Estimating Air Pollution Levels Using GIS
Author Information
Author(s): Liao Duanping, Peuquet Donna J., Duan Yinkang, Whitsel Eric A., Dou Jianwei, Smith Richard L., Lin Hung-Mo, Chen Jiu-Chiuan, Heiss Gerardo
Primary Institution: Pennsylvania State University and University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
Hypothesis
Can large-scale kriging estimations effectively estimate daily residential-level ambient PM concentrations?
Conclusion
The study found that lognormal ordinary kriging is a valid method for estimating daily ambient PM concentrations at residential addresses.
Supporting Evidence
- Spatial estimations are increasingly used to estimate geocoded ambient PM concentrations.
- Lognormal ordinary kriging effectively eliminated out-of-range predicted values compared to regular ordinary kriging.
- National- and regional-scale kriging performed satisfactorily, with the former slightly better.
Takeaway
This study shows how scientists can use computer programs to guess how much air pollution is around people's homes, even when there aren't many pollution monitors nearby.
Methodology
The study used kriging methods to estimate PM concentrations at 94,135 geocoded addresses based on data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Potential Biases
The study acknowledges that the estimations provide only surrogates of true exposure levels.
Limitations
The accuracy of the estimations depends on the quality of the measured data and their spatial correlation.
Participant Demographics
Participants were from the Women's Health Initiative, primarily post-menopausal women aged 50-79.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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