Brazil · Ceará · 7 cities
Air quality in Ceará today The AQI right now, city by city
Right now, Itapipoca has the cleanest air of the 7 cities we track in Ceará (AQI 22, Good), and Fortaleza the worst (AQI 55, Moderate). Caucaia has the most tree cover, at 31.0% — #89 of 304 cities measured in Brazil.
Every city is measured the same way, over the same 2 km around its center: the air quality right now, from ground stations where there are any, and its tree cover.
Average right now
AQI 37
Good
- cities tracked
- 7
- average tree cover
- 16.3%
- Brazil: 25.9%
- worst air now: Fortaleza
- 55
- cleanest air now: Itapipoca
- 22
Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf, refreshed hourly.
Ceará · average AQI 37
Air quality today across Ceará, city by city
| Fortaleza | 55Moderate | 4.6% | 49.4K | #302 of 304 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caucaia | 39Good | 31.0% | — | #89 of 304 |
| Juazeiro do Norte | 39Good | 15.2% | 46.5K | #235 of 304 |
| Maracanaú | 32Good | 14.5% | 48.3K | #242 of 304 |
| Sobral | 49Good | 13.3% | 52.4K | #257 of 304 |
| Crato | 26Good | 15.2% | 46.5K | #232 of 304 |
| Itapipoca | 22Good | 20.5% | 29.8K | #176 of 304 |
Air quality is the US AQI from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where available, otherwise the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, refreshed hourly. Tree cover is measured within 2 km of each city center from Sentinel-2 imagery; the rank compares every city measured in Brazil.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Ceará lost?
Since 2001, Ceará has lost about 379,000 hectares of forest (about 3,800 km²): 12% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (96%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 379,000 haabout 3,800 km²
- Share of its forest
- 12%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 364,000 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 13,400 ha | 461 ha | 13,800 ha |
| 2002 | 18,000 ha | 768 ha | 18,800 ha |
| 2003 | 11,300 ha | 374 ha | 11,700 ha |
| 2004 | 15,300 ha | 419 ha | 15,700 ha |
| 2005 | 6,490 ha | 222 ha | 6,710 ha |
| 2006 | 13,400 ha | 490 ha | 13,900 ha |
| 2007 | 23,000 ha | 679 ha | 23,700 ha |
| 2008 | 15,400 ha | 644 ha | 16,100 ha |
| 2009 | 4,160 ha | 94 ha | 4,250 ha |
| 2010 | 37,700 ha | 829 ha | 38,600 ha |
| 2011 | 6,830 ha | 206 ha | 7,040 ha |
| 2012 | 31,800 ha | 1,060 ha | 32,900 ha |
| 2013 | 22,300 ha | 1,910 ha | 24,200 ha |
| 2014 | 23,600 ha | 1,130 ha | 24,700 ha |
| 2015 | 10,200 ha | 308 ha | 10,500 ha |
| 2016 | 17,000 ha | 574 ha | 17,600 ha |
| 2017 | 18,900 ha | 1,320 ha | 20,200 ha |
| 2018 | 12,700 ha | 781 ha | 13,500 ha |
| 2019 | 8,080 ha | 372 ha | 8,450 ha |
| 2020 | 7,380 ha | 644 ha | 8,030 ha |
| 2021 | 8,520 ha | 351 ha | 8,870 ha |
| 2022 | 8,470 ha | 228 ha | 8,700 ha |
| 2023 | 10,400 ha | 205 ha | 10,700 ha |
| 2024 | 11,700 ha | 635 ha | 12,400 ha |
| 2025 | 7,830 ha | 526 ha | 8,350 ha |
Forest loss is slowing down: about 9,790 hectares a year in 2021–2025, down from 13,500 hectares a year in 2016–2020. The worst year was 2010, when about 38,600 hectares of forest were lost.
What is causing deforestation in Ceará?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good91% · 345,000 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good3.4% · 12,700 ha
- Wildfirescan grow back2.1% · 7,800 ha
Also: mining and energy, shifting farming, storms, floods and other natural causes, logging, unknown causes.
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
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. How it's measured
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