Assessing PM2.5, Aerosol, and Aerosol Optical Depth Concentrations in Hefei Using Modis, Calipso, and Ground-Based Lidar.

Due to the complications in the measurement of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), this paper proposes a method using lidar for assessing PM2.5. By calculating the aerosol optical depth (AOD) for MODIS, CALIPSO, and ground-based lidar, the corrected PM2.5 was predicted. The results showed that AOD and PM2.5 had a linear relationship. The linear correlation coefficient between ground-based lidar AOD and PM2.5 was 0.81, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and mean deviation (MD) were 24.43 and 18.41, respectively. The linear correlation coefficient between CALIPSO AOD and PM2.5 was 0.8, and its RMSE and MD were 42.91 and 33.25, respectively. The linear correlation between AOD and PM2.5 for VIIRS was approximately 0.7. This paper provides more possibilities for lidar observation and prediction of the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]