Global Chemical Composition of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter for Exposure Assessment

Epidemiologic and health impact studies are inhibited by the paucity of global, long-term measurements of the chemical composition of fine particulate matter. We inferred PM_2.5 chemical composition at 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution for 2004–2008 by combining aerosol optical depth retrieved from the MODIS and MISR satellite instruments, with coincident profile and composition information from the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Evaluation of the satellite-model PM_2.5 composition data set with North American in situ measurements indicated significant spatial agreement for secondary inorganic aerosol, particulate organic mass, black carbon, mineral dust, and sea salt. We found that global population-weighted PM_2.5 concentrations were dominated by particulate organic mass (11.9 ± 7.3 μg/m³), secondary inorganic aerosol (11.1 ± 5.0 μg/m³), and mineral dust (11.1 ± 7.9 μg/m³). Secondary inorganic PM_2.5 concentrations exceeded 30 μg/m³ over East China. Sensitivity simulations suggested that population-weighted ambient PM_2.5 from biofuel burning (11 μg/m³) could be almost as large as from fossil fuel combustion sources (17 μg/m³). These estimates offer information about global population exposure to the chemical components and sources of PM_2.5.