FAIRBANKS — Cathy Cahill has never been to Iraq, but the grimy DRUM Aerosol Sampler in her lab at the University of Alaska Fairbanks provides her with a vivid portrait of downtown Baghdad. The device, which looks like a bulky black plastic suitcase, is covered with anonymous bird droppings and a layer of fine red dust. But it’s the eight drum-shaped air filters inside that make it truly remarkable. The sampler is back at UAF from a tour in Iraq, where it tested the air at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Thick black lines, showing heavy industrial pollutants, cover each filter. They’re broken by light brown stripes, indicating a massive dust storm blanketed the area and overwhelmed the device. Cahill, an associate professor of atmospheric chemistry at UAF, said it’s an alarming sight, even for someone who has spent much of her career beneath an ice-fog blanket in Fairbanks. She still recalls her shock the first time she examined one of the filters back in 2008. “Oh my God,” she said. “I’d never seen samples that bad.” They provided a grim image of the air thousands of U.S. troops and millions of Iraqis are breathing each day. They’re also another piece of evidence that Cahill hopes will illuminate the challenges faced by people exposed to those conditions. In her three years of air-quality studies in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cahill said it’s the worst air she’s seen in decades of research from around the world. “The Middle East is one of the dirtiest places on the planet,” she said. The air-quality conditions faced by military personnel in Iraq have been a concern since at least 2003, when Capt. Mark Lyles with the U.S. Naval War College began collecting surface samples of the dust that seemed to cover everything in the country. Lyles, a clinical researcher with the Navy Dental Corps, was concerned that medical instruments were being destroyed by the grime. He sent off the samples for analysis, and found the dust is unlike anything the troops may encounter back home. He said the typical dust particle in the area is smaller than a red blood cell, and a sample may include dozens of different heavy metals, bacteria and fungi. Lyles said common conditions for troops in the Middle East — working in scorching temperatures while carrying heavy packs — leave them constantly gulping mouthfuls of the dusty air. “It’s in your mouth, its in your toothpase, it’s on your skin — it’s everywhere,” he said. Lyles said the military hasn’t reached an official position on the consequences of the dirty air. He personally believes the elements it contains may be contributors to common respiratory illnesses and Gulf War Syndrome among war veterans. His findings helped spur other research into Iraq air quality, including Cahill’s $3 million project with the Army Research Lab that was launched through an earmark by Sen. Ted Stevens. Since February 2008, her filters have sampled air at several locations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Cahill said each study seems to both confirm and advance the previous findings. “You’ve got a bunch of different people all coming up with the same result,” she said. Cahill’s team, which also includes UAF graduate students Jennifer Bell and Todd Fortun, analyzes the samples for 28 elements. Some, like sulfur and lead, can be tied to specific industries — Cahill said the common use of leaded gasoline and dirty factory emissions are surely behind at least some of the problem. But the equation is too complicated to boil down to a single industrial or military source. “The problem with much of this is that there’s no easy solution,” Cahill said. “It’s coming from everywhere.” The common dust storms appear to be at least partly attributed to decades of military activity in the region. Lyles said the natural crust that keeps desert dust contained has been destroyed by countless patrols and convoys, which has dramatically increased the amount of airborne dust. The federal standard in the U.S. for fine-particle pollution is 35 micrograms of particles per cubic meter over a 24-hour period, but Cahill said even the military’s looser standard of 65 micrograms is almost always surpassed, particularly in industry-heavy Iraq. Even the maximum levels of 500 micrograms are commonly exceeded during dust storms. So far, Lyles said the impact of the research on military policy has been muted. He’s frustrated by a constant struggle to continue his research, and said he’s grateful that others like Cahill have been able to examine the issue. “The more independent researchers verify this, the more serious people are going to take it,” he said. Cahill’s initial project is nearly over, but she’s is hopeful her studies can continue with additional funding from the Army Research Lab. But even if the research doesn’t continue, she believes the work done at UAF for the past three years has helped shine a valuable spotlight on a rarely discussed issue. “If it’s the only thing I do with my career, it’s been a good career, because this is important,” she said. Contact staff writer Jeff Richardson at 459-7518.