Applications of satellite remote sensing and GIS to urban air-quality monitoring: potential solutions and suggestions for the Cyprus area

Abstract

This urban air quality has traditionally been monitored with networks of ground monitoring stations and the use of models that evaluate emissions and predict changes in air quality at discrete points. The increasing availability of earth observing satellite systems together with advances in digital image processing techniques provide a new avenue to monitor urban air quality at a citywide and regional scale. Aerosol monitoring is an important parameter in air quality studies. Aerosol characteristics can be retrieved using satellite remotely sensed data using image-based techniques. This work is primarily based on an assessment conducted at the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the Cyprus University of Technology on the potential use of satellite data to monitor urban air quality in the Cities of Limassol and Nicosia in Cyprus. Sun-photometers have been used to validate our retrieved values of the aerosol optical thickness found from the satellite images (Landsat TM-5 data).