Multiple regression method to determine aerosol optical depth in atmospheric column in Penang, Malaysia

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) from AERONET data has a very fine resolution but air pollution index (API), visibility and relative humidity from the ground truth measurements are coarse. To obtain the local AOD in the atmosphere, the relationship between these three parameters was determined using multiple regression analysis. The data of southwest monsoon period (August to September, 2012) taken in Penang, Malaysia, was used to establish a quantitative relationship in which the AOD is modeled as a function of API, relative humidity, and visibility. The highest correlated model was used to predict AOD values during southwest monsoon period. When aerosol is not uniformly distributed in the atmosphere then the predicted AOD can be highly deviated from the measured values. Therefore these deviated data can be removed by comparing between the predicted AOD values and the actual AERONET data which help to investigate whether the non uniform source of the aerosol is from the ground surface or from higher altitude level. This model can accurately predict AOD if only the aerosol is uniformly distributed in the atmosphere. However, further study is needed to determine this model is suitable to use for AOD predicting not only in Penang, but also other state in Malaysia or even global.