İskenderun vs Samandağ
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.
Samandağ has more tree cover — 49.8% against 8.4%.
Samandağ has cleaner air right now — AQI 39 against 55.
- Tree cover gap
- 41.4 points
- Samandağ is ahead.
- Air quality gap
- 16 AQI
- Samandağ is cleaner.
- Trees between them
- 138K
- Samandağ has more standing.
Turkey
Turkey
Tree cover
Share of the 2 km radius under canopy.
8.4%
49.8%
Air quality index
US EPA index, live, with its band. Lower is better.
55 · Moderate
39 · Good
Trees standing
Estimated from the measured canopy area.
18.9K
156K
Trees still needed
To reach the same canopy target. Fewer is better.
48.7K
0
CO₂ absorbed each year
By the trees already standing.
417K kg
3.4M 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. Both are modelled, with no ground station close enough to either.
PM2.5
Fine particles, the pollutant that usually sets the index.
13.8 µg/m³
4.3 µg/m³
PM10
Coarser particles — dust, pollen, road grit.
24.8 µg/m³
5 µg/m³
Nitrogen dioxide
Mostly traffic and combustion.
4.4 µg/m³
0.7 µg/m³
Ozone
Forms in sunlight; peaks on hot, still afternoons.
73 µg/m³
75 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.
| Day | İskenderun | Samandağ |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | 103 | 43 |
| 23 Sept | 110 | 41 |
| 24 Sept | 98 | 41 |
| 25 Sept | 147 | 40 |
| 26 Sept | 131 | 44 |
| 27 Sept | 65 | 42 |
| 28 Sept | 66 | 42 |
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. Samandağ leads here at 49.8%.
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: İskenderun reads 55 (moderate) and Samandağ reads 39 (good) right now.
Frequently asked
İskenderun and Samandağ, answered
Which has more trees, İskenderun or Samandağ?
Samandağ, with roughly 156,451 trees inside its 2 km radius against 18,948. Tree cover tells a slightly different story from raw count: Samandağ has the denser canopy at 49.8%.
Which has better air quality, İskenderun or Samandağ?
Samandağ right now, at AQI 39 against 55 — a gap of 16 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?
İskenderun needs about 48,722 more to reach its canopy target, and Samandağ about 0. 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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