近來的研究指出，空氣汙染對於環境以及人體健康造成了顯著的影響。PM2.5是一個直徑小於2.5 µm 的微小顆粒，因為 PM2.5的粒徑很小，所以散佈在空氣中很容易被人體所吸收，並造成呼吸系統上的疾病。為了解PM2.5 對於人體健康最的重要性，很多地區的地面站開始架設儀器來測量PM2.5，本研究使用了NASA的 MODIS衛星資料，因為它具有高覆蓋率及高空間解析度的優點，所以用來推估 PM2.5是個不錯的選擇。在本篇研究中，PM2.5是基於MODIS L2 AOD反演產品的關係所估而得，並使用統計方式去分析台灣各個城市的過敏性鼻炎患者與MODIS所推估的PM2.5兩者間的關係。我們初步的結果顯示，在MODIS AOD與地面站的量測到的PM2.5間，其相關係數為0.4。此研究也指出了，在春秋兩季，特定年齡族群的過敏性鼻炎患者跟 PM2.5有一個顯著的正相關，本篇的重點在於衛星的觀測對於空氣汙染的高潛在地區提供了有用的資訊，尋找高汙染地區有益於為呼吸疾病的患者做出一些保護性的預防工作，在未來，其他可能造成呼吸疾病的環境因素也能以類似方式做一個很好的評估;Air pollution has significant impacts on the environment and human health. Recent studies have been focusing on analyzing the separate impacts of each air pollutants to effectively mitigate the potential air pollution related health risks. Fine particles, with diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), are one of the pollutants attract a lot of interest in current researches. The PM2.5 particles are very small in size, therefore they remain suspended in the air and easily gets into human body through inhalation, and consequently cause respiratory diseases to humans. To understand the importance of PM2.5 to human health, many ground stations have been established in some regions to measure PM2.5 concentration. However, existing sparse in situ systems may limit their capability to observe detailed PM2.5 concentration and distribution at regional scale. Hence, using NASA’s spaceborne MODIS data, which has the advantages of a wide coverage and high spatial resolution, is seen as one of the optimal choices to derive PM2.5 concentration. In this study, PM2.5 is estimated based on its relationship with the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), the Level-2 product derived from space-borne MODIS observation. The correlation between the MODIS-estimated PM2.5 and the statistical allergic rhinitis patients from various cities in Taiwan was analysed by using statistical methods. Our preliminary result suggests a relationship between MODIS AOD and ground-based PM2.5 with a correlation coefficient of about 0.692. This model could explain up to 78.3% training samples within one standard deviation margin. This research also pointed out the positive impacts of PM2.5 to allergic rhinitis patient in adults (aged 18-65) and preschoolers/teenagers (aged 3-18) groups and as well as the significant positive correlation particular in both spring and fall. The key finding is that satellite observations and data may provide valuable information to imply the potential risk regions. The addressing of the health risk region could be useful for affected people to find their way to protect themselves from the unexpected impacts from air pollutants. In future, the additional environmental factors, which might be other causes of respiratory diseases, will be considered for better assessment.
