City report · British Columbia, Canada
Delta Air quality today
Air quality in Delta currently reads AQI 29 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
AQI 29
Air quality right now
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 5.3
- tree cover
- 10.3%
- trees in this area
- 32.4K
- more trees needed
- 61.9K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Delta, BC, Canada (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 6, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Delta · AQI 29 (Good)
Delta's tree count comes to 32,358 trees across 12.57 km², 20 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 61,889 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Delta today: AQI 29, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 08:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Richmond South, 7.1 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
5.3
PM10
—
NO₂
3.6
O₃
55.0
SO₂
0.5
CO
171.8
Data: OpenAQ · AirNow
- 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 Delta's daily AQI at 55 on average, from 40 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 4.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from Canada's AQHI
Where Delta stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Delta: Critically low
10.3% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
32,358
Target trees
94,247
More trees needed
61,889
CO₂ if planted / yr
1,362 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Delta lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Delta has lost about 559 hectares of forest (about 780 football pitches): 11% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (70%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km north of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 559 haabout 780 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 11%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 391 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2006, when about 135 hectares of forest were lost, mostly to wildfires.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2002 | 20 ha | 6 ha | 25 ha |
| 2003 | 16 ha | under 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2004 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2005 | 12 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2006 | 41 ha | 94 ha | 135 ha |
| 2007 | 7 ha | 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2008 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2009 | 35 ha | 2 ha | 37 ha |
| 2010 | 15 ha | 2 ha | 17 ha |
| 2011 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2012 | 27 ha | 2 ha | 29 ha |
| 2013 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2014 | 3 ha | 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2015 | 14 ha | 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2016 | 18 ha | 43 ha | 61 ha |
| 2017 | 22 ha | under 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2018 | 3 ha | 4 ha | 7 ha |
| 2019 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2020 | 16 ha | 3 ha | 19 ha |
| 2021 | 29 ha | 2 ha | 31 ha |
| 2022 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2023 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2024 | 14 ha | 2 ha | 16 ha |
| 2025 | 15 ha | 2 ha | 17 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Delta?
- Towns and roadscleared for good35% · 193 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good31% · 175 ha
- Wildfirescan grow back26% · 147 ha
Also: mining and energy, logging, storms, floods and other natural causes, 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
- 7,290 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 7,350 ha
- Overall change
- +53 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Delta stayed about the same size, at about 7,350 hectares: new forest grew on about 334 hectares, and about 281 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 Delta
What is the air quality (AQI) in Delta right now?
The latest reading for Delta shows an AQI of 29 (Good), measured Nov 11, 08:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Richmond South, 7.1 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Delta today?
At AQI 29 (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 Delta been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Delta's daily AQI at 55 on average, from 40 on Nov 6 to an hourly peak of 151 on Nov 4. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Delta's AQI the same as Canada's AQHI?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. Canada's Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), from Environment and Climate Change Canada, runs from 1 to 10 and above: 1–3 low risk, 4–6 moderate, 7–10 high and over 10 very high. It combines ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine particles into one health-risk number, so it isn't a converted AQI, and the two can move differently, especially in wildfire smoke.
How much forest has the area around Delta lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Delta has lost about 559 hectares of forest (about 780 football pitches): 11% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (70%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Delta stayed about the same size, at about 7,350 hectares: new forest grew on about 334 hectares, and about 281 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Delta?
Delta has an estimated 32,358 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 10.3% tree cover, 20 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Delta need?
Delta needs roughly 61,889 more trees to close a 20-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 1,362 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Delta's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Delta, 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 Delta; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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