City report · Tamil Nadu, India
Pallāvaram Air quality today
Air quality in Pallāvaram currently reads AQI 120 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups): Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
AQI 120
Air quality right now
Unhealthy for sensitive groups
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 43.1
- tree cover
- 29.2%
- trees in this area
- 91.4K
- more trees needed
- 18.1K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Pallavaram (Contonment), Tamil Nadu, India (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Oct 6, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Pallāvaram · AQI 120 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups)
Pallāvaram's tree count comes to 91,368 trees across 12.52 km² of land, 6 points below the 35% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 18,148 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Pallāvaram today: AQI 120, Unhealthy for sensitive groups
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 11, 22:00 local time via OpenAQ ground stations, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Ground station · Velachery Res. Area, Chennai - CPCB, 10.6 km away · median of 6 stations
Health signal
Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
PM2.5
43.1
PM10
102.6
NO₂
21.0
O₃
31.1
SO₂
7.5
CO
1.0
Data: OpenAQ · CPCB, Central Pollution Control Board, Government of India (GODL-India)
- Outdoor exercise
- Children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease should cut down long or hard exercise
- Windows
- Close them to keep the outside air out
- Mask
- Sensitive groups: an N95 outdoors
- Air purifier
- Run one, especially in bedrooms
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Pallāvaram's daily AQI at 91 on average, from 62 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 149 on Nov 9.
This is the US EPA AQI. How it differs from India's AQI (CPCB) · The full guide
Where Pallāvaram stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Pallāvaram: Below target
29.2% tree cover against a 35% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.52 km² of land.
Trees in this area
91,368
Target trees
109,516
More trees needed
18,148
CO₂ if planted / yr
399.3 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Pallāvaram lost?
There was very little forest around Pallāvaram in 2000, about 31 hectares, and about 3 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here.
2017: satellite photo from February 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
The worst year was 2006, when about 1 hectare 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 | under 1 ha |
| 2002 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2003 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2004 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2005 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2006 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2007 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2008 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2009 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2010 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2011 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2012 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2013 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2014 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 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 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2025 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Pallāvaram?
- Towns and roadscleared for good30% · under 1 ha
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good7.4% · under 1 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown59% · 2 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
- 2,480 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 2,790 ha
- Overall change
- +314 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Pallāvaram grew from about 2,480 hectares to 2,790 hectares, a net gain of about 314 hectares (+13%). New forest grew on about 348 hectares, while 34 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 Pallāvaram
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Ambattur14.5 km
India
- Tree cover
- 23%
- Air quality
- 118
- Chennai19.3 km
India
- Tree cover
- 22%
- Air quality
- 160
- Tiruvottiyūr26.8 km
India
- Tree cover
- 23%
- Air quality
- 163
- Kanchipuram51.0 km
India
- Tree cover
- 36%
- Air quality
- 123
- Rānipet88.7 km
India
- Tree cover
- 39%
- Air quality
- 138
- Tirupati108.4 km
India
- Tree cover
- 29%
- Air quality
- 153
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Frequently asked
Questions about Pallāvaram
What is the air quality (AQI) in Pallāvaram right now?
The latest reading for Pallāvaram shows an AQI of 120 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups), measured Nov 11, 22:00 local time by 6 ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ (the median of their readings; the nearest is Velachery Res. Area, Chennai - CPCB, 10.6 km away). The main pollutant is PM2.5. Sensitive groups should limit long or intense outdoor activity.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Pallāvaram today?
At AQI 120 (Unhealthy for sensitive groups): children, older adults and people with asthma or heart disease should cut down long or hard exercise. Windows: close them to keep the outside air out. Masks: sensitive groups: an N95 outdoors. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Pallāvaram been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Pallāvaram's daily AQI at 91 on average, from 62 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 149 on Nov 9. On 2 of those days the average was above 100, unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Is Pallāvaram's AQI the same as India's AQI (CPCB)?
No. Airleaf shows the US EPA Air Quality Index (AQI), the scale used by IQAir and most air-quality apps. India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) publishes the National Air Quality Index on its own scale: 0–50 good, 51–100 satisfactory, 101–200 moderate, 201–300 poor, 301–400 very poor and 401–500 severe. The two scales don't line up. At moderate fine-particle levels the US scale reads higher: 55 µg/m³ of PM2.5 is 149 on the US AQI but about 92, "satisfactory", on India's. In heavy smog India's reads higher: 100 µg/m³ is 182 on the US AQI and about 232, "poor", on India's. CPCB also averages particles over 24 hours, so its figure moves more slowly than an hourly reading.
How much forest has the area around Pallāvaram lost since 2001?
There was very little forest around Pallāvaram in 2000, about 31 hectares, and about 3 hectares of it has been lost since. Only fairly dense woodland counts as forest in these maps, so scattered street and garden trees don't show up here. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Pallāvaram grew from about 2,480 hectares to 2,790 hectares, a net gain of about 314 hectares (+13%). New forest grew on about 348 hectares, while 34 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Pallāvaram?
Pallāvaram has an estimated 91,368 trees across the 12.52 km² of land measured — 29.2% tree cover, 6 percentage points short of the 35% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Pallāvaram need?
Pallāvaram needs roughly 18,148 more trees to close a 6-point shortfall against its 35% tree-cover target — about 399.3 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Pallāvaram's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality is measured by ground monitoring stations near Pallavaram (Contonment), 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 Pallavaram (Contonment); the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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