Recent Improvement in Particulate Matter (PM) Pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Ganbat, Gantuya; Soyol-Erdene, Tseren-Ochir; Jadamba, Batbayar

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2020.04.0170

Cited by 30 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…However, the fact that the amount of PM2.5 concentration significantly decreased compared to previous years was not due to the COVID outbreak related actions but it was thanks to Resolution 62 of the Mongolian government, which banned the burning of raw coal and required only the use of coal by-product. In another study, it was also found that the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 during winter 2019-2020 decreased by 46-55 per cent, compared to previous years [16], which complies with our study as well.…”

Section: Pmassupporting

confidence: 92%

Particulate matter concentrations during winter seasons of 2016-2020 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Byambajav

Batbaatar

Ariunsaikhan

et al. 2021

Proc. Mong. Acad. Sci.

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In this study, we have focused on the outdoor concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during the coldest months (November-February) of 2016-2019 and January-February of 2020 and illustrated the daily, monthly and quarterly averages according to the single-point measurement data collected by the PM2.5 sensor at an air quality monitoring station located in a central area of Ulaanbaatar. The study also analyzes monthly high, low, average and median points of PM2.5 concentrations in the area that was selected. The PM2.5 sensor collects its data at an interval of every ten seconds, registers 8500 data in one day and presents the concentration of fine particulate matter in micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3). On the basis of data collection and analysis, from November through February of 2019-2020, average PM2.5 concentration dropped noticeably by 44 per cent compared to the previous years. The Government of Mongolia took immediate action to combat air pollution of Ulaanbaatar city in May 2019 by banning the burning of raw coal in the ger districts, which account for 70 per cent of the city’s emissions, and introduced coal briquette as the only type of fuel that was allowed to be burned in metal stoves as a primary source of heating and cooking. Our study reveals that the latest government regulation had a considerable impact on air quality during winter 2019-2020 and helped in the sudden decline of the most dangerous pollutant PM2.5 concentration very close to national standards (50 µg/m3 24-hour mean) within 6 months since the enforcement of the new regulation.

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Section: Pmassupporting

confidence: 92%

Particulate matter concentrations during winter seasons of 2016-2020 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Byambajav

Batbaatar

Ariunsaikhan

et al. 2021

Proc. Mong. Acad. Sci.

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“…Changing the fuel did not address the underlying need for a more sustainable, comprehensive form of heating infrastructure throughout the ger districts. While it has been reported that there was a subsequent improvement in particulate matter pollution that winter in Ulaanbaatar (Ganbat et al 2020), the coal briquette solution-arguably a lot cheaper to implement than centrallysupplied heating infrastructure-offset the costs on to ger district residents.…”

Section: Managing Air Pollution In Ulaanbaatarmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

2020

MIC

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“…Air pollution has become the third leading cause of death in Mongolia [13]. Frequent heavy smog incidents in Mongolia have attracted widespread public attention [14][15][16][17], and it has been reported that Mongolian children exposed to air pollution have poorer lung development and a higher prevalence of asthma [18,19]. Air pollution also negatively affects fetal growth, leading to low birth weight and preterm birth [20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mongolian government has made great efforts to solve the air pollution problem in UB. For example, MNT 164.1 billion and USD 104.7 million were invested in reducing air pollution between 2008 and 2016 [17]. On May 15, 2019, the Mongolian government implemented a ban on the burning of raw coal by UB households, and supplied "refined briquette" at a subsidized price close to that of raw coal; thus, the air quality is expected to improve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Variation in Air Pollution Characteristics and Influencing Factors in Ulaanbaatar from 2016 to 2019

et al. 2022

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Ambient air pollution is a global environmental issue that affects human health. Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital of Mongolia, is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and it is of great importance to study the temporal and spatial changes in air pollution in this city, along with their influencing factors. To understand the characteristics of atmospheric pollutants in UB, the contents of PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO, and O3, as well as their influencing factors, were analyzed from data obtained from automatic air quality monitoring stations. These analyses yielded six major findings: (1) From 2016 to 2019, there was a total of 883 pollution days, and PM2.5 and PM10 were the primary pollutants on 553 and 351 of these days, respectively. The air pollution was dominated by PM10 in spring and summer, affected by both PM2.5 and PM10 in autumn, and dominated by PM2.5 in winter. (2) Compared with 2016, the number of days with good air quality in UB in 2019 increased by 45%, and the number of days with unhealthy or worse levels of pollution decreased by 56%, indicating that the air quality improved year by year. (3) From 2016 to 2019, the annual average PM2.5/PM10 ratio dropped from 0.55 to 0.45, and the proportion of PM2.5 in particulate matter decreased year by year. The PM concentration and PM2.5/PM10 ratio were highest in winter and lowest in summer. When comparing the four-season averages, the average PM2.5 concentration decreased by 89% from its highest level, and the PM10 concentration decreased by 67%, indicating stronger seasonal differences in PM2.5 than in PM10. (4) The hourly changes in PM concentration showed a bimodal pattern, exhibiting a decrease during the day and a slight increase in the afternoon due to temperature inversion, so the PM2.5/PM10 ratio increased at night in all four seasons. The PM concentration during the heating season was significantly higher than that in the non-heating season, indicating that coal-fired heating was the main cause of air pollution in UB. (5) Sand dust and soot were the two main types of pollution in UB. (6) Correlation analysis and linear fitting analysis showed that PM2.5 and PM10 caused by coal-firing had an important impact on air quality in UB. Coal combustion and vehicle emissions with SO2, NO2, and CO as factors made large contributions to PM2.5

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Recent Improvement in Particulate Matter (PM) Pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Cited by 30 publications

References 15 publications

Particulate matter concentrations during winter seasons of 2016-2020 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Particulate matter concentrations during winter seasons of 2016-2020 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Untitled

Spatiotemporal Variation in Air Pollution Characteristics and Influencing Factors in Ulaanbaatar from 2016 to 2019

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