Assessment of human health impact from PM 10 exposure in China based on satellite observations

Abstract

Assessment of human health impact from the exposure to PM10 air pollution is crucial for evaluating environmental damage. We established an empirical model to estimate ground PM10 mass concentration from satellite-derived aerosol optical depth and adopted the dose-response model to evaluate the annual average human health risks and losses related to PM10 exposure over China from 2010 to 2014. Unlike the traditional human health assessment methods, which relied on the in situPM10 concentration measurements and statistical population data issued by administrative district, the approach proposed in this study obtained the spatial distribution of human health risks in China by analyzing the distribution of PM10 concentration estimated from satellite observations and population distribution based on the relationship to the spatial distribution of land-use type. It was found that the long-term satellite observations have advantages over the ground-based observations in estimating human health impact from PM10 exposure.