Exploring Spatial Influence of Remotely Sensed PM_2.5 Concentration Using a Developed Deep Convolutional Neural Network Model

• Main Authors: Junming Li, Meijun Jin, Honglin Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-02-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: spatial influence; PM_2.5 pollution; deep convolutional network; remote sensing
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/454

Currently, more and more remotely sensed data are being accumulated, and the spatial analysis methods for remotely sensed data, especially big data, are desiderating innovation. A deep convolutional network (CNN) model is proposed in this paper for exploiting the spatial influence feature in remotely sensed data. The method was applied in investigating the magnitude of the spatial influence of four factors&#8212;population, gross domestic product (GDP), terrain, land-use and land-cover (LULC)&#8212;on remotely sensed <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mrow> <mi>PM</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mn>2.5</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> concentration over China. Satisfactory results were produced by the method. It demonstrates that the deep CNN model can be well applied in the field of spatial analysing remotely sensed big data. And the accuracy of the deep CNN is much higher than of geographically weighted regression (GWR) based on comparation. The results showed that population spatial density, GDP spatial density, terrain, and LULC could together determine the spatial distribution of <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mrow> <mi>PM</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mn>2.5</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> annual concentrations with an overall spatial influencing magnitude of 97.85%. Population, GDP, terrain, and LULC have individual spatial influencing magnitudes of 47.12% and 36.13%, 50.07% and 40.91% on <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mrow> <mi>PM</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mn>2.5</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> annual concentrations respectively. Terrain and LULC are the dominating spatial influencing factors, and only these two factors together may approximately determine the spatial pattern of <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <msub> <mrow> <mi>PM</mi> </mrow> <mrow> <mn>2.5</mn> </mrow> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula> annual concentration over China with a high spatial influencing magnitude of 96.65%.