Assessment of Satellite Aerosol Optical Depth to Estimate Particulate Matter Distribution in Valencia City

The estimation of exposure to PM
₁₀
and PM
_2.5
requires the knowledge of surface concentration at high temporal and spatial resolutions. In this paper, the relation between PM
₁₀
and PM
_2.5
ground data and MODIS AOD satellite data has been evaluated to determine the concentration of particulate matter in Valencia, Spain. This was done using data from the Valencian Network of Surveillance and Control of Air Pollution and the scientific data set “Optical Depth Land and Ocean” from MODIS Terra and Aqua with 3km of spatial resolution. The linear regression model for PM
₁₀
provided a regression slope of 25.99 μg.m
^-3
and an interception of 12.07 μg.m
^-3
(RMSE=8.61 μg.m
^-3
), while for PM
_2.5
the slope and interception were 26.87 μg.m
^-3
and 5.98 μg.m
^-3
(RMSE=5.5 μg.m
^-3
).