Analyzing the Contribution of Bare Soil Surfaces to Resuspended Particulate Matter in Urban Areas via Machine Learning
Source abstract
Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) pollution is high in most Bulgarian regions, especially large urban areas. In a previous study covering one year of data collection and analysis by source apportionment techniques such as positive matrix factorization we show that the main source of high PM10 (PM with a diameter of 10 μm or less) concentration in the city of Sofia is soil and road dust resuspension into the surface layer of the air. Resuspension has seasonal variations, with a relatively large impact (25%) associated with drying periods. In the present paper we combine classical indices (NDVI, BSI, NDMI) derived from Sentinel-2 imagery with meteorological and air quality data, as well as other related variables regarding yearly average traffic and inventory estimates, transportation infrastructure and demographic data, including motorized inhabitants and wood/coal stoves in use, by area. We apply statistical and machine learning methods to analyze the contribution of bare soil surfaces to the overall PM resuspension. Based on a series of stack ensemble meta-models with coefficient of determination R2≈0.9 we conclude that the contribution of bare soil surfaces to the overall PM10 resuspension is around 10% (between 5% and 15%), by our preliminary rough estimates.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Air Quality Monitoring and Forecasting · Air Quality and Health Impacts · Wind and Air Flow Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Mathematics, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, Faculty of Physics, Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Urban Planning, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
Health and Quality of Life in a Green and Sustainable Environment Research Group, Strategic Research and Innovation Program for the Development of the Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Environmental Health Division, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Department of Geodesy, National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
Department of Meteorology, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria
Funding
PRIDST · Bulgarian National Science Foundation
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