City report · Costa Rica
Puntarenas Air quality today
Air quality in Puntarenas currently reads AQI 28 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 28
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 5.7
- tree cover
- 43.7%
- trees in this area
- 32.3K
- more trees needed
- 0
Measured across a 2 km radius around Puntarenas Province, Puntarenas, Costa Rica (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Jun 28, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Puntarenas · AQI 28 (Good)
Puntarenas's tree count comes to 32,263 trees across 2.95 km² of land, already at or above the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Puntarenas today: AQI 28, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 17:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 125 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 2 station cities within 125 km, e.g. San José and Paraíso
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
5.7
PM10
7.4
NO₂
8.0
O₃
45.0
SO₂
1.6
CO
243.0
- 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 Puntarenas's daily AQI at 24 on average, from 11 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 55 on Nov 9.
Where Puntarenas stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Puntarenas: Healthy tree cover
43.7% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 2.95 km² of land.
Trees in this area
32,263
Target trees
32,263
More trees needed
0
CO₂ if planted / yr
0 kg
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Puntarenas lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Puntarenas has lost about 470 hectares of forest (about 660 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (96%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from March 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 7 km northwest of the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 470 haabout 660 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 10%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 450 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2005, when about 67 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 | 20 ha | under 1 ha | 20 ha |
| 2002 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2003 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2004 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2005 | 66 ha | under 1 ha | 67 ha |
| 2006 | 19 ha | under 1 ha | 19 ha |
| 2007 | 29 ha | under 1 ha | 30 ha |
| 2008 | 63 ha | under 1 ha | 63 ha |
| 2009 | 43 ha | under 1 ha | 43 ha |
| 2010 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2011 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2012 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2013 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2014 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2015 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2016 | 9 ha | under 1 ha | 9 ha |
| 2017 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2018 | 22 ha | 3 ha | 25 ha |
| 2019 | 22 ha | 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2020 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2021 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2022 | 6 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2023 | 9 ha | 3 ha | 12 ha |
| 2024 | 23 ha | 6 ha | 29 ha |
| 2025 | 7 ha | 4 ha | 11 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Puntarenas?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good95% · 445 ha
- Storms, floods and other natural causescan grow back2.7% · 13 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good1.2% · 6 ha
Also: wildfires, 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
- 3,590 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 3,440 ha
- Overall change
- −145 haless forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Puntarenas shrank from about 3,590 hectares to 3,440 hectares, a net loss of about 145 hectares (−4%). New forest grew on about 48 hectares, but 193 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 Puntarenas
What is the air quality (AQI) in Puntarenas right now?
The latest reading for Puntarenas shows an AQI of 28 (Good), observed Nov 10, 17:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 2 ground-station cities within 125 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Puntarenas today?
At AQI 28 (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 Puntarenas been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Puntarenas's daily AQI at 24 on average, from 11 on Nov 7 to an hourly peak of 55 on Nov 9. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Puntarenas lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Puntarenas has lost about 470 hectares of forest (about 660 football pitches): 10% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (96%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Puntarenas shrank from about 3,590 hectares to 3,440 hectares, a net loss of about 145 hectares (−4%). New forest grew on about 48 hectares, but 193 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Puntarenas?
Puntarenas has an estimated 32,263 trees across the 2.95 km² of land measured — 43.7% tree cover, already past the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Puntarenas need?
Puntarenas has already reached its tree-cover target, so no additional trees are needed to close the gap.
How are Puntarenas's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. 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 Puntarenas Province; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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