The correlation of MODIS-derived PM2.5 and epidemiological diseases in Taiwan

Air pollution has significant impacts on the environment and human health. Recent studies are focusing on the analyzing separate impacts of each air pollutants to effectively mitigate the potential air pollution related health risks. Fine particles, the size of which is less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5), is one of the ingredients to attract a lot of interest in current researches. The PM2.5 particles are very small in size, for it remains suspended in the air and easily gets into the human body through inhalation, and consequently causes respiratory diseases to humans. Understanding the importance of PM2.5 to human health, many ground stations have been established in some regions to measure PM2.5 concentration. However, existing sparse in situ systems may limit their capability to observe detailed PM2.5 distribution at regional scale. Hence, using NASA's spaceborne MODIS data, which has the advantages of a wide coverage and high temporal resolution, is seen as one of the optimal choices to derive PM2.5 concentration. In this study, PM2.5 is estimated based on its relationship with the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from space-borne MODIS Level-2 products. Then the correlation between the MODIS-derived PM2.5 and the statistical allergic rhinitis patients from various cities in Taiwan was analyzed. The preliminary result suggests obtained the positive correlation between satellite-derived PM2.5 and epidemiological diseases. Moreover, the satellite observation and data may provide valuable information to imply the potential risk regions. The addressing of the risk regions could be useful for affected people to find their way to protect themselves from the unexpected impacts from air pollutants.