IRFP: Characterization of the chemical composition and distribution of aerosol in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise, and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support nineteen months of research fellowship by Dr. Christa A. Hasenkopf to work with Dr. Sereeter Lodoysamba at the National University of Mongolia. Since 2008, and for the first time in human history, over half of the world's population resides in urban areas. The urbanization rate is highest in developing nations in which the majority of humanity lives. The rapid increase in energy consumption required to feed the expanding transportation, industrial, and private sectors of these countries is often accompanied by increased gas and particulate matter (PM) emissions, particularly soot aerosols. High concentrations of soot aerosols (i.e. black carbon, BC) pose a serious health threat to the billions living in these emerging economies. Additionally, BC contributes to global and regional climate change and regional surface dimming. The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, is a prime example of this global urbanization; its population has doubled in the past twenty years, due mainly to immigration from the outlying rural population. An environmental consequence of the increased energy demands of the growing population and the city?s inherent geography and climate is that Ulaanbaatar has some of the highest concentrations of PM measured in the world. Despite these conditions, Ulaanbaatar air pollution is severely understudied in the atmospheric science literature. To address this hole in the literature, this research is measuring PM and BC concentrations with fast time resolution (~minutes) as a function of horizontal and vertical position at several locations in Ulaanbaatar. This information allows modeling of BC transport through the city, as well an assessment of the regional radiative effects of BC. Additionally, time and size-resolved PM samples are being collected for a Raman spectral mapping analysis, which will allow an unprecedented window into the chemical composition and morphology of Ulaanbaatar PM on a particle-by-particle basis. In addition to the scientific objectives described above, this research will help develop a new international collaboration among the PI and research groups at the National University of Mongolia (Prof. Sereeter Lodoysamba) in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and at the University of Colorado in Boulder, USA (Prof. Margaret Tolbert and Prof. Jose Jimenez).