Air quality in Marseille

Air quality index (AQI) and PM2.5 air pollution in Marseille

Last update at (Local time)

51K people follow this city

  • The profile image of follower
  • The profile image of follower
  • The profile image of follower
  • The profile image of follower
  • The profile image of follower
IQAir map with AQI colorful pins

AIR QUALITY DATA CONTRIBUTORS

7 Stations operated by

7 Contributors

https://cdn.airvisual.net/gov/tiny/atmosud-provence-alpes-cote-d-azur-avatar-ATmo+Sud+logo.pnghttps://cdn.airvisual.net/assets/public-profiles/5d1c7835f655d91a73a56e9e-avatar.jpeghttps://cdn.airvisual.net/tiny/default.png

Join the movement!

Get a monitor and contribute to air quality data in your city.

BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR
Find out more about contributors and data sources

Pollen

What is the pollen count in Marseille today?

IndexLow
Tree pollenNone
Grass pollenNone
Weed pollenLow
Source: tomorrow.io
See pollen forecast

Weather

What is the current weather in Marseille?

Weather icon
WeatherScattered clouds
Temperature60.8°F
Humidity71%
Wind10 mph
Pressure29.6 inHg

live aqi city ranking

Real-time France city ranking

#cityUS AQI
1The national flag of International Fort-de-France, Martinique

63

2The national flag of International Niort, Nouvelle-Aquitaine

50

3The national flag of International Passy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

36

4The national flag of International Saint-Nazaire, Pays de la Loire

32

5The national flag of International Chartres, Centre

29

6The national flag of International Angers, Pays de la Loire

28

7The national flag of International Nantes, Pays de la Loire

28

8The national flag of International Toulouse, Occitanie

28

9The national flag of International Bastia, Corsica

26

10The national flag of International Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes

26

(Local time)

SEE WORLD AQI RANKING

live Marseille aqi ranking

Real-time Marseille air quality ranking

#stationUS AQI
1 marseille - Longchamp

19

2 Chemin de Mozambique

13

3 Rond Point Fontaine des Tuiles

13

4 Boulevard Henri Michel

9

5 Marseille - St Louis

9

6 Chemin des Meules

8

7 Traverse Bovis

8

(Local time)

SEE WORLD AQI RANKING

#1 Air Quality App

Free iOS and Android air quality app

AirVisual App, Free iOS and Android air quality app

US AQI

19

live AQI index
Good

Human face indicating AQI level

Overview

What is the current air quality in Marseille?

Air pollution levelAir quality indexMain pollutant
Good 19 US AQIO3
PollutantsConcentration
PM2.5
1.6µg/m³
PM10
6.8µg/m³
O3
47.7µg/m³
NO2
17.7µg/m³
SO2
0.1µg/m³
CO
186µg/m³

PM2.5 concentration in Marseille air currently meets the WHO annual air quality guideline value

Health Recommendations

What is the current air quality in Marseille?

A man cycling icon
Enjoy outdoor activities
An open window icon
Open your windows to bring clean, fresh air indoors
GET A MONITOR

Forecast

Marseille air quality index (AQI) forecast

DayPollution levelWeatherTemperatureWind
Monday, Oct 7

Good 27 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
71.6° 62.6°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 125 degree 24.6 mph
Tuesday, Oct 8

Good 24 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
69.8° 60.8°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 112 degree 26.8 mph
Wednesday, Oct 9

Good 27 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
69.8° 64.4°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 141 degree 22.4 mph
Today

Good 19 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon 50%
69.8° 60.8°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 301 degree 22.4 mph
Friday, Oct 11

Good 8 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
68° 59°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 317 degree 22.4 mph
Saturday, Oct 12

Good 13 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
66.2° 62.6°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 136 degree 17.9 mph
Sunday, Oct 13

Good 18 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
69.8° 64.4°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 121 degree 11.2 mph
Monday, Oct 14

Good 23 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
68° 64.4°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 151 degree 6.7 mph
Tuesday, Oct 15

Moderate 65 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon 100%
71.6° 64.4°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 137 degree 17.9 mph
Wednesday, Oct 16

Moderate 66 AQI US

Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon 30%
69.8° 64.4°
IQAir AirVisual Air Quality Map Wind rotating 126 degree 17.9 mph

Interested in hourly forecast? Get the app

How to best protect from air pollution?

Reduce your air pollution exposure in Marseille

AIR QUALITY ANALYSIS AND STATISTICS FOR Marseille

How bad is the air quality in Marseille?

Much like the rest of France, Marseille has air that is of good quality mostly of the year round, save for a few occasional months when the PM2.5 rating rises slightly higher, but still not excessively so. PM2.5 and PM10 refer to particulate matter that is 2.5 or less micrometers across, and 10 micrometers or less respectively. Over the course of 2019, Marseille came in at an average PM2.5 rating of 10.7 µg/m³, putting it into the ‘good’ air quality bracket, which requires a reading between 10 to 12 µg/m³ to achieve, giving it a respectable rating and placing it at number 2311 of all cities ranked in the world.

However aside from these clean air quality ratings, there are occasional times of the year and due to certain events when the air can become less desirable to breathe. As a small coastal town in the far south of France, Marseille has in recent times become more prominent as a tourist destination, with many cruise ships docking there to drop off and pick up passengers. This in itself has caused a number of pollution related problems to arise, which will be discussed in further detail later on. As with all tourist destinations, vehicle related pollution is of constant concern, with more stringent rules being put into place on the types of fuels allowed in these vehicles, as well as those used in the cruise ships found lining the ports.

So whilst Marseille has good air quality ratings year round, there are still areas of concern for many people, with the NGO Greenpeace stating that 58 percent of all schools and nurseries in the city are surrounded by undesirable levels of pollution, often located in the proximity of areas where pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) can be found exceeding the legal levels of what the air should contain. This would be a matter of concern due to children being part of the demographic that is most at risk when exposed to pollution and poor air quality over long periods of time.

What causes the worsened air quality and pollution in Marseille?

As is a common story with the rest of France and indeed that of the world, a majority if not most of the pollution comes from smoke put out by cars and buses, causing a buildup of nitrogen oxide (NOx) as well as other chemicals and fine particulate matter. Vehicles running on diesel are the main offenders, as is often the case, and whilst the city of Marseille is rapidly coming down hard on such offenders, there still remain many such vehicles in circulation and on the roads. As well as the cars and buses, as previously mentioned a unique offender is also the cruise ships found docking in many places by the sea. Many of them keep their engines running whilst docked, which causes a continual output of smoke and pollution. On top of this, the fuel that is used in these large cruise ships often has different regulations on the fuel that they can use, and although laws starting in early 2020 have come into effect to limit the amount of chemicals such as sulfur that these fuels can contain, the continued output of these fumes has almost certainly caused some effects on the residents of the city, with complaints of increased numbers of cancer patients being noted, although there have been no scientific studies as of yet to link the two causalities together.

How good is the quality of air in Marseille when compared to other cities in France?

To compare with another city in France, one can have a look at the most polluted city in terms of PM2.5 matter in the air as recorded over 2019. The city that took the number one spot was Saint-Denis, coming in with a rating of 16.3 µg/m³ as its yearly average, staying consistently ahead of the other cities in both 2018 and 2017, with readings of 17.6 and 19.5 µg/m³ respectively on each year, showing improvement but still taking the first place. This reading put Saint-Denis in at a ‘moderate’ rating, which requires a PM2.5 reading of 12.1 to 35.4 µg/m³ to be classed as such. It only had one month out of the year, September, which came in at a ‘good’ ranking, whilst the rest were all in the moderate bracket, albeit considerably on the lower end of the moderate spectrum. For some comparison on a global scale, the city of Huaihua in China came in with a 2019 rating of 35.4 µg/m³, which would still put it in the ‘moderate’ bracket of how polluted a city, but when the numbers are observed you can see that despite both having the same rating, Huaihua’s level of pollution was over double that of Saint-Denis, making Huaihua a far more polluted city in comparison.

Going back to France, Marseille only had two months recorded in 2019 breaking into the moderate bracket, making its air quality considerably cleaner, although of note it was only cleaner by 5.6 µg/m³ in its yearly average over Saint-Denis, which goes to show how the overall level of pollution in France is not too bad at all, suffering from far less incidents of smog and haze than other countries around the world would suffer from.

What are some of the health effects of breathing the air in Marseille?

In 2016, there was a study carried out over 17 different schools in Marseille, showing a large increase of asthma sufferers amongst schoolchildren, as well as a lack of sufficient ventilation in the school buildings. These would be linked directly to the breathing of pollutants in the air. As asthma falls under the respiratory grouping of conditions, as such you would be able to find many more from breathing similar air, with long term exposure causing a variety of ailments such as Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which includes other respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and emphysema.

Complaints of residents tell stories of increased cases of cancer, particularly that of the throat, although as stated before there have been no substantial scientific studies to link the two together, especially in regards to the pollution given off by the large cruise ships, which the residents point the finger to as the main cause of the issue. Other issues would include increased risk of heart diseases, as well as irritation to the respiratory tract, eyes and skin.

Is the quality of air improving in Marseille?

Overall, it seems that over the past few years, the quality of the air in Marseille has improved, from 14.6 µg/m³ in 2017 down to 10.7 µg/m³ in 2019. This shows that the quality of air has indeed improved, with the stricter regulations being imposed of both road vehicles as well as the cruise ships having an apparent positive effect. With continued improvement and enforcement of pollution reducing methods such as fuel quality control and a reduction in overall car usage amongst the population, it is very possible that Marseille could reach the WHO’s target goal of 0 to 10 µg/m³ within the coming years, with its 2019 rating being just 0.7 µg/m³ shy of achieving that target.

Cart
Your cart is empty
IQAir Blue Banner

Connect With IQAir

Sign up for our newsletter