Current PM2.5 retrieval maps have many missing values, which seriously hinders their performance in real applications. This paper presents a framework to map full-coverage daily average PM2.5 concentrations from MODIS C6 aerosol optical depth (AOD) products and fill missing pixels in both the AOD and PM2.5 maps. First, a two-stage inversed variance weights (IVW) algorithm was adopted to fuse the MODIS C6 Terra and Aqua AOD products, which fills missing data in MODIS standard AOD data and obtains a high coverage daily average. After that, using the fused MODIS daily average AOD and ground-level PM2.5 in all grid cells, a two-stage generalized additive model (GAM) was implemented to obtain the full-coverage PM2.5 concentrations. Experiments on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in 2013–2016 were carefully designed to validate the performance of our proposed framework. The results show that the two-stage IVW could not only improve the spatial coverage of MODIS AOD against the original standard product by 230%, but could also keep its data accuracy. When compared with the ground-level measurements, the two-stage GAM can obtain accurate PM2.5 concentration estimates (R2 = 0.78, RMSE = 19.177 μg/m3, and RPE = 28.9%). Moreover, our method performs better than the inverse distance weighted method and kriging methods in mapping full-coverage daily PM2.5 concentrations. Therefore, the proposed framework provides a good methodology for retrieving full-coverage daily average PM2.5 concentrations from MODIS standard AOD products.

The aerosol optical depth (AOD), retrieved by satellites, has been widely used to estimate ground-level PM2.5 mass concentrations, due to its advantage of large-scale spatial continuity. However, it is difficult to obtain urban-scale pollution patterns from the coarse resolution retrieval results (e.g., 1 km, 3 km, or 10 km) at present, and little research has been conducted on PM2.5 mass concentration retrieval from high resolution remote sensing data. In this study, a physical model is proposed based on Mie scattering theory to evaluate the PM2.5 mass concentrations by using Landsat8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) images. First, the Second Simulation of the Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) model (which can simulate the transmission process of solar radiation in the Earth-atmosphere system and calculate the radiance at the top of the atmosphere) is used to build a lookup table to retrieve the AOD of the coast and blue bands based on the improved deep blue (DB) method. Then, the Angstrom formula is used to obtain the AOD of the green and red bands. Second, the dry near-surface AOD of four bands (coast, blue, green, red) is obtained through vertical correction and humidity correction. Third, aerosol particles are divided into four types based on the standard radiation atmosphere (SRA) model, and the optical properties of different aerosol types are analyzed to derive the volume distribution of aerosol particles. Finally, the relationship between the dry near-surface AOD of each band and the volume distribution of four aerosol particles is correlated, based on Mie scattering theory, and a physical model is established between the AOD and PM2.5 mass concentrations. Then, the distribution of PM2.5 mass concentrations is obtained. The retrieval results show that the distribution of AOD and PM2.5 at the urban scale in detail. The AOD results show that a reasonable relationship with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.66 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.1037 between Landsat8 OLI AOD and MODO4 DB AOD at 550 nm. The PM2.5 retrieval results are compared with the PM2.5 values measured by ground monitoring stations. The RMSEs for a certain day in different years, including 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, are 11.9470 μg/m³, 11.9787 μg/m³, 7.4217 μg/m³, and 5.4723 μg/m³, respectively. The total RMSE is 10.0224 μg/m³. The ultrahigh resolution PM2.5 results can provide pollution details at the urban scale and support better decisions on urban atmospheric environmental governance.

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The Pearl River Delta in South China is subject to severe eutrophication, which is significantly exacerbated by the total nitrogen (TN). Remote sensing technology with large-scale synchronous observations in the Pearl River Delta can effectively monitor organic pollution. Statistical methods based on remote sensing images have been widely used in water quality parameter retrieval for inland rivers, reservoirs, and lakes, but have seldom been applied in the Pearl River Delta. TN is also a non-optically active substance, so it is difficult to retrieve TN through analysis methods. This study retrieves the concentration of total nitrogen (TN) based on Landsat8 images of the Pearl River Delta using a statistical method. The stepwise regression function is built by analyzing the TN concentration and the single-band, two-band, and three-band spectral information groups measured by an ASD FieldSpec3 spectrometer. The retrieval results show that the proposed method performs well with a small mean absolute error (MAE) (0.36 mg/L for TN) and high agreement (R2 = 0.61 for TN) between the in situ data and the retrieval concentration. The results demonstrate that the concentration of TN in the east of the Pearl River Delta was higher than in the west. Dachan Bay and Shenzhen Bay had the highest TN concentrations, which were around 3.02 mg/L and 3.67 mg/L. The 750–850 nm band could be an important reference for further exploring the spectral characteristics and retrieval of TN. The retrieval method in this study is easy to implement and convenient for local TN distribution capture, which can provide a timely reference for daily water quality supervision and management in the Pearl River Delta.

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