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Calibrating MODIS aerosol optical depth for predicting daily PM2.5 concentrations via statistical downscaling

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 24, pages 398–404 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the use of satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) to estimate ambient concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter <2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter). With their broad spatial coverage, satellite data can increase the spatial–temporal availability of air quality data beyond ground monitoring measurements and potentially improve exposure assessment for population-based health studies. This paper describes a statistical downscaling approach that brings together (1) recent advances in PM2.5 land use regression models utilizing AOD and (2) statistical data fusion techniques for combining air quality data sets that have different spatial resolutions. Statistical downscaling assumes the associations between AOD and PM2.5 concentrations to be spatially and temporally dependent and offers two key advantages. First, it enables us to use gridded AOD data to predict PM2.5 concentrations at spatial point locations. Second, the unified hierarchical framework provides straightforward uncertainty quantification in the predicted PM2.5 concentrations. The proposed methodology is applied to a data set of daily AOD values in southeastern United States during the period 2003–2005. Via cross-validation experiments, our model had an out-of-sample prediction R2 of 0.78 and a root mean-squared error (RMSE) of 3.61 μg/m3 between observed and predicted daily PM2.5 concentrations. This corresponds to a 10% decrease in RMSE compared with the same land use regression model without AOD as a predictor. Prediction performances of spatial–temporal interpolations to locations and on days without monitoring PM2.5 measurements were also examined.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by the USEPA grant R834799, NIH grant R01ES019897, and NASA grant NNX09AT52G. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the grantee and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. Further, USEPA does not endorse the purchase of any commercial products or services mentioned in the publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Howard H Chang

  2. Department of Environmental Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Xuefei Hu & Yang Liu

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  1. Howard H Chang
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  2. Xuefei Hu
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Correspondence to Howard H Chang.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology website

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Chang, H., Hu, X. & Liu, Y. Calibrating MODIS aerosol optical depth for predicting daily PM2.5 concentrations via statistical downscaling. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 24, 398–404 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2013.90

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