Development of a deep neural network for predicting 6-hour average PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations up to two subsequent days using various training data

Abstract. This study aims to develop a deep neural network (DNN) model as an artificial neural network (ANN) for the prediction of 6-hour average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations for a three-day period—the day of prediction (D+0), one day after prediction (D+1) and two days after prediction (D+2)—using observation data and forecast data obtained via numerical models. The performance of the DNN model was comparatively evaluated against that of the currently operational Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modelling system for air quality forecasting in South Korea. In addition, the effect on predictive performance of the DNN model on using different training data was analyzed. For the D+0 forecast, the DNN model performance was superior to that of the CMAQ model, and there was no significant dependence on the training data. For the D+1 and D+2 forecasts, the DNN model that used the observation and forecast data (DNN-ALL) outperformed the CMAQ model. The root-mean-squared error (RMSE) of DNN-ALL was lower than that of the CMAQ model by 2.2 μgm−3, and 3.0 μgm−3 for the D+1 and D+2 forecasts, respectively, because the overprediction of higher concentrations was curtailed. An IOA increase of 0.46 for D+1 prediction and 0.59 for the D+2 prediction was observed in case of the DNN-ALL model compared to the IOA of the DNN model that used only observation data (DNN-OBS). In additionally, An RMSE decrease of 7.2 μgm−3 for the D+1 prediction and 6.3 μgm−3 for the D+2 prediction was observed in case of the DNN-ALL model, compared to the RMSE of DNN-OBS, indicating that the inclusion of forecast data in the training data greatly affected the DNN model performance. Considering the prediction of the 6-hour average PM2.5 concentration, the 8.8 μgm−3 RMSE of the DNN-ALL model was 2.7 μgm−3 lower than that of the CMAQ model, indicating the superior prediction performance of the former. These results suggest that the DNN model could be utilized as a better-performing air quality forecasting model than the CMAQ, and that observation data plays an important role in determining the prediction performance of the DNN model for D+0 forecasting, while prediction data does the same for D+1 and D+2 forecasting. The use of the proposed DNN model as a forecasting model may result in a reduction in the economic losses caused by pollution-mitigation policies and aid better protection of public health.