Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?

Outdoor air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide, the majority of which are caused by exposure to fine particulate matter (or PM2.5) air pollution. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Reducing PM2.5 air pollution is thus crucial for imp...

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Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Book
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:	PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION POLLUTION CONTROL MORTALITY SATELLITE IMAGERY MONITORING STATION
Online Access:	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/445131641786854437/getting-down-to-earth-are-satellites-reliable-for-measuring-air-pollutants-that-cause-mortality-in-low-and-middle-income-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36804

id	okr-10986-36804
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-368042022-01-10T15:57:55Z Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? World Bank PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION POLLUTION CONTROL MORTALITY SATELLITE IMAGERY MONITORING STATION Outdoor air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide, the majority of which are caused by exposure to fine particulate matter (or PM2.5) air pollution. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Reducing PM2.5 air pollution is thus crucial for improving public-health outcomes in those countries. Measuring and reducing the health impacts of PM2.5 is especially challenging in many LMICs because ground-level air-quality monitoring networks are typically nonexistent. Where they are in place, they are often not properly operated and maintained and are thus unreliable. Limited local expertise in air-quality measurement presents additional challenges. These shortcomings can undermine a country’s ability to design and implement effective policies to improve outdoor air quality. Satellite technology has been used successfully for measuring air quality in high-income countries where operation of ground-level air-quality monitoring networks is well established. However, Getting Down to Earth: Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? investigates the performance of satellites in LMICs for predicting outdoor concentrations of PM2.5, based on case studies in nine cities in different regions representing a range of environmental conditions (including mountainous, dusty, and coastal). The report finds that the satellite-derived estimates of PM2.5 in LMICs are associated with very large uncertainty, ranging from 21 percent to 85 percent depending on the model used for translating satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth—the parameter measured by satellites—to surface-level outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. This report shows that satellites are unreliable for estimating ambient concentrations of PM2.5 in LMICs. Furthermore, satellite-derived measurements cannot replace properly operated and maintained ground-level monitoring networks for measuring the concentrations of PM2.5 that human beings are typically exposed to daily. Thus, it is important that LMICs strengthen support for the establishment of ground-level monitoring networks to measure air pollutants, notably PM2.5, that cause mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with LMICs. 2022-01-07T16:59:56Z 2022-01-07T16:59:56Z 2022-01-07 Book https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/445131641786854437/getting-down-to-earth-are-satellites-reliable-for-measuring-air-pollutants-that-cause-mortality-in-low-and-middle-income-countries 978-1-4648-1727-4 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36804 International Development in Focus; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Publication
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION POLLUTION CONTROL MORTALITY SATELLITE IMAGERY MONITORING STATION
spellingShingle	PARTICULATE MATTER AIR POLLUTION POLLUTION CONTROL MORTALITY SATELLITE IMAGERY MONITORING STATION World Bank Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
relation	International Development in Focus;
description	Outdoor air pollution accounts for an estimated 4.2 million deaths worldwide, the majority of which are caused by exposure to fine particulate matter (or PM2.5) air pollution. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Reducing PM2.5 air pollution is thus crucial for improving public-health outcomes in those countries. Measuring and reducing the health impacts of PM2.5 is especially challenging in many LMICs because ground-level air-quality monitoring networks are typically nonexistent. Where they are in place, they are often not properly operated and maintained and are thus unreliable. Limited local expertise in air-quality measurement presents additional challenges. These shortcomings can undermine a country’s ability to design and implement effective policies to improve outdoor air quality. Satellite technology has been used successfully for measuring air quality in high-income countries where operation of ground-level air-quality monitoring networks is well established. However, Getting Down to Earth: Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? investigates the performance of satellites in LMICs for predicting outdoor concentrations of PM2.5, based on case studies in nine cities in different regions representing a range of environmental conditions (including mountainous, dusty, and coastal). The report finds that the satellite-derived estimates of PM2.5 in LMICs are associated with very large uncertainty, ranging from 21 percent to 85 percent depending on the model used for translating satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth—the parameter measured by satellites—to surface-level outdoor PM2.5 concentrations. This report shows that satellites are unreliable for estimating ambient concentrations of PM2.5 in LMICs. Furthermore, satellite-derived measurements cannot replace properly operated and maintained ground-level monitoring networks for measuring the concentrations of PM2.5 that human beings are typically exposed to daily. Thus, it is important that LMICs strengthen support for the establishment of ground-level monitoring networks to measure air pollutants, notably PM2.5, that cause mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with LMICs.
format	Book
author	World Bank
author_facet	World Bank
author_sort	World Bank
title	Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
title_short	Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
title_full	Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
title_fullStr	Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
title_full_unstemmed	Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?
title_sort	getting down to earth : are satellites reliable for measuring air pollutants that cause mortality in low- and middle-income countries?
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2022
url	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/445131641786854437/getting-down-to-earth-are-satellites-reliable-for-measuring-air-pollutants-that-cause-mortality-in-low-and-middle-income-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36804
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Getting Down to Earth : Are Satellites Reliable for Measuring Air Pollutants That Cause Mortality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries?

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