Compound Heat and Air Pollution Event Metrics Dataset for Greater Melbourne, Australia

Full description

This dataset provides pixel-level frequency, intensity and severity metrics for single and compound heat and air pollution extreme events across Greater Melbourne, Australia, derived from MODIS satellite observations.

Heat extremes are derived from MODIS Terra Land Surface Temperature (MOD11A1, V6.1) and air pollution extremes from MODIS MAIAC aerosol optical depth (MCD19A2, V6.1), both at approximately 1 km resolution. Events are identified using monthly 85th and 90th percentile thresholds computed from the pooled distribution of valid observations across the study area, under two parallel window definitions: a 1-day definition (single day threshold exceedance) and a 3-day moving window definition with a tolerance rule for retrieval uncertainty. Compound events are defined as the temporal overlap of a qualifying heat event window and a qualifying air pollution event window at the same pixel.

The dataset covers ten austral warm seasons, from 1 October 2015 to 31 March 2025 (each season defined as 1 October to 31 March of the following year), across 9,982 pixels spanning Greater Melbourne. For each pixel, frequency, intensity and severity are reported separately for heat, air pollution and compound events, under both event window definitions, alongside valid observation day counts. Records are indexed by pixel longitude and latitude rather than pre-aggregated to an administrative boundary, allowing users to aggregate to any spatial unit relevant to their own research.