Air pollution is one of the main problems the world is facing nowadays. The air pollution level is measured by the amount of solid particles in the air: PM10 and PM2.5. Concentration of solid particles in air quality measurement stations all around the globe varies constantly. Locations of the measuring stations are concentrated usually in major cities and more developed countries.
An alternative to measurement stations on Earth are satellite measurements from space. NASA’s Terra Satellite is one of the satellites that are capable of continuously observing the Earth's atmosphere with the so-called MODIS sensor. It also gathers information about the aerosol optical density (AOD). The thesis deals with the potential of using these quantities in order to observe the pollution of air with PM10 particles. It focuses on Slovenia and a part of NW Italy. The thesis introduces a regression analysis between AOD and concentration of PM10 as measured on Earth. It deals with the question whether and to what extent it is reasonable to use a simple linear dependence between these two quantities for the assessment of air pollution.
The results of the applied calibration show that there is a weak correlation between AOD and the concentration of PM10 particles measured on the ground. It turns out that the use of a simple linear interdependence between AOD and the concentration of PM10 on Earth is relevant in the summer months where there is sufficient data available, but not in the winter. Hence, satellite data can serve as an excellent base for assessing air pollution, whereby it is necessary, especially in the winter months, to take into account other factors that influence the concentration of PM10 particles in the air.
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