March 27, 2020

Francisco, Timothy Joshua F.

Thesis Advisers: Dr. Ariel Blanco; Engr. Roseanne Ramos
Thesis Progress Report
“Spatio-Temporal Analysis of The Effect of Urban Heat Islands on Aerosol and Particulate Matter
Concentration In Quezon City Using Landsat Data”

The Las Pinas station, with its 11 observations, seems to have an equal length for both its lower and
upper quartile values. Additionally, the Las Pinas station can be dependable for making predictions
since the observed PM10 concentrations seems to vary much less compared to some stations (not
all stations as seen by the Mandaluyong station (colored gray).

There is a noticeable gap among the highest observed PM concentration of the Taguig station
compared to all other monitoring stations with Taguig having the highest observed PM
concentration at roughly 375 ug/m3 as well as having a higher uncertainty to its upper quartile of
observations as compared to its lower end. In short, the Taguig station tends to vary more than any
other station (for its upper quartile) and thus should make predictions less dependable

Like the Las Pinas station, the Mandaluyong station seems to be reliable for making predictions with
its more consistent values and smaller box plots especially when comparing it to other stations.

The Muntinlupa station may not be reliable since there were only 2 PM10 stations made. This can be
attributed to a limitation on the researcher’s end since the DENR-EMB only provided a few
observations for Muntinlupa station that isn’t null.

Pasig smaller and less varying box and whisker plot shows that it too is also reliable for making
predictions with its lower quartile to upper quartile values ranging from roughly 50 to 70 values.

Navotas station’s larger gap may indicate less reliability for making predictions compared to Pasig,
Las Pinas and Mandaluyong stations although it is good to note that its upper quartile seems to have
less variations as compared to its lower quartile.

San Juan Station too can also be reliable for making future predictions due to its more consistent
values observed as well the smaller box and whisker plot.

Paranaque and North Caloocan station seems to have similar observed highest and lowest PM10
concentration values that are not outliers with the highest being on the roughly 100 ug/m3 values
and the lowest somewhere in the 20 to 30 ug/m3 values. Due note however that Paranaque station
has a large outlier value at the 150 ug/m3 value nevertheless, Paranaque stations seems to be a bit
more reliable for making predictions with its slightly smaller box and whisker plot as compared to
the North Caloocan station.

There is also a similar observation with stations Pateros and UE Caloocan with the highest PM10
concentration value at the +125 ug/m3 and the lowest PM10 concentration value at the 20-30
ug/m3 values. Pateros station seems to vary more on its lower quartile compared to its upper
quartile while the opposite case happens for the UE Caloocan Station wherein the upper quartile
seems to vary much more and thus less reliable. It should be noted however that UE Caloocan
station has less observations compared to Pateros and could have contributed to its uncertainty.
Pasay station seems to exhibit a similar lowest observed PM10 concentration value with that of San
Juan Station however the similarities end there. Pasay station seems to have a lower uncertainty on
its lower quartile compared to its upper quartile as observed by the larger box and whisker.

Malabon station may be unreliable due to having only as much as 3 observations due to lack of data
on the DENR-EMB’s part. This is more so with Makati station having only 1 observation.

Marikina station seems to be slightly more reliable towards its upper quartile observations versus its
lower quartile observations.

Conclusion:

Although there are some stations with observations that would make predictions unreliable, the
majority of stations can be used for PM10 concentration prediction and derivation from its AOT
values. Only 1 station was observed to have a large outlier while other stations exhibited
unreliability due to lack of additional observations. Based on the previously submitted thesis
progress report dated 6-21-2020, the very poor PM10 vs AOT line fitting could be attributed to the
actual AOT retrieval algorithm due to (1) simplification of certain steps, (2) cloud and haze that were
present in the images used for processing and thus has adversely affected the AOT retrieval process,
and (3) varying meteorological conditions such as rain, cloudy days, etc.