Founded in 1944, the Main Astronomical Observatory (MAO) in Kyiv, Ukraine is a leading research facility in astronomy. Experts there study Earth’s rotation, the physics of the solar system, how stars and galaxies form, and much more.

But one of the observatory’s key areas of research is much closer to home – Earth’s atmosphere.

In 2000, the MAO Department of Atmospheric Optics and Instrumentation began monitoring many aspects of the atmosphere, including air quality and pollution.

Now, the observatory’s air quality monitoring network has grown a following of over 300,000 people with at least five active AirVisual Series sensors:

• Artema Street
• Golosiiv
• Nauky Avenue
• Trostyanetska
• Chornobylska Street

The observatory has also partnered with experts across Kyiv’s scientific community to bring real-time, highly accurate air pollution data to help improve Kyiv’s air quality in this city of nearly 3 million people.

Measuring airborne aerosols with AirVisual

In 2008, the MAO atmospherics department began to focus on measuring atmospheric aerosols – tiny solid, liquid, or gaseous particles in the air ranging in size from 1 micron to as small as 0.001 microns.¹

Many of these aerosols are important to the global climate, scattering or reflecting solar radiation back into space to help keep Earth cool. But most people may be familiar with a more dangerous form of aerosols – air pollution.

On hot days, brownish haze made of ultrafine particles from vehicle exhaust, industrial activity, and other combustion sources are a familiar sight across the skylines of polluted cities, including the city of Kyiv and major cities like Los Angeles, California.

But growing concentrations of aerosols from human sources have contributed to drastic changes in the global climate by reducing ambient humidity and increasing Earth’s average surface temperature.

To help bring more awareness to the presence and impact of aerosols, the observatory began to seek out a combination of solutions: atmospheric data from across the globe and hyperlocal data to examine specific aerosol concentrations in Kyiv.

“We started aerosol measurements in 2008 using the AERONET sun photometer,” says Ivan Syniavskyi, head of the Department for Atmospheric Optics and Instrumentation at MAO. “Later, we decided to extend this research and started to work with laser PM sensors starting in 2019.”

Two years into their work with laser PM sensors, Ivan’s team discovered the IQAir AirVisual network and decided to purchase several AirVisual Series air quality monitors to expand their monitoring stations in Kyiv.

“The idea to create this small network of AirVisual Series monitors was initiated by Gennadi Milinevsky from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (KNU),” says Ivan. “He acts as the supervisor for our network in Kyiv.”

Prof. Milinevsky is a renowned expert in environmental and climate science. He also spearheaded the monitoring of stratospheric ozone at the Kyi-Goloseyev station (KGV) of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GAW), part of the World Meteorological Organization.² His involvement has brought increased attention and resources to Kyiv’s growing air quality monitoring network.

Partnering with Kyiv’s scientific community

Ivan and his team at MAO have worked with Kyiv’s vibrant scientific community to grow their coverage with AirVisual Series monitors and other critical data.
Volodymyr Kyslyi and Anatoly Liptuga from Ukraine’s V.E. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor (ISP) Physics NAS have also contributed to this growing network, with an AirVisual sensor placed on the ISP’s main building.

Other experts working with the project include Dr. Vassyl Danylevsky at KNU. He’s the principal investigator for the Kyiv site of AERONET’s aerosol data monitoring network.³ AERONET’s aerosol data provides rich atmospheric context for the highly accurate fine particulate matter (PM2.5) data from AirVisual’s laser-powered PM sensors.

Researchers at ISP and KNU have also developed mobile PM2.5 sensors to use alongside their AirVisual sensors. These sensors can be placed on drones or in cars to expand access to air quality data to many locations throughout Kyiv.

Why air quality monitoring is critical in Kyiv

As recently as 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) found that Ukraine air quality was the worst out of 120 countries, with the greatest number of deaths per 100,000 residents due to long-term exposure to vehicle and industrial pollution.⁴

A 2020 study in the Journal of Health and Pollution found that up to 38 percent of residents in some districts were at an increased risk of chronic diseases related to air pollution levels, while nearly 50 percent of residents were at risk of immediate health effects due to toxic air pollutants.⁵

Ivan and his scientific collaborators have focused on growing their AirVisual network around the areas most impacted by air pollution.

“We’ve installed five AirVisual air quality sensors in Kyiv and tried to cover the most problematic areas in the west, east, south, and center of the city.”

The MAO’s sensor in the Golosiiv forest of Kyiv, away from busy highways and streets as well as industrial facilities, also provides context to other sensors that are much closer to direct sources of air pollution.

The takeaway

Ivan from MAO believes AirVisual Series air quality data has helped bring attention to this serious problem and led to lifestyle changes for those impacted by air pollution.

“People have become increasingly interested in what kind of pollution they’re exposed to – what exactly is bad, what affects their health, and so on,” he says.

He also notes that residents have taken measures to help protect their health as a result of their access to real-time, accurate air quality data.

“In some apartments, residents have installed air cleaning devices to significantly improve air quality in their living rooms.” Among them is Prof. Milinevsky from KNU, who lives close to the monitor installed at Artema.

Ivan and his collaborators hope that residents of Kyiv use their data to help protect their health and take action against Kyiv’s biggest sources of air pollution.

Want to contribute your own hyperlocal data? Learn how to become an air quality data contributor with IQAir AirVisual.