Prediction of Hourly PM2.5 and PM10 Concentrations in Chongqing City in China Based on Artificial Neural Network

Accurate prediction of air pollution is a difficult problem to be solved in atmospheric environment research. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is exploited to predict hourly PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in Chongqing City. We take PM2.5 (PM10), time and meteorological elements as the input of the ANN, and the PM2.5 (PM10) of the next hour as the output to build an ANN model. Thirteen kinds of training functions are compared to obtain the optimal function. The research results display that the ANN model exhibits good performance in predicting hourly PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations. Trainbr is the best function for predicting PM2.5 concentrations compared to other training functions with R value (0.9783), RMSE (1.2271), and MAE (0.9050). Trainlm is the second best with R value (0.9495), RMSE (1.8845), and MAE (1.3902). Similarly, trainbr is also the best in forecasting PM10 concentrations with R value (0.9773), RMSE value (1.8270), and MAE value (1.4341). Trainlm is the second best with R value (0.9522), RMSE (2.6708), and MAE (1.8554). These two training functions have good generalization ability and can meet the needs of hourly PM2.5 and PM10 prediction. The forecast results can support fine management and help improve the ability to prevent and control air pollution in advance, accurately and scientifically.