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Airleaf

Freetown vs Gabú

Tree cover and air quality for both, measured the same way: Sentinel-2 imagery at 10 m detail over a 2 km radius from each city centre, and the live US EPA air quality index. Same radius and same index, so the two numbers compare directly.

Gabú has more tree cover — 22.4% against 3.7%.

Gabú has cleaner air right now — AQI 18 against 30.

Tree cover gap
18.7 points
Gabú is ahead.
Air quality gap
12 AQI
Gabú is cleaner.
Trees between them
63.4K
Gabú has more standing.
Freetown

Sierra Leone

Gabú

Guinea-Bissau

Tree cover

Share of the 2 km radius under canopy.

3.7%

22.4%

Air quality index

US EPA index, live, with its band. Lower is better.

30 · Good

18 · Good

Trees standing

Estimated from the measured canopy area.

7.0K

70.4K

Trees still needed

To reach the same canopy target. Fewer is better.

49.9K

23.9K

CO₂ absorbed each year

By the trees already standing.

154K kg

1.5M kg

Air quality in detail

What each city is breathing

Concentrations in µg/m³, measured at the same moment as the index above. Lower is better in every row. Freetown is read from nearby ground stations and Gabú is modelled — worth knowing, since the two are not quite like for like.

PM2.5

Fine particles, the pollutant that usually sets the index.

7.1 µg/m³

4.4 µg/m³

The last week, day by day

A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon. The week says whether it was the weather or the place.

FreetownGabú· daily US EPA index, last 7 days
0387522 Sept25 Sept28 Sept
Daily air quality index for Freetown and Gabú
DayFreetownGabú
22 Sept2161
23 Sept1937
24 Sept2516
25 Sept3233
26 Sept3038
27 Sept2520
28 Sept3421

Reading these numbers

What is actually being measured

Tree cover

The share of ground under canopy inside a 2 km radius of each city centre, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It is a measurement of that circle, not of the whole municipality — which is exactly what makes the two comparable, since city boundaries are drawn to wildly different rules around the world. Gabú leads here at 22.4%.

Air quality index

The live US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations — ground stations where a city has them nearby, and a model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so this is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place: Freetown reads 30 (good) and Gabú reads 18 (good) right now.

Frequently asked

Freetown and Gabú, answered

Which has more trees, Freetown or Gabú?

Gabú, with roughly 70,372 trees inside its 2 km radius against 7,021. Tree cover tells a slightly different story from raw count: Gabú has the denser canopy at 22.4%.

Which has better air quality, Freetown or Gabú?

Gabú right now, at AQI 18 against 30 — a gap of 12 points. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day.

How many more trees does each city need?

Freetown needs about 49,905 more to reach its canopy target, and Gabú about 23,876. The target is the same share of ground for both, so the figures are directly comparable.

Are these two measured the same way?

Yes — that is the point of the page. Identical radius, identical satellite source at 10 m detail, and the same US EPA index for air. Nothing here is adjusted for population, city limits or climate, so the numbers describe the same-sized circle of ground in each place.

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