City report · Murcia, Spain
Cartagena Air quality today
Air quality in Cartagena currently reads AQI 46 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 46
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 8.2
- tree cover
- 6.4%
- trees in this area
- 17.1K
- more trees needed
- 63.1K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Cartagena, Murcia, Spain (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 16, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Cartagena · AQI 46 (Good)
Cartagena's tree count comes to 17,110 trees across 10.7 km² of land, 24 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 63,094 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Cartagena today: AQI 46, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 16:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · MOMPEAN, 700 m away · median of 3 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
8.2
PM10
21.3
NO₂
15.5
O₃
70.8
SO₂
4.7
CO
50.0
Data: OpenAQ · EEA
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cartagena's daily AQI at 41 on average, from 34 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 60 on Nov 7.
Where Cartagena stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Cartagena: Critically low
6.4% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 10.7 km² of land.
Trees in this area
17,110
Target trees
80,204
More trees needed
63,094
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,388 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Cartagena lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Cartagena has lost about 43 hectares of forest (about 61 football pitches): 5.8% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (69%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 43 haabout 61 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 5.8%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 30 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2012, when about 9 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2002 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2003 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2004 | 6 ha | 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2005 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2006 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2007 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | 3 ha | 3 ha |
| 2009 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2010 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2011 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2012 | 4 ha | 4 ha | 9 ha |
| 2013 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2014 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2015 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2016 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2017 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2018 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2019 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2020 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2021 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2022 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2025 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Cartagena?
- Towns and roadscleared for good48% · 21 ha
- Wildfirescan grow back20% · 9 ha
- Mining and energycleared for good14% · 6 ha
Also: farms, pasture and plantations, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 1,120 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 1,070 ha
- Overall change
- −47 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Cartagena shrank from about 1,120 hectares to 1,070 hectares, a net loss of about 47 hectares (−4.2%). New forest grew on about 23 hectares, but 70 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
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Frequently asked
Questions about Cartagena
What is the air quality (AQI) in Cartagena right now?
The latest reading for Cartagena shows an AQI of 46 (Good), measured Nov 11, 16:00 local time by 3 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is MOMPEAN, 700 m away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Cartagena today?
At AQI 46 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Cartagena been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cartagena's daily AQI at 41 on average, from 34 on Nov 5 to an hourly peak of 60 on Nov 7. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Cartagena lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Cartagena has lost about 43 hectares of forest (about 61 football pitches): 5.8% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (69%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Cartagena shrank from about 1,120 hectares to 1,070 hectares, a net loss of about 47 hectares (−4.2%). New forest grew on about 23 hectares, but 70 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Cartagena?
Cartagena has an estimated 17,110 trees across the 10.7 km² of land measured — 6.4% tree cover, 24 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Cartagena need?
Cartagena needs roughly 63,094 more trees to close a 24-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 1,388 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Cartagena's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Cartagena, via OpenAQ; the 7-day trend is the Open-Meteo / CAMS model's estimate. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Cartagena; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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