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I am looking for a database or api that stores historical data of very low visibility conditions. The data needs to be reliable and consistent without too many gaps and in an interval of 1 hour.

The best sources I have found have a resolution of 1/4 mile (400m) or worse.

Is there a source with better resolution? Perhaps 100m? Is it even possible to measure it in a higher resolution?

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  • $\begingroup$ Please specify location and spatial resolution you need. $\endgroup$
    – Erik
    Sep 30, 2020 at 6:22
  • $\begingroup$ You mention "measure" and "resolution", so are you both interested in observations and model data? Please clarify. $\endgroup$
    – Whir
    Oct 2, 2020 at 5:39
  • $\begingroup$ The only thing that could have near that resolution over large areas I would think is satellite. Synoptic stations report hourly, but the spacing is typically degrees of magnitude poorer (there are probably a very few metropolitan areas that have a local spacing of a few miles between sites). tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10962247.2013.801372 suggests satellites with a vertical distribution of aerosols are very limited, and estimations from more ubiquitous satellites are quite limited (see Figure 7)... so getting reliable resolution on the order of meters seems impossible? $\endgroup$
    – JeopardyTempest
    Oct 7, 2020 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ So you might help others by offering what dataset you've found. As Whir notes, models can infer such resolution, but any result will be of limited validity (it may take into account global aerosol patterns and infer some things [like sea spray and regional blowing dust such as from the Sahara]... but they're really unlikely to include local terrain sources (blowing dirt) and can't possibly do well at varying local human causes (fires, pollution, etc) which are often such significant sources of low visibility? $\endgroup$
    – JeopardyTempest
    Oct 7, 2020 at 17:55

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