Estimation of PM_2.5 concentrations in new york state: Understanding the influence of vertical mixing on surface PM_2.5 using machine learning

In New York State (NYS), episodic high fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations associated with aerosols originated from the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Pacific Northwest states have been reported. In this study, machine learning techniques, including multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN), were used to estimate surface PM_2.5 mass concentrations at air quality monitoring sites in NYS during the summers of 2016–2019. Various predictors were considered, including meteorological, aerosol, and geographic predictors. Vertical predictors, designed as the indicators of vertical mixing and aloft aerosols, were also applied. Overall, the ANN models performed better than the MLR models, and the application of vertical predictors generally improved the accuracy of PM_2.5 estimation of the ANN models. The leave-one-out cross-validation results showed significant cross-site variations and were able to present the different predictor-PM_2.5 correlations at the sites with different PM_2.5 characteristics. In addition, a joint analysis of regression coefficients from the MLR model and variable importance from the ANN model provided insights into the contributions of selected predictors to PM_2.5 concentrations. The improvements in model performance due to aloft aerosols were relatively minor, probably due to the limited cases of aloft aerosols in current datasets.