Chapter 44
Distinguishing Between Remote
and Local Air Pollution Over Taiwan:
An Approach Based on Pollution
Homogeneity Analysis
Pavel Kishcha, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Neng-Huei Lin, Arlindo da Silva,
Tang-Huang Lin, Po-Hsiung Lin, Gin-Rong Liu, Boris Starobinets
and Pinhas Alpert
Abstract An analysis of pollution homogeneity has been conducted to distinguish
between remote and local pollution which contributes to month to month changes in
aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the Taiwan area. This was carried out using both
AERONET measurements at six monitoring sites in Taiwan and NASA MERRA-2
reanalysis, over the 15-year period from 2002 to 2017. As a measure of air pollution
homogeneity we used the AOD standard deviation: the more homogeneous the spatial
distribution of air pollution, the lower the AOD standard deviation is. Using this
approach, we found that, over Taiwan, in autumn, inhomogeneous local air pollution
is predominant, while, in spring, homogeneous remote air pollution from southeast Asia dominates. In autumn, when inhomogeneous aerosols from local sources
dominate, the AOD standard deviation is essentially higher than that in spring, when
homogeneous aerosols from remote sources dominate. Our approach allowed us
to distinguish between homogeneous remote and inhomogeneous local sulfate air
pollution of similar optical properties and chemical composition.
P. Kishcha (B) · B. Starobinets · P. Alpert
Department of Geophysics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
e-mail: pavel@cyclone.tau.ac.il
S.-H. Wang · N.-H. Lin · T.-H. Lin · G.-R. Liu
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
A. da Silva
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
P.-H. Lin
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_44
279
Distinguishing Between Remote
and Local Air Pollution Over Taiwan:
An Approach Based on Pollution
Homogeneity Analysis
Pavel Kishcha, Sheng-Hsiang Wang, Neng-Huei Lin, Arlindo da Silva,
Tang-Huang Lin, Po-Hsiung Lin, Gin-Rong Liu, Boris Starobinets
and Pinhas Alpert
Abstract An analysis of pollution homogeneity has been conducted to distinguish
between remote and local pollution which contributes to month to month changes in
aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the Taiwan area. This was carried out using both
AERONET measurements at six monitoring sites in Taiwan and NASA MERRA-2
reanalysis, over the 15-year period from 2002 to 2017. As a measure of air pollution
homogeneity we used the AOD standard deviation: the more homogeneous the spatial
distribution of air pollution, the lower the AOD standard deviation is. Using this
approach, we found that, over Taiwan, in autumn, inhomogeneous local air pollution
is predominant, while, in spring, homogeneous remote air pollution from southeast Asia dominates. In autumn, when inhomogeneous aerosols from local sources
dominate, the AOD standard deviation is essentially higher than that in spring, when
homogeneous aerosols from remote sources dominate. Our approach allowed us
to distinguish between homogeneous remote and inhomogeneous local sulfate air
pollution of similar optical properties and chemical composition.
P. Kishcha (B) · B. Starobinets · P. Alpert
Department of Geophysics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
e-mail: pavel@cyclone.tau.ac.il
S.-H. Wang · N.-H. Lin · T.-H. Lin · G.-R. Liu
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
A. da Silva
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
P.-H. Lin
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
C. Mensink et al. (eds.), Air Pollution Modeling and its Application XXVI,
Springer Proceedings in Complexity,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22055-6_44
279