The
complexity and dynamics of the environment make it extremely
difficult to directly predict and trace the temporal and spatial changes
in pollution. In the past decade, the unprecedented accumulation of
data, the development of high-performance computing power, and the
rise of diverse machine learning (ML) methods provide new opportunities
for environmental pollution research. The ML methodology has been
used in satellite data processing to obtain ground-level concentrations
of atmospheric pollutants, pollution source apportionment, and spatial
distribution modeling of water pollutants. However, unlike the active
practices of ML in chemical toxicity prediction, advanced algorithms
such as deep neural networks in environmental process studies of pollutants
are still deficient. In addition, over 40% of the environmental applications
of ML go to air pollution, and its application range and acceptance
in other aspects of environmental science remain to be increased.
The use of ML methods to revolutionize environmental science and its
problem-solving scenarios has its own challenges. Several issues should
be taken into consideration, such as the tradeoff between model performance
and interpretability, prerequisites of the machine learning model,
model selection, and data sharing.