About airy.earth
airy.earth is a live map of the air we breathe: an hourly, 5-day forecast of fine and coarse particles (PM2.5, PM10), nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, desert dust, smoke haze and UV on an interactive globe, with wind flowing over it and ground stations and active fires on top. It is free, with no accounts and no ads. For a quick read of one place, see the city pages.
Where the data comes from
| What | Source | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pollution forecast | Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) global, via Open-Meteo | About 40 km, hourly, 5 days, two runs a day. CC BY 4.0 |
| Europe in HD | CAMS European ensemble, via Open-Meteo | About 10 km, hourly, 4 days. CC BY 4.0 |
| Wind | NOAA GFS, via Open-Meteo | 100 m wind, hourly |
| Ground stations | US EPA AirNow, Sensor.Community, OpenAQ | Refreshed every 10 minutes. AirNow data is preliminary; Sensor.Community is ODbL |
| Active fires | NASA FIRMS (VIIRS) | Last 24 hours, refreshed every 30 minutes |
| Maps and imagery | OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles, © OpenStreetMap contributors; NASA GIBS | Satellite and night-lights layers from NASA |
| Place search and names | Photon by komoot, Nominatim | OpenStreetMap data, ODbL |
How the air quality index is calculated
Every concentration is handled in µg/m³. The US AQI follows the US EPA scale, from 0 to 500 in six bands from Good to Hazardous. The European AQI follows the European Environment Agency's six levels, from Good to Extremely poor. Both take the worst pollutant, so a single pollutant can set the index; the city pages name which one.
Limits of the data
- Forecast models see the air in cells 10 to 40 km across, so they smooth out street-level peaks near busy roads and industry.
- Low-cost sensors are noisier than regulatory monitors, and AirNow readings are preliminary and unvalidated.
- Forecasts can be wrong, especially for smoke and dust, which depend on where fires and storms start.
airy.earth is information, not medical advice. Follow official alerts from your local authorities. See the terms and the privacy notice.
Questions, corrections or data issues: contact@airy.earth.