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Characterizing the chemical composition and distribution of aerosol in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: May 2011 "Low" PM season. The ger district surrounding the northern half of the city and three power plants to the west cause disastrously high levels of particulate matter. For orientation, the front of the Government Building (main building in the square below) is facing south. The air in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, is some of the most toxic in the world, according to a 2011 World Health Organization survey. The dramatically high levels of particulate matter (e.g. dust and soot) are conservatively estimated to be responsible for 10% of the deaths in Ulaanbaatar each year (see open access article). The infamous and excruciatingly cold winters in Mongolia, as well as the decaying Soviet-era infrastructure and under-resourced ger district that includes half of the city’s population, are the major culprits of the off-the-charts particulate matter levels. From a scientific perspective, UB’s severe air pollution and geographic isolation offers a unique opportunity to study the climatic effects of black carbon. Surprisingly and despite the severity of the air pollution problem in UB, there has been little peer-reviewed scientific research conducted on the topic. From March 2011 – August 2013, I am conducting a study on the chemical and physical distribution of aerosol in Ulaanbaatar. Some of the methods I am employing to do this: gathering PM10 and PM2.5 concentration data at various locations in UB shared by UB City Air Quality Office, measuring BC concentrations with an aethalometer, and collecting aerosol samples to perform a chemical analysis on a particle-by-particle basis via Raman spectral mapping. To find out the most up-to-date information on Ulaanbaatar air pollution, please visit, http://UBAirPollution.org. To learn more about my experiences in Mongolia and to meet some of Mongolia’s scientists, check out my CIRES blog at: http://cires.colorado.edu/blogs/mongolia. Please feel free contact me at christa.hasenkopf@colorado.edu! This work is being done in collaboration with the University of Colorado and the National University of Mongolia and funded by a U.S. Fulbright Grant and an International Research Postdoctoral Fellowship from NSF. |
