Satellite Earth Observations (EO) represent a powerful tool for environmental applications such as air quality monitoring and forecasting; new sensors and image processing methodologies allow for better spatial resolution. Air pollution is an important concern in the Po valley (northern Italy), one of the main industrialized and populated areas of the country, and, for this reason, intensely studied. In this work we focus on the applicability of satellite Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrievals in support of air quality monitoring and assessment in urban environments within the Po valley by using the implementation of the International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) Air Quality Applications software, IDEA-1 (Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications-International) over the area. For our specific analyses, IDEA-1 was installed at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, (Italy) using a large European domain, and a smaller domain over the Po valley. One year (2012) of MODO4 AOD retrievals from MODIS on board NASA's Terra satellite was considered using IDEA-1 in a retrospective study. We needed to develop tools to adapt IDEA-I using MODIS AOD data archived at the NASA Level 1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS). This was required because IDEA! is setup for near-real time use of MODIS Direct Broadcast retrievals by default. The Level 2 Aerosol Products, collection 5.1 have been used, which returns AOD data at 0.55 pm with a spatial resolution of 10X10 km(2) retrieved from MODIS (MOD04). These retrieved data were compared with PM10 mass concentration measurements from the Italian Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) network. Correspondence between AOD and PM10 data suggests that satellite AOD values could be a good substitute for monitoring air quality over the Po valley domain. Moreover, the integration of the use of IDEA-I over the Po valley could give the opportunity to monitor and forecast air pollution and understand particular polluted situations in the past with a retrospective use of IDEA-I. Because of the limited domain of analyses, it is useful to refine the spatial resolution of MODIS AOD maps. This will be accomplished by introducing the use of a recently developed AOD algorithm, MAIAC (Multi-angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction), which provides MODIS AOD maps at a high spatial resolution of 1 km. This new application will permit us to obtain high resolution AOD maps for the year 2012 over the Po valley domain.
