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Urban Tree Canopy Air Filtration (2D)

Interactive 2D street-canyon simulator: a Rankine-vortex wind cell circulates traffic pollutant particles through a canyon cross-section past rows of street trees, capturing some by leaf dry deposition, while a top-down belt view and a live history sparkline show how a denser canopy trades faster removal for a more sealed, slower-ventilating street.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

This simulator models the two things that actually happen when a city plants street trees for air quality: leaves capture pollutant particles through real dry deposition, and a dense canopy also caps the street canyon, slowing how fast the canyon vents into the atmosphere above. Traffic emits particles at street level, a Rankine-vortex wind cell (driven by rooftop wind and the canyon's height-to-width ratio) circulates them past rows of trees in cross-section, and each pass through the canopy has a real capture probability set by leaf area index and species. A top-down panel and a rolling history sparkline round out the view. Watch the deposition rate climb and the street-level index respond as you add more canopy or seal the canyon shut.

⚙ Under the hood

2D street-canyon cross-section: a Rankine-vortex wind cell circulates traffic pollutant particles past rows of street trees, capturing some by real leaf dry-deposition math, while a top-down plan view and a rolling outcome sparkline show how a denser canopy trades faster removal for a more sealed, slower-ventilating street. Drag the plan-view canvas to pan along the block.

air qualityurban forestrydry depositionstreet canyonecologypollution

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install