Satellite remote sensing of atmospheric particulate matter mass concentration:Advances,challenges,and perspectives

Mapping the mass concentration of near-surface atmospheric particulate matter(PM)using satellite observations has become a popular research niche,leading to the development of a variety of instruments,algorithms,and datasets over the past two decades.In this study,we conducted a holistic review of the major advances and challenges in quantifying PM,with a specific focus on instruments,algorithms,datasets,and modeling methods that have been developed over the past 20 years.The aim of this study is to provide a general guide for future satellite-based PM concentration mapping practices and to better support air quality monitoring and management of environmental health.Specifically,we review the evolution of satellite platforms,sensors,inversion algorithms,and datasets that can be used for monitoring aerosol properties.We then compare various practical methods and techniques that have been used to estimate PM mass concentrations and group them into four primary categories:(1)univariate regression,(2)chemical transport models(CTM),(3)multivariate regression,and(4)empirical physical approaches.Considering the main challenges encountered in PM mapping practices,for example,data gaps and discontinuity,a hybrid method is proposed with the aim of generating PM concentration maps that are both spatially continuous and have high precision.

A new method to retrieve aerosol optical thickness from satellite images on a parallel system

A wide variety of algorithms have been developed to monitor aerosol burden from satellite images. Still, few solutions currently allow for real-time and efficient retrieval of aerosol optical thickness （AOT）, mainly due to the extremely large volume of computation necessary for the numeric solution of atmospheric radiative transfer equations. Taking into account the efforts to exploit the SYNergy of Terra and Aqua Modis （SYNTAM, an AOT retrieval algorithm）, we present in this paper a novel method to retrieve AOT from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） satellite images, in which the strategy of block partition and collective communication was taken, thereby maximizing load balance and reducing the overhead time during inter-processor communication. Experiments were carried out to retrieve AOT at 0.44, 0.55, and 0.67μm of MODIS/Terra and MODIS/Aqua data, using the parallel SYNTAM algorithm in the IBM System Cluster 1600 deployed at China Meteorological Administration （CMA）. Results showed that parallel implementation can greatly reduce computation time, and thus ensure high parallel efficiency. AOT derived by parallel algorithm was validated against measurements from ground-based sun-photometers; in all cases, the relative error range was within 20%, which demonstrated that the parallel algorithm was suitable for applications such as air quality monitoring and climate modeling.