Developed for World Bank Group

Sources

Data sources

The VIIRS dataset also contains a product called AOT -- a measure of the amount of atmospheric particles that scatter light. While there are many types of particles in the air, pollutants and smoke from factories is one major source. Therefore, AOT can provide a reasonable proxy for measuring overall amount of industrial pollutants in the atmosphere over a region. Aerosol thickness is measured in terms of aerosols that scatter around a specific wavelength, the most common being the middle of the visible spectrum: 550 nm. Like the VIIRS nighttime lights data, the AOT data is available since 2012, and also has a resolution of about 750 meters per pixel as immediate product, but it’s 6km per pixel for 550nm spectrum. This means that for most zones we are getting an average value of the AOT over the general area.