Mapping Atmospheric Particulate Matter and Toxics Concentrations and Health Risks Using 1 Km Satellite Data.

Governmental agencies have been measuring atmospheric particulate matter (PM) and toxics using point samplers. However, these point data cannot provide accurate spatial information for other locations.  Therefore, they cannot be spatially interpolated to estimate health risks. In addition to supporting environmental health programs, dense spatial data can aid in deploying point sensors to critical locations (e.g., high pollution areas).  The spatial data will also benefit other related researchers. However, there is no accurate data available with a high spatial resolution in many states.  An online tool was created for producing daily (around noon-time, which is the satellite passing time) PM and toxics spatial distributions and health risks maps. Real-time and historical satellite data with 1 Km resolution is automatically downloaded and processed to output spatial PM data. Historical and current ground PM data from Air Quality System (AQS) Database at EPA has been used to calibrate and validate the satellite PM and toxics data. The internet site has a user-friendly interface that can let a user choose dates and locations of interest on GoogleMap and output the pollutants' maps on GoogleEarth.