About AirLive

AirLive is a free air quality information service focused on India and Delhi NCR. It turns raw pollutant data into plain-language health guidance for every city and neighbourhood we cover.

Where the data comes from

Readings are retrieved live from the Open-Meteo Air Quality API, which is based on the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) atmospheric model. This is modelled data on a grid of roughly 10 km, not a reading from a single street-level sensor, so neighbouring areas can show similar values and numbers can differ from official monitoring stations.

Where a ground monitoring station lies within 25 km of a location, the headline AQI is taken from that station via the World Air Quality Index Project (WAQI), which aggregates data from official pollution control agencies such as CPCB, DPCC and state boards. The station name and source are shown on each page. WAQI data is unvalidated and may be amended at any time.

How we calculate indices

• US AQI – provided by the data source using the US EPA scale (0–500).
• India NAQI – we compute the CPCB National AQI sub-index from PM2.5 and PM10 using the official CPCB breakpoints. Official NAQI uses 24-hour averages, so our instantaneous figure can differ from CPCB bulletins.
• Cigarette equivalent – based on the Berkeley Earth rule of thumb that a PM2.5 exposure of 22 µg/m³ over 24 hours is roughly equivalent to smoking one cigarette per day. It is an illustration, not a medical measurement.

How AirLive is funded

The site shows Google AdSense advertising and Amazon affiliate links to air purifiers and masks. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Product suggestions never change the air quality data we publish.