UB Air Pollution Wiki

From UB Air Pollution Data Wiki

Purpose

The purpose of this Wiki is to provide a centralized location for data pertaining to air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The site was created in order to benefit the local UB air pollution research community, scientists abroad looking for data on UB air pollution, and for general academic use. See something missing? You are encouraged to contribute information/data to this Wiki!

New Account Creation Procedure: To reduce spam to the site, we are changing the procedure for account creation. Please email Christa Hasenkopf at Christa<dot>Hasenkopf><at>Colorado<dot>edu for an account.

We would like to acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation International Research Fellowship and the NSF-PEER program for their support in funding research related to this wiki.

Wiki News

• NEW UB AQ TWITTER FEED - Start following UB_Air!
• MOST RECENT UPDATE TO NEWS PAGE (02/14/2013) Check it out!
• There is now a photo section to the wiki, in which photos related to UB Air Pollution can be added. Thanks to John Stampfl for adding the section and contributing the first photo!

Upcoming and Recent Events/Proposal Calls/Presentations on UB Air Pollution

Please post upcoming presentations on UB Air Pollution studies (or related studies) here. Also, if a recent presenter wants to put up links to a powerpoint, that would be great too.

• Upcoming Events:
  • There will be a talk by Simon Fraser Prof. Ryan Allen on the health effects at the 22 Jan American Center Speaker Series. More information here
  • Announcing UB Atmospheric Science Club! We're an outreach group of students, young leaders, and generally cool people interested in teaching others (and learning more ourselves) about atmospheric science. Interested in learning more? Click here
  • A Recent WHO Air Pollution Survey ranks UB as one of the most polluted cities in the world, in terms of PM10 and PM2.5. Check out this article in the Washington Post. Or check out the actual data set in the Data Files section below.
  • Download this flyer (pdf) in Монгол Xэл, in English, and combined, containing a short overview of air pollution in UB. Thanks to Gerelmaa G. for translating!
  • (Also listed under "DATA" below, thanks to John Stampfl): Check out the latest air quality conditions: Up-to-date Air Quality Measurments by the Air Quality Department, Capital City, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

• Recent Events (presentations over 12 months old may be deleted):
  • Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar: Public Health Impacts and Research Opportunities by Prof. Ryan Allen at the American Center for Mongolia Studies Speaker Series, 22 Jan 2013
  • UB air pollution presentation by S. Lodoysamba at the Green Bell NGO in January 2013 (7mb)
  • USAID and NSF partner up to offer the PEER program! If you're a scientist from a developing country and know an NSF-supported scientist, you can team up with them to get funds to study in areas where NSF and USAID have mutual interests (e.g. global health issues, climate change impacts, and food security).
  • In collaboration with the Mongolian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization, Dr. Anne Riederer, a AAAS Sci & Tech fellow at the EPA, gave a workshop on Lifecycle Assessment, applied to stoves. The workshop was chocked full of resources (powerpoints, TRACI model, user manual, references). There was also an interesting presentation about mass-implementation of new stoves this winter by Mr. Batsaikhan, Vice Director of Air Quality agency of the Capital City. Information from the workshop they can be accessed here.
  • The National University of Mongolia hosted The 5th Annual International Workshop on Applications of Remote Sensing and Space Science, June 6-7, 2011. There were some presentations on air pollution. You can check out the schedule here or visit: http://ssmongolia.yolasite.com/
  • Air Pollution Studies in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: First Steps by Christa Hasenkopf at ACMS in May 2011. (Note: File is large: ~40Mb)

Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature on UB Air Pollution

2012

• Air Particulate Matter Pollution in Ulaanbaatar City, Mongolia, International Journal of PIXE
• Dust, biomass burning smoke, and anthropogenic aerosol detected by polarization-sensitive Mie lidar measurements in Mongolia, Atmospheric Environment

2011

• An assessment of air pollution and its attributable mortality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Air Qual Atmos Health
  • A major conclusion from the paper: It estimates 1 in 10 deaths in Ulaanbaatar is attributable to the city's air pollution.
  • A non-technical article on the paper

• Chemical composition of urban airborne particulate matter in Ulaanbaatar, Atmospheric Environment

• (Not specifically on UB air pollution; nevertheless, important for understanding the ambient aerosol) What caused a recent increase in dust outbreaks over East Asia?, "Geophysical Research Letters"

• Air particulate matter pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: determination of composition, source contributions and source locations, Atmospheric Pollution Research

• Hygroscopic property of water-soluble organic-enriched aerosols in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia during the cold winter of 2007, Atmospheric Environment

• Air pollution and meteorological processes in the growing dryland city of Urumqi (Xinjiang, China), Sci. Total Environ.
  • This study briefly mentions UB air pollution

2010

• Organic and inorganic aerosol compositions in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, during the cold winter of 2007 to 2008: Dicarboxylic acids, ketocarboxylic acids, and α-dicarbonyls, Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres

Conference Proceedings and Abstracts on UB Air Pollution

2011

• S.Lodoysamba, C.Pemberton-Pigott, Mitigation of Ulaanbaatar city's Air Pollution-From Source Apportionment to Ultra-Low Emission Lignite Burning Stoves, Proceedings of International Conference on Domestic Use of Energy, 12-13 April 2011, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa

2010

• Lodoysamba S., Steinar Larssen, Gerelmaa. G., Li Liu, Shagjjamba, D. and Jostein Nygaard Results of PM Air Pollution Baseline and Source Apportionment Study of Ulaanbaatar City of Mongolia, Proceedings of A&WMA International Specialty Conference Leapfrogging Opportunities for Air Quality Improvement, May 10-14, 2010, Xi’An Shaanxi Province, China, p187-193 (~40Mb)

Organization Reports

2011

• Air quality analysis of Ulaanbaatar : improving air quality to reduce health impacts, The World Bank

2009

• Mongolia Heating in Poor, Peri-urban Ger Areas of Ulaanbaatar, The World Bank
  • Appendices
• Air Pollution in Ulaanbaatar Initial Assessment of Current Situation and Effects of Abatement Measures, The World Bank

2007

• Urban Air Pollution Analysis for Ulaanbaatar, The World Bank Consultant Report, Sarath Guttikunda

• 2007-ENVIRONMENTAL OUTLOOK OF THE ULAANBAATAR CITY, United Nations Environment Program

2006

• Country Synthesis Report on Urban Air Quality Managment - Mongolia, Asian Development Bank & Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (Discussion Draft)

2005

• Impact of Improved Stoves on Indoor Air Quality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, esmap.org (supported by World Bank)

2004

• HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY, World Health Organization

2002

• MONGOLIA : STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2002, United Nations Environment Program

Data Files

Miscellaneous

• Up-to-date Air Quality Measurments by the Air Quality Department, Capital City, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• WHO Global Outdoor Air Pollution Survey Database
• Joe Flasher's UB Air Pollution API (that calls data from the ub-air.info site): http://ubdata.cloudfoundry.com/

Lodoysamba-Hasenkopf PEER Project Preliminary Data

Please Note: This data is preliminary, unofficial, and subject to changes pending further analysis. Please contact Lodoysamba or Hasenkopf below before citing or using and/or if you have any questions.

• Preliminary PM10 and PM2.5 monthly average measurements at Zuun Ail (Please contact Lodoysamba@gmail.com before citing or using)
• Preliminary BC monthly average measurements at Zuun Ail, Sansar, and NUM (Please contact Christa.Hasenkopf@gmail.com before citing or using)
• Updated Preliminary PM2.5 monthly average measurements at Zuun Ail (Please contact Lodoysamba@gmail.com before citing or using)

Peer-Reviewed Literature on Air Pollution/Atmospheric Science(Review/General Papers)

(listed in chronological order)

• Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy (Nicholas Z. Muller, Robert Mendelsohn and William Nordhaus , The American Economic Review, 2011)
• Air pollution, greenhouse gases and climate change: Global and regional perspectives (Ramanathan & Feng, Atmospheric Environment, 2009)
• Clean Air for Megacities (Parrish & Zhu, Science, 2009)
• University of Michigan Inhaling a heart attack: How air pollution can cause heart disease 2009)
• Review article on Black Carbon's effect on Global and Regional Climate (Ramanthan & Carmichael, Nature, 2008)
• Review on Aerosol as CCN (Andreae & Rosenfeld, Earth-Science Reviews, 2008)
• Flood or Drought: How Do Aerosols Affect Precipitation? - A Review (Rosenfeld, et al., Science, 2008)
• Excellent review on optical properties of Black Carbon (Bond & Bergstrom, Aerosol Sci & Tech, 2005)
• Particle Concentrations in Urban Microenvironments (Levy et al., Environmental Health Perspectives, 2000)
• Monitoring Personal Fine Particle Exposure with a Particle Counter (Brauer et al., Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Edidemiology,1999)
• Characterization of Particulate Matter and Hydrocarbon Emissions from In-Use Heavy-Duty Diesel Engines (Bulgarski, University of West Virginia, 1999)
• Classic paper on the Twomey Effect (Twomey, Atmospheric Environment, 1990)

Useful Links

Air Quality Department, Capital City, Ulaanbaatar, Mongol

urbanemissions.info - Mongolia

MCC-EEP Program

World Bank - Mongolia

Asian Development Bank - Mongolia

GTZ - Mongolia

United Nations Development Programme - Mongolia

American Lung Association - USA

US Government Center for Disease Control - USA

Air Pollution website at the US CDC - USA

Environmental Health Perspectives Journal - USA

US Environmental Protection Agency, Particulate Matter webpage - USA

US Environmental Protection Agency homepage - USA

US Environmental Protection Agency Air Pollution webpage - USA

American College of Medical Toxicology - USA

Spare the Air in San Francisco - USA

U.S. EPA, NOAA, NPS, tribal, state, and local agencies information site - USA

Site Use Tracking

Check out the map below which shows the 577 cities from the 81 countries around the world that have produced approximately 49,000 hits since late April 2011! Do you know some important information missing from this site? Contribute and help share it across the world! (Source: Google Analytics, updated 23 Jan 2013)

Picture Gallery

UB Air Pollution Photos Taken by UB community

Power Plants in November 2011, Picture Courtesy John Stampfl	From Sansar Tunnel on 15 Nov 2011. That is not fog you see - it is pollution. Specifically, particulate matter. What you can't see are high levels of other toxic gases. According to 24-hour averages for 15 Nov 2011, reported here, PM10 is about 2x international standards, PM2.5 is 4x, SO2 is 4x. I'm comparing to World Health Organization standards. Picture taken by Christa Hasenkopf	From Sansar Apartment on 1 Dec 2011, Picture taken by Joseph Flasher
Photo taken south of downtown UB on 20 November 2011, Picture taken by George Economides	Photo taken driving in UB, December 2011, Picture taken by Tsevlee Economides	Photo taken driving north, just south of UB center, December 2011, Picture taken by Tsevlee Economides
Photo taken in Dec 2011 by Tsevlee Economides	Photo taken in early 2007, looking at UB from Bogd Khan by Shelagh Rosenthal	Photo taken in mid-Dec 2011 at Star Apartments in UB by Shelagh Rosenthal
Photo taken one evening in Ulaanbaatar during Winter 2010/2011 by Hunter J. Causey	A man lighting a traditional ger stove during Winter 2010/2011 by Hunter J. Causey	A smoggy day in UB, looking toward the Blue Sky Tower during Winter 2011/2012 by Lauren Knapp
A photo taken in the morning from an apartment east of the Amusement Park, 11 Dec 2011, Picture taken by Tsolmon	A photo taken in the morning from airplane down to the UB, only the power plant chimney was visible, 31 Jan 2012, Picture taken by Solongo	A photo taken from a plane above Ulaanbaatar. Emissions from one of UB's coal-fired combined heat and power plants is visible above the cloud deck, 03 Dec 2011, Picture taken by Amartaivan Ts.
On the way to the Chinggis Khaan Airport, Mid-March 2012, Picture taken by Oyu Choijamts	A photo taken from a plane above Ulaanbaatar. 11 Sept 2011, Picture taken by Vicki Christini	From an apartment window on the Big Ring Road, 20 Nov 2012, Picture taken by Soyee Chiu
Taken on the work commute home. 10 Jan 2013, Picture taken by Otgonbaatar Tsedendemberel	TTen am, taken from a doorstep in lower-East Gandan, close to West 4-Zam, 14 Jan 2013, Picture taken by Froit VanderHarst..	A boy on his way to school in UB. Submitted Jan 2013, Picture taken by John Mark King

UB Air Pollution Photos Elsewhere Online

(Thanks to Delgerzul Lodoysamba for these contributions)

• • Evening, Winter 2008
  • Late November 2007
  • Ger District, unspecified date
  • Powerplant, unspecified date
  • Unspecified date
  • From Sukhbaatar Square, Unspecified date
  • Unspecified date
  • Unspecified date