PROGRESS REPORT ON

IMPLEMENTING
METHODOLOGY BASED ON
LITERATURE RESEARCHED
LITERATURE CHOSEN

• Assessment of aerosol optical properties using remote sensing over highly urbanised
twin cities of Pakistan
• Authored by Muhammad Awais, Muhammad I. Shahzad, Majid Nazeer, Irfan Mahmood, Shahid
Mehmood, Muhammad Farooq Iqbal, Nighat Yasmin, Imran Shahid
• Other miscellaneous methods in processing aerosol optical depth and PM 2.5 data
information using remote sensing methods
IMPLEMENTING THEIR METHODOLOGY

• The researchers of this paper utilized a complicated algorithm that extracted AOD data
from Level 2 Aerosol products (MOD04)
• Algorithm was taken from the journal article “The MODIS aerosol algorithm, products, and
validation” by Remer et. al.
• The algorithm in the article by Remer et. al. is composed of two separate algorithms: one that
captures AOD in land and AOD in oceans.
DOWNLOADING MODIS DATA

• MODIS data was taken from LAADS DAAC website

• Similar to the methodology implemented by Awais et. al., MODIS Level 2 Aerosol
product was used. (MOD04_3K and MOD04_L2)
• Dates chosen are single dates
• Dates are chosen based on cloud coverage
• Cloud coverage is determined by checking on Landsat8 data

• Area of interest: any area in the Philippines

INITIAL PROCESSING OF MODIS DATA

• MODIS Data downloaded uses “.hdf” extension.

• Cannot be directly opened in ENVI
• Instead has to be converted to “.hdr” file format using “MODIS Conversion Tool
Kit”(MCTK) extension for ENVI 5.2.
• MCTK downloaded from github
• MCTK also features direct reprojection of MODIS’ original sinusoidal projection into other
projections of choice. E.g. Geog Lat/Lon (WGS84), UTM, PTM
PROCESSING OF MODIS DATA

• MODIS data was new to the intern so there was difficulty in interpreting data and the
information on the bands
• Pre-existing AOT data exists in the processed MODIS dataset however it does not
cover the entire tile set.
• Additional research was done and other materials and literature was used in support of
the target literature’s aim.
SUPPORTING LITERATURE

• An online workshop, courtesy of the Indian Institute of Tropical Metereology, Ministry of

Earth Sciences, containing lectures and laboratory exercises was found on NASA-ARSET.
• These materials mainly focus remote sensing of air quality and mainly utilizes MODIS as
satellite data.
• It conveniently has exercises in relation to aerosol data and deriving PM 2.5 data from
AOT in MODIS data.
EXTRACTING AOT

• Exercises provided by the online lecturers also features Giovanni-4

• The Giovanni-4 is similar to ClimateEngine since it uses a sort of automated data
computing on another computer (cloud computing essentially)
• The automated processing could provide supporting information as to how AOT map
outputs should look like if done manually using MODIS data and ENVI
ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE

• Exercises on how to convert AOT to PM2.5 is also present as an exercise

• However, the researcher still has yet to fully grasp some of the concepts so more time is
required.
RECENT DISCOVERY

● Python codes and exercises found on the NASA-ARSET website were reliable since
said codes could extract AOD data and derive PM 2.5 data using said AOD data
● Additionally, raw PM 2.5 data for regression analysis was taken from
https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
○ Most open source air quality monitoring data is based in the US
○ Not much open source data here in the Philippines
● Code has to be run through Python ANACONDA command prompt rather than base
Python.
OUTDOOR AIR QUALITY DATA WEBSITE
AIR QUALITY DATA
ANACONDA PYTHON INTERFACE
GENERAL FORMAT FOR PM 2.5 DERIVATION
AOD DATA PER COORDINATE

● Python code also outputs aerosol optical depth per latitude and longitude of the
MODIS .hdf file
● However, not all latitude and longitude have corresponding AOD values (-99999
values are those without data)
● Useful for simple regression analysis by matching latitude and longitude of AOD vs PM
2.5.
○ PM 2.5 ground truth data however is measured in daily mean
SAMPLE OUTPUT (AOD MAP)

● Area of interest chosen is somewhere near the Davao region.

● Code automatically outputs aerosol optical depth map
● No need for manual processing
SAMPLE OUTPUT (PM 2.5 MAP)

● Same as AOD map, chosen area was Davao Area

● Air quality index was based on the standards prescribed by the US Environmental
Protection Agency
LIMITATIONS WITH METHOD

● Ground truth data in the Philippines that is open source is either very difficult to
obtain or does not exist at all.
● Due to the poor spatial resolution of MODIS, it is not recommended for small scale
area use since the poor resolution may not reflect an entire area accurately
○ Best used for more regional scale PM 2.5 mapping
● Matching latitude and longitude for regression may be time consuming however a
custom VBA may alleviate this.
● No ground truth data for AOD was used for verification of satellite AOD data.