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Seasonal AOD trend over Ghana from both Aqua (upper panel) and Terra (lower panel) retrievals. Dry Season (December to February, DJF), Premonsoon (March to May, MAM), Monsoon (June to August, JJA) and Post-monsoon (September to November, SON).
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Although air pollution in Ghana is ranked number one in environmental health threats to public health and sixth to cause of deaths, routine monitoring is rare. This paper presents fourteen years (2005-2018) assessment of aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 3 km resolution from MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites to ascertain the Spatio-temporal and seasonal...
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Context 1
... these seasons, the dry and monsoon periods are the two contrasting seasons, while pre-monsoon and post-monsoon are transition seasons. Figure 3 shows the seasonal climatological AOD maps for Aqua (upper panel) and Terra (lower panel) over Ghana with corresponding values displayed in Table 1 . It can be observed here that, similar seasonal AOD patterns were observed by both Aqua and Terra during the pre and post monsoon season. ...
Context 2
... Fig. 3 , it can be observed that, with the exception of the dry season (where "rainy" clouds hardly form), all the maps for the other seasons have some white patches. These white patches are places where the MODIS DT retrieval algorithm "breaks down". The "near" impossible or no retrieval situation observed especially over the western ...
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especially PM2.5 mass concentration is one of big problems in Ho Chi Minh City in recent years. This study focuses on deriving a linear regression model based on a relationship between ground-level PM2.5 mass concentration measurements and satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) values. The PM2.5 measurements were collected from 25 gro...
Citations
... This system was functioning effectively in 2006. It also facilitates the different trajectory formations using different meteorology across the globe having a minimum spatial resolution of 0.25° (Fosu-Amankwah et al. 2021). In the present study, HYSPLIT back trajectories and wind rose plots were employed to identify the possible source location of aerosols entering the study area (Khan et al. 2023;Aladodo et al. 2022). ...
Aerosol is a key component in the climate system. Limited ground monitoring stations impede the acquisition of spatial and temporal aerosol concentration data. However, Remote sensing can provide wider coverage and real-time data, compensating for ground coverage constraints. In the present study, the spatial and temporal variation of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) was analyzed for the Indian cities having significantly different meteorology and geographical conditions like Jaipur and Pune for the years 2020 and 2021 using the Multi-Angle Implementation of the Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm. The seasonal mean AOT in winter, pre-monsoon, and post-monsoon are recorded as 0.56, 0.62, and 0.89, respectively, over the entire Jaipur district. However, it was recorded as 0.76, 0.62, and 0.52, respectively, over the entire Pune district. Results of the seasonal analysis indicate that Jaipur and Pune experience high loads of aerosol during post-monsoon and winter, respectively. In this context, the back trajectory, developed through the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, revealed that Jaipur experiences air masses and emissions from the northern region of India during the post-monsoon. However, Pune encounters air masses from the eastern region of India in winter. The mean Angstrom exponent values at Jaipur and Pune aid in understanding the size and type of aerosol. Jaipur and Pune experience biomass burning aerosol and mixed aerosols to a greater extent, respectively. The performance of MAIAC-derived AOT was assessed using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun-photometers derived AOT at Jaipur and Pune with coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.88 and 0.71 and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) values of 0.1338 and 0.1869, respectively.
... MODIS stands out, utilizing Aqua and Terra satellites. Its widespread adoption is owed to its impressive characteristics: a wide swath width covering 2330 kilometers and near-global coverage every 1 to 2 days (Fosu-Amankwah et al., 2021). MODIS aerosol retrievals rely on three main algorithms: Dark Target (DT), Deep Blue (DB), and the combined Dark Target and Deep Blue (DTB) algorithms. ...
... Agriculture, particularly among young adults, plays a vital role in the economy (Ghana Statistical Service, 2014), with activities like biomass burning contributing to aerosol levels. Additionally, urban areas in Ghana are the major hub for economic activities and substantial emissions from industries, transportation, construction, petroleum extraction, and mining, further impacting aerosol concentrations (Fosu-Amankwah et al., 2021). This study aims to explore these aerosol dynamics in Ghana's evolving environmental landscape, offering valuable insights for scientific research. ...
... This air mass includes emissions such as soot from wood fires, frequently used for domestic and commercial food preparation in the region, as well as exhaust emissions from older vehicles. These aerosol particles may have been retained within the stable nighttime and morning atmospheric conditions (Fosu-Amankwah et al., 2021). ...
In the field of environmental health, assessing air pollution exposure has historically posed challenges, primarily due to sparse ground observation networks. To overcome this limitation, satellite remote sensing of aerosols provides a valuable tool for monitoring air quality and estimating particulate matter concentration (PM) at the surface. In this study, we employ two predictive models to estimate Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) levels over Ghana and selected localities from January 2003 to December 2019. Our investigation focuses on evaluating the capabilities of multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models in predicting AOD levels. Additionally, we introduce a novel approach to constructing the MLR model by leveraging the ANN architecture. These models utilize meteorological variables as input, to facilitate accurate predictions. Despite Ghana's alarming air pollution health ranking and its substantial role in mortality, routine monitoring remains sparse. This research contributes a comprehensive sixteen-year assessment (2003-2019) of AOD at a 3 km resolution, obtained from MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites. The findings indicate that the southwestern part of the country displays elevated aerosol levels compared to other major cities. This phenomenon can be attributed to biogenic emissions, given the region's dense vegetation. Additionally , many small cities within this area are recognized as hotspots for surface mining operations, potentially contributing to increased local dust loadings in the atmosphere. Notably , the MLR model, implemented using the ANN model structure, outperformed the other utilized models. This endeavor aims to unravel the spatiotemporal distribution patterns of aerosols across Ghana, and its major urban hubs.
... Moreover, aerosols, as cloud condensation nuclei, directly influence the formation and microphysical characteristics of clouds, such as cloud albedo, which can further induce changes in weather and climate [2,4,7,8]. Heavy aerosol loadings can cause air pollution, reduce visibility, and increase the risk of respiratory diseases in humans [2,[9][10][11][12][13]. ...
China has experienced rapid economic growth and serious control of aerosol emissions in the past decade. Thus, the spatiotemporal variations and driving factors of aerosol optical depth (AOD) are urgently needed to evaluate the effectiveness of aerosol control activities. The innovation of this study is a detailed spatial and temporal analysis of aerosol pollution in eight major regions of China from 2010 to 2020 using the MERRA-2 AOD reanalysis product and the driving mechanism based on the Granger causality test, sensitivity, and contribution analysis. The results show that the spatial distribution of AOD varied across the areas. Divided by the Hu Line, the AOD values of the Eastern areas were significantly higher than those of the Western areas. The temporal trend in the last eleven years was dominated by a continuous decline and moderate fluctuations at both annual and seasonal scales. The relationship between socioeconomic factors and AOD drivers was more significant in economically developed regions, suggesting that China pays more attention to haze control while developing its economy. The driving relationship between AOD and temperature was weak, while wind speed and relative humidity were more influential. For vegetation factors, Granger effects were mainly observed in the Northeast, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Guangdong, Central China, and Southwest regions. In the Guangdong and Southwest regions, vegetation and economic factors were the more influential drivers. This study provides a scientific basis for the detection of aerosol changes, driving mechanisms and pollution management in China.
The high level of chemical compounds in the atmosphere of many West African cities is worrying because of the potential threats to human health and other environmental problems they are known for. However, routine monitoring and adequate control measures are rare due to technical, social and economic problems. This paper analyzed the health and visibility effects of aerosol optical depth chemical species within some West African cities from (2010–2020) using the aerosol optical depth data set obtained from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF-UK). The results of the analysis showed that the visual range of the study cities ranged from 4600 to 5600 km, while the potentials of human health effects TPHhe existing in the cities are between 0.9 and 1.2 signifying low visibility and high potential threats to human health. There exist several weak and also inverse correlations between the variability of the aerosol optical depth chemical species in the study cities with a coefficient of determination ranging from 0.01 to 0.98. This implies that aerosol loads are not uniformly distributed across cities and also come from a plethora of sources across cities. The variability of aerosol optical depth chemical species in the West African cities presented is useful in evaluating and improving the accuracy of the models for aerosol prediction in the region and can assist in the easy determination of aerosol effects in the atmosphere. The total chemical composition of aerosol loads was gauged with acceptable standards limit set by Environmental Protection Agencies to determine the health effects on humans and the results are useful not only in measuring the health implication but also in evaluating safety measures to tackle the effects, while the identified poor visibility in the cities is a clear call for policymakers to step up regulation and design action to tackle the menace of visibility reduction in these cities.
