbala 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 Karbala compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Al Mawşil al Jadīdah's air is cleaner than 35% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Karbala's is cleaner than 51%. Within Iraq, that is 40% and 73% of its 49 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Al Mawşil al Jadīdah
- Beats 35%
- Karbala
- Beats 51%
More tree cover than…
- Al Mawşil al Jadīdah
- Beats 1%
- Karbala
- Beats 23%
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
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Karbala
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 Karbala?
Karbala has more tree cover: 10.6% of the land within 2 km of its center against 0.3% around Al Mawşil al Jadīdah, or about 33,301 trees against 942.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Al Mawşil al Jadīdah | Karbala | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 942 | 33.3K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 93.3K | 60.9K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 20.7K kg | 733K kg (better) |
Tree cover on the satellite image
The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.
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 Karbala: your questions answered
Is Karbala cleaner than Al Mawşil al Jadīdah?
On air quality, yes, right now: Karbala reads AQI 57 against 74, a gap of 17 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 6 days, on modeled daily averages, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah averaged AQI 56 against 70, and it was the cleaner of the two on 4 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Karbala today?
The advice is the same for both today. Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. Al Mawşil al Jadīdah reads AQI 74 and Karbala reads AQI 57.
Which has more trees, Al Mawşil al Jadīdah or Karbala?
Karbala has more tree cover: 10.6% of the land within 2 km of its center against 0.3% around Al Mawşil al Jadīdah, or about 33,301 trees against 942. 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 Karbala need?
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah needs about 93,305 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Karbala about 60,947 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Al Mawşil al Jadīdah and Karbala 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 Karbala 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 19, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
Keep going
Compare them with somewhere else
Build your own
Compare Al Mawşil al Jadīdah with somewhere else
This place
Al Mawşil al Jadīdah