Regional Estimates of Chemical Composition of Fine Particulate Matter Using a Combined Geoscience-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites, Models, and Monitors: V4.NA.02.MAPLE

We estimate ground-level fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) total and compositional mass concentrations over North America by combining Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrievals from the NASA MODIS, MISR, and SeaWIFS instruments with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model, and subsequently calibrated to regional ground-based observations of both total and compositional mass using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) as detailed in the provided reference for V4.NA.02. V4.NA.02.MAPLE further modified the V4.NA.02 GWR method with additional developments as part of the MAPLE (Mortality–Air Pollution Associations in Low-Exposure Environments) project. This adjustment was of particular value over low concentrations. The GWR method of individual components remains unchanged from V4.NA.02, but are provided are percentages to ensure mass closure and recommended to be applied to the V4.NA.02.MAPLE total PM_2.5.

Annual datasets are provided in NetCDF [.nc]. Gridded files use the WGS84 projection. Compositional estimates are provided for sulfate (SO4), nitrate (NO3), ammonium (NH4), organic matter (OM), black carbon (BC), mineral dust (DUST), and sea-salt (SS). Percentages are denoted with a ‘p’ after component identifiers within filenames.  A slight change in file name has been included for 2017, corresponding to minor internal changes compared to earlier years. Overall, however, the dataset is consistent throughout its entire time period and can be appropriately used for trend analysis.

Reference:
van Donkelaar, A., R. V. Martin, et al. (2019). Regional Estimates of Chemical Composition of Fine Particulate Matter using a Combined Geoscience-Statistical Method with Information from Satellites, Models, and Monitors. Environmental Science & Technology, 2019, doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b06392.