City report · Ontario, Canada
Ottawa Air quality today
Air quality in Ottawa currently reads AQI 17 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 17
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 3.0
- tree cover
- 22.4%
- trees in this area
- 65.3K
- more trees needed
- 22.2K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Centretown, Ottawa, ON, Canada (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 11, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Ottawa · AQI 17 (Good)
Ottawa's tree count comes to 65,305 trees across 11.66 km² of land, 8 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 22,157 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Ottawa today: AQI 17, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 09:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Ottawa Downtown, 3.1 km away · median of 2 stations
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
3.0
PM10
—
NO₂
15.1
O₃
22.6
SO₂
—
CO
—
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 Ottawa's daily AQI at 26 on average, from 2 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 60 on Nov 10.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from Canada's AQHI
Where Ottawa stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Ottawa: Below target
22.4% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 11.66 km² of land.
Trees in this area
65,305
Target trees
87,462
More trees needed
22,157
CO₂ if planted / yr
487.5 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Ottawa lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Ottawa has lost about 302 hectares of forest (about 420 football pitches): 4.1% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (85%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads.
2017: satellite photo from September 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km west of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 302 haabout 420 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4.1%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 257 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2022, when about 44 hectares of forest were lost.
Ottawa's full deforestation reportHectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 9 ha | 2 ha | 11 ha |
| 2002 | 4 ha | under 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2003 | 5 ha | 2 ha | 7 ha |
| 2004 | 14 ha | 1 ha | 15 ha |
| 2005 | 11 ha | 1 ha | 13 ha |
| 2006 | 4 ha | under 1 ha | 4 ha |
| 2007 | 19 ha | under 1 ha | 20 ha |
| 2008 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 10 ha |
| 2009 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2010 | 10 ha | under 1 ha | 11 ha |
| 2011 | 19 ha | 3 ha | 21 ha |
| 2012 | 23 ha | 2 ha | 24 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2014 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2015 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2016 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2017 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2018 | 22 ha | 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2019 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 21 ha |
| 2020 | 15 ha | under 1 ha | 16 ha |
| 2021 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 6 ha |
| 2022 | 17 ha | 27 ha | 44 ha |
| 2023 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2024 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2025 | 2 ha | 2 ha | 4 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Ottawa?
- Towns and roadscleared for good85% · 257 ha
- Loggingcan grow back9.3% · 28 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown5.6% · 17 ha
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
- 11,500 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 11,700 ha
- Overall change
- +190 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Ottawa stayed about the same size, at about 11,700 hectares: new forest grew on about 497 hectares, and about 307 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
In the same region
Measured cities near Ottawa
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Orléans16.0 km
Canada
- Tree cover
- 27%
- Air quality
- 17
- Kingston145.2 km
Canada
- Tree cover
- 28%
- Air quality
- 17
- 152.3 km
- Tree cover
- 68%
- Air quality
- 14
- Laval157.4 km
Canada
- Tree cover
- 31%
- Air quality
- 14
- Terrebonne162.9 km
Canada
- Tree cover
- 33%
- Air quality
- 14
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Frequently asked
Questions about Ottawa
What is the air quality (AQI) in Ottawa right now?
The latest reading for Ottawa shows an AQI of 17 (Good), measured Nov 11, 09:00 local time by 2 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Ottawa Downtown, 3.1 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Ottawa today?
At AQI 17 (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 Ottawa been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Ottawa's daily AQI at 26 on average, from 2 on Nov 11 to an hourly peak of 60 on Nov 10. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Ottawa'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 Ottawa lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Ottawa has lost about 302 hectares of forest (about 420 football pitches): 4.1% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (85%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for towns and roads. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Ottawa stayed about the same size, at about 11,700 hectares: new forest grew on about 497 hectares, and about 307 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Ottawa?
Ottawa has an estimated 65,305 trees across the 11.66 km² of land measured — 22.4% tree cover, 8 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Ottawa need?
Ottawa needs roughly 22,157 more trees to close a 8-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 487.5 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Ottawa's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Centretown, 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 Centretown; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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