Revisiting the Promised Land: Progress Since 2009 in Predicting PM2.5 at the Surface from Aerosol Optical Depth Columns

Abstract:

In 2009, the Air and Waste Management Association invited their annual critical review on the topic of measurement of surface particulate air pollution from satellites (Hoff and Christopher, 2009). At that time, over thirty publications had addressed the relationship between aerosol optical depth measured from satellites and the emissions, transport, and exposure at the surface from man-made haze, dust, and smoke. I will revisit the conclusions reached in that critical review, which we subtitled "Have we reached the promised land". Five years later and dozens of subsequent publications later on this topic, have we really advanced the state of the science in relating optical properties to surface measurements or are we just generating more data? The VIIRS imager and the upcoming GOES-R imager have the potential to provide higher spatial and temporal observations of aerosol optical depth from space. But to address the need for quantitatively improving estimates of exposure at the surface, is this enough or do we need to combine observing systems to address the real physics of the problem?

Hoff, R. M. and S. A. Christopher, 2009. The 34^th AWMA Critical Review: Remote Sensing of Particulate Pollution from Space: Have We Reached the Promised Land? J. Air & Waste Manage. Assoc. 59, 645–675, DOI:10.3155/1047-3289.59.6.645.