Using Satellite Data for Environmental Justice Efforts in California

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Air quality management is increasingly focused not only on across-the-board reductions in ambient pollution concentrations, but also on identifying and remediating elevated exposures that often occur in traditionally disadvantaged communities. Remote sensing of ambient air pollution using data derived from satellites has the potential to better inform management decisions that address environmental disparities by providing increased spatial coverage, at high spatial resolutions, compared to air pollution exposure estimates based on ground monitors alone. METHODS: Daily PM₂.₅ estimates for 2015-2018 were estimated at a 1 km² resolution, derived from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument and the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm, and compared to federal ground monitors in order to assess the utility of highly-refined spatiotemporal air pollution data in the 13 communities included in the California Community Air Protection Program. RESULTS:Results suggest that regulatory monitoring networks are unable to identify pollution hotspots within these communities without the addition of high-resolution satellite data. However, day-to-day temporal variability is generally well represented by nearby ground-based monitoring data even in communities with strong spatial gradients in pollutant concentrations. CONCLUSIONS:These findings can help inform strategies for use of remote sensing data in environmental justice efforts including the screening of locations with air pollution exposures that are not well-represented by existing ground-based air pollution monitors. KEYWORDS: Air Pollution, Environmental Disparities, Environmental Justice, Exposure Assessment, Particulate Matter