Estimating daily PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ across the complex geo-climate region of Israel using MAIAC satellite-based AOD data

Estimates of exposure to PM_2.5 are often derived from geographic characteristics based on land-use regression or from a limited number of fixed ground monitors. Remote sensing advances have integrated these approaches with satellite-based measures of aerosol optical depth (AOD), which is spatially and temporally resolved, allowing greater coverage for PM_2.5 estimations. Israel is situated in a complex geo-climatic region with contrasting geographic and weather patterns, including both dark and bright surfaces within a relatively small area. Our goal was to examine the use of MODIS-based MAIAC data in Israel, and to explore the reliability of predicted PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ at a high spatiotemporal resolution. We applied a three stage process, including a daily calibration method based on a mixed effects model, to predict ground PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ over Israel. We later constructed daily predictions across Israel for 2003-2013 using spatial and temporal smoothing, to estimate AOD when satellite data were missing. Good model performance was achieved, with out-of-sample cross validation R² values of 0.79 and 0.72 for PM₁₀ and PM_2.5, respectively. Model predictions had little bias, with cross-validated slopes (predicted vs. observed) of 0.99 for both the PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ models. To our knowledge, this is the first study that utilizes high resolution 1 km MAIAC AOD retrievals for PM prediction while accounting for geo-climate complexities, such as experienced in Israel. This novel model allowed the reconstruction of long- and short-term spatially resolved exposure to PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ in Israel, which could be used in the future for epidemiological studies.