Three Distributional Approaches for PM10 Assessment in Northern Italy

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: De Sanctis, Marco F., Gilardi, Andrea, Milan, Giacomo, Sangalli, Laura M., Ieva, Francesca, Secchi, Piercesare
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author De Sanctis, Marco F.
Gilardi, Andrea
Milan, Giacomo
Sangalli, Laura M.
Ieva, Francesca
Secchi, Piercesare
author_facet De Sanctis, Marco F.
Gilardi, Andrea
Milan, Giacomo
Sangalli, Laura M.
Ieva, Francesca
Secchi, Piercesare
contents We propose three spatial methods for estimating the full probability distribution of PM10 concentrations, with the ultimate goal of assessing air quality in Northern Italy. Moving beyond spatial averages and simple indicators, we adopt a distributional perspective to capture the complex variability of pollutant concentrations across space. The first proposed approach predicts class-based compositions via Fixed Rank Kriging; the second estimates multiple, non-crossing quantiles through a spatial regression with differential regularization; the third directly reconstructs full probability densities leveraging on both Fixed Rank Kriging and multiple quantiles spatial regression within a Simplicial Principal Component Analysis framework. These approaches are applied to daily PM10 measurements, collected from 2018 to 2022 in Northern Italy, to estimate spatially continuous distributions and to identify regions at risk of regulatory exceedance. The three approaches exhibit localized differences, revealing how modeling assumptions may influence the prediction of fine-scale pollutant concentration patterns. Nevertheless, they consistently agree on the broader spatial patterns of pollution. This general agreement supports the robustness of a distributional approach, which offers a comprehensive and policy-relevant framework for assessing air quality and regulatory exceedance risks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_13886
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Three Distributional Approaches for PM10 Assessment in Northern Italy
De Sanctis, Marco F.
Gilardi, Andrea
Milan, Giacomo
Sangalli, Laura M.
Ieva, Francesca
Secchi, Piercesare
Applications
Methodology
We propose three spatial methods for estimating the full probability distribution of PM10 concentrations, with the ultimate goal of assessing air quality in Northern Italy. Moving beyond spatial averages and simple indicators, we adopt a distributional perspective to capture the complex variability of pollutant concentrations across space. The first proposed approach predicts class-based compositions via Fixed Rank Kriging; the second estimates multiple, non-crossing quantiles through a spatial regression with differential regularization; the third directly reconstructs full probability densities leveraging on both Fixed Rank Kriging and multiple quantiles spatial regression within a Simplicial Principal Component Analysis framework. These approaches are applied to daily PM10 measurements, collected from 2018 to 2022 in Northern Italy, to estimate spatially continuous distributions and to identify regions at risk of regulatory exceedance. The three approaches exhibit localized differences, revealing how modeling assumptions may influence the prediction of fine-scale pollutant concentration patterns. Nevertheless, they consistently agree on the broader spatial patterns of pollution. This general agreement supports the robustness of a distributional approach, which offers a comprehensive and policy-relevant framework for assessing air quality and regulatory exceedance risks.
title Three Distributional Approaches for PM10 Assessment in Northern Italy
topic Applications
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13886