Ana M. C. Ilie

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment · Air Pollution Control Division

This study, designed and implemented by the nonprofit organization Breathe Mongolia-Clean Air Coalition, aimed to assess indoor air pollution in gers that had installed Cooking, Heating and Insulation Packages (CHIPs)-an initiative that provides electrical heating and cooking and insulation material at a subsidized rate. 28 gers participated in the...

Studies have shown that carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can lead to fainting, hospitalizations and even death from brain and cardiovascular complications. In 2022, 457 emergency calls and 26 consequent deaths were associated with CO poisoning in Ulaanbaatar. In January 2023, in the middle of the coldest month of this year, there were 39 emergency ca...

In partnership with the non-profit Breathe Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar residents share their concerns about improved coal and agree to try a new pollution solution based on insulation and electric heat. Breathe Mongolia – Clean Coalition nonprofit is implementing the “Let’s take action!” project, whose main goal is to reduce the number of smoke-emitting...

Improved methods for monitoring the vadose zone and gas migration using distributed measurements will help soil management on carbon cycling and atmospheric loading of greenhouse gases emanating from subsurface sources. The measured gas concentrations in the unsaturated soil and at the land surface need to be linked to soil structure and soil water...

Breathe Mongolia – Clean Air Coalition has started the implementation of the Let’s Take Action! Project with the support of AstraZeneca. This project aims to reduce the number of smoke-emitting chimneys in Ulaanbaatar and increase citizen engagement in accessing, collecting, and communicating air quality data, thus providing tools to take action ag...

Community science offers unique opportunities for non-professional involvement of volunteers in the scientific process, not just during the data acquisition, but also in other phases, like problem definition, quality assurance, data analysis and interpretation, and the dissemination of results. Moreover, community science can be a powerful tool for...

Monitoring brine leakage from CO2 geological storages (CGS) is necessary to protect shallow aquifers against contamination. A framework for designing CGS monitoring systems that optimally use both easily available shallow zone data and hard‐to‐obtain deep zone observations is developed and validated. This framework is based on calibrating a transpo...

This study describes the design and implementation of an intermediate-scale experimental setup to study soil gas migration that is affected by subsurface activity, such as geologic heterogeneity and spatial and temporal variability of soil water content. A 3D intermediate-scale laboratory test tank was packed with sandy soils, and tests were conduc...

A combined laboratory and field study is in progress to develop and deploy a spatially distributed gas sensing technology with an embedded fiber-optics component for use in agricultural and natural environments. This integrated sensing system will be tested under various soil, vegetation, and climatic conditions in a controlled laboratory setting u...

This paper presents the preliminary results from two-dimensional tank experiments where methods are developed before implementing tests in a 3-D tank of dimensions.

Traditional approaches to air quality monitoring typically involve regulatory agencies that utilize expensive and complex stationary equipment, maintained by trained staff, to provide the type of highly accurate data needed to demonstrate attainment with federal air quality standards. While this type of monitoring is a vital component to air qualit...

A three-dimensional intermediate test system with the ability to control boundary conditions and soil moisture variations was developed. The setup had the advantage of being able to accurately characterize the heterogeneity through packing with test soils with well-defined properties and to control the boundary and initial conditions that are not p...

This study focused on atmosphere and soil methane gas measurements close by an area with high density of abandoned wells used for the methane extraction. Radon gas was measured as well, simultaneously with methane instruments, at 10 cm and 1 m depth into the soil. Measurements have been taken for radon concentrations with a Durridge RAD7 Company, I...

This study focuses on soil methane and radon gas measurements, in the subsurface as well as in the atmosphere. Measurements were conducted using new gas detection instrumentation and as low-cost devices for methane gas concentrations. Moreover, this study focuses on a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of new soil gas detectio...

In collaboration with the New York State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) at Queens College, NY, low-cost air quality monitors were surveyed and assessed through field collocation and integrated into a cellular data acquisition system. This project explored the feasibility of using stationary low-cost monitoring networks for spatial and...

The study intended to explore the feasibility of using low-cost instrumentation (AirBeam2) to create a more accessible platform for measuring air quality. The monitors were calibrated by the manufacture itself and this study validated them through field colocation against a FEM instrument. The minimum and maximum R2 values obtained were 0.79 and 0....

Increase citizen engagement in accessing, collecting, and communicating air quality data, thus providing tools to better inform communities on air quality issues. Provide communities with information for advocating for clean air. Increase data collection in communities that can offer additional spatial and temporal da-ta on pollution levels beyond...

There is a growing field of ‘citizen scientists’, non-scientists engaged in specific issues who collect or analyze data to contribute to scientific research or advocate for environmental or public health improvements. Specific aims of this study included increase citizen engagement in accessing, collecting, and communicating air quality data, thus...

Increase community awareness of local air quality. Increasing citizen participation in acquiring, interpreting, and communicating air quality data. Help develop methods for citizen air quality monitoring that can be scaled to other communities. Develop strategies for disseminating research findings to the public, community, policymakers and stakeho...

This study presents the preliminary results to test the ability of a soil sensing system to generate data on soil moisture response to changing water table. Imbibition and drainage processes were simulated using a two-phase flow model. The experiment focused on observing soil moisture patterns in a sandy soil and the performance of soil moisture se...

This project explored the feasibility of using stationary low-cost monitoring networks for spatial and temporal estimation of ambient fine particulate concentrations in two environmental justice communities in New York City-El Puente (Brooklyn) and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (Bronx). The data from the community-based low-cost stationary...

This Air Quality Citizen Science research project aims to provide a better awareness and understanding of local hotspots of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in the Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood, which is prone to a high rate of asthma and cardio-respiratory diseases. A key component of the project is to involve the local populat...

We present a prototype, low-cost device, which could be used for a flood monitoring system along with an early warning system. An Arduino UNO microcontroller is used to control the system, which is interfaced to GSM modem and HC-SR04 echolocation sensor. If the water level calculated would be higher than level threshold, the microcontroller would e...

Traditional approaches to air quality monitoring generally involve regulatory agencies that utilize expensive and complex stationary equipment maintained by trained staff to provide the type of highly accurate data needed for demonstrating attainment with federal air quality standards. While this type of monitoring is a vital component to air quali...

We present a new soil monitoring system that employs low-cost NDIR, metal oxide and electrochemical type gas sensors as well as temperature, pressure, and humidity sensors. The sampling system was comprised of a stainless-steel probe, (diameter 1.2 cm), leading to an enclosure with gas sensors. The probe was installed at 1-meter depth into the soil...

This paper aims to present a Wireless Sensor Network using a Libelium Smart Water kit to allow remote water quality monitoring communication in real time. Equipped with multiple sensors that measure the most relevant water quality parameters, the Smart Water kit can be connected to the internet (using a mobile broadband connection) for real-time wa...

Un elemento indispensabile per la caratterizzazione degli acquiferi è la conoscenza delle geometrie e delle caratteristiche del sottosuolo. Per poter definire un modello tridimensionale al fine di effettuare la modellazione di un acquifero, i metodi geofisici sono sicuramente quelli più adatti a definire le geometrie e e parametri essenziali quali...

The rapid development of sensor and wireless communication technologies has increased the use of automatic (wireless) sensors in environmental monitoring. The availability of smarter, smaller and cheaper sensors measuring a wider range of environmental parameters has enabled continuous-timed monitoring of environment and real-time applications. Alo...

One of the primary tools for assessing air soil pollution patterns is the continuous monitoring of pollutants’ ambient levels. YPOD devices were used for several experiments, air and soil monitoring system, that employ low-cost NDIR, metal oxide and electrochemical type gas sensors as well as temperature, pressure, and humidity sensors The soil sam...

Electrical conductivity (EC) sensors were tested in a large-scale physical model lab and in the field. Calibration and validation of the conductivity sensors were conducted against CDT diver multi-parameter groundwater data loggers. Sodium chloride was used as a tracer, to create a conductivity pattern in the porous media to be captured by the cond...

To develop Task 12.5, a new physical sandbox model was built in LNEC’s modelling facilities (cf. http://www.lnec.pt/en/research/research-infrastructures/fluvial-hydraulics-experimental-facility/) under MARSOL project. The artificial aquifer facility (or physical sandbox model) can be used to conduct laboratory large scale infiltration and tracer te...

Resumo No presente artigo discute-se a problemática dos contaminantes emergentes e a aplicação de metodologias de tratamento solo-aquífero (Soil-Aquifer Treatment ou SAT) como meio complementar de tratamento de águas residuais tratadas, com o propósito da utilização destas em bacias de infiltração para a recarga controlada de aquíferos (Managed Aqu...