Special Seminar
Date:

Friday, October 26, 2018

Venue:

Room221, Tokyo University of Science
Kagurazaka 1-3, Shinjuku-ku
http://www.tus.ac.jp/info/campus/kagurazaka.html

Program:

15:00-15:05 Opening Remark
Kazuhiko Miura (Prof., Tokyo University of Science)
Chair: Yoko Iwamoto
15:05-15:30 Trace gas observation at the summit of Mt. Fuji during
summerShungo Kato (Assoc. Prof., Tokyo Metropolitan University)
15:30-15:55 Change of carbon cycle in the Asian region from theanalysis of CO2 data at Mt. Fuji
Shohei Nomura (PD, National Institute for Environmental Studies)
15:55-16:20 Coffee Break
Chair: Hiroshi Okochi
16:20-17:20 The Air We Breathe: It is not what it used to be
Russ C Schnell

Deputy Director, NOAA Global Monitoring Division)

17:20-17:40 Discussion
18:00-20:00 Reception

Hosted by:

Atmospheric Science Research Division, Research Institute for Scienceand Technology, Tokyo University of Science

Co-hosted by: Certified non-profit organization Mount Fuji Research Station1

Trace gas observation at the summit of Mt. Fuji
during summer
Shungo KATO
Associate Professor
Faculty of Urban Environmental Sciences
Tokyo Metropolitan University
Minamiosawa 1-1, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397, JAPANshungo@tmu.ac.jpThe top of Mount Fuji (N35.4, E138.7, 3776 a.s.l.) is located in free troposphereand it is an unique observation location to observed long range transport ofpolluted air into the center of Japan, Kanto area. We have conducted observation ofatmospheric trace gases during summer at Mount Fuji Research Station (MFRS)
from 2008. CO is emitted from various combustion process. Since lifetime of CO in
the atmosphere is about 1-2 months, it can work as a good indicator of polluted air.
O3 is harmful to human and plants, and also is important as a greenhouse gas. O 3 isproduced by photochemical reactions of polluted air. SO2 is emitted from fossil
fuel burning, and also emitted from volcanic activities.
CO, O3, and SO2 were measured by IR absorption, UV absorption, and UV
fluorescence, respectively (Kato et al., 2016). The observed data were uploaded toweb site in real time (SO2) or within a day (CO and O3).
CO and O3 showed considerable concentration variation even at the remoteplace (top of Mt. Fuji). Using the backward trajectories, the observed concentration
variation can be explained in most cases. Backward trajectory was categorized toPacific Ocean (P), South East Asia (SE), North (N), North West (NW), China (C), andChina-Korea (CK). High CO and O3 were from CK, C, NW, and N direction. Low COand O3 were from P and SE direction.
When plotting O3 against CO, most data were along high CO, O3 and low CO, O3line. This is reasonable by the explanation of polluted and clean air exchange. Butin some cases, high O3 but low CO data were observed. During such exceptional air,water content were lower. This indicate the influence of high altitude air(stratospheric air). Air from high altitude lose water by low temperature andstratospheric air contain high O3 and low CO (Kato et al., 2016).
SO2 was almost less than detection limit most of the time during summer. Buthigh SO2 peaks were observed occasionally. Using the backward trajectory
calculation, the sources of high SO2 evens were identified as volcanic activities
from mountains in Japan.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the MFRS (Certified Nonprofit Organization MountFuji Research Station) and many researchers related to the MFRS.
References: Kato, S., Shiobara, Y., Uchiyama, K., Miura, K., Okochi, H., Kobayashi, H.,Hatakeyama, S. (2016) Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16, 2368-2377.

2Change of carbon cycle in the Asian region
from the analysis of CO2 data at Mt. Fuji
Shohei NOMURA
Center for Global Environmental Research
National Institute for Environmental Studies
Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, JAPANnomura.shohei@nies.go.jp
We installed a battery-powered carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement system formonitoring atmospheric CO2 concentration at the weather station on the top of Mt.
Fuji (35.21° N, 138.43° E, 3776 m), Japan in July 2009. The system used 100
batteries to operate the measurement device during 10-months (Sep. to Jun.)because the station was not provided the commercial power during these months.
The batteries were charged for 3 weeks during summer season (Jul. to Aug.) when
the power was available at the station. The measurement system was set tooperate for only about 3.5 hour per day because of the limited power supply. The
measurements were never interrupted by a lack of battery power.
Atmospheric CO2 concentration at the top of Mt. Fuji indicated clear seasonalvariation. The concentration at Mt. Fuji showed CO2 uptake by the vegetation ofSiberia and China and by CO2 addition from anthropogenic emissions over theAsian continent. From the comparison of CO2 data of Mt. Fuji, Mauna Loa
Observatory (MLO) and aircraft measurement by CONTRAIL project whichmeasured atmospheric CO2 concentration near Mt. Fuji, we concluded that the topof Mt. Fuji can be considered a suitable location for sampling free tropospheric air
over the Eastern Asian region throughout the year and our dataset was showing
regionally representative CO2 concentration (Please refer to Nomura et al., 2017
for more information).
During 2009-2014, the difference CO2 concentration between Mt. Fuji and MLO
increased but the difference concentration had been stagnating at the recent,which indicated that the CO2 data of Mt. Fuji detected the change of CO2 emission
from Asian region including China.
Acknowledgements
This work was partly supported by funds from the Ministry of the Environment,
Japan. Also, we were supported about the maintenance of station by the MFRS
(Certified Nonprofit Organization Mount Fuji Research Station). We thank Global
Monitoring Division (GMD) of National Ocean and Atmosphere Administration(NOAA) and CONTRAIL project team for providing CO2 data of Mauna Loa
Observatory and near Mt. Fuji.
References: Nomura, S., Mukai, H., Terao, Y., Machida, T., and Nojiri, Y. (2017)
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques., 10, 667-680, doi: 10.5194/amt-10-6672017.
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The Air We Breathe: It Is Not What It Used To BeDr. Russell C. Schnell
Deputy Director
Global Monitoring Division
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
325 Broadway, Boulder, CO USA
russell.c.schnell@noaa.gov
The composition of the atmosphere is changing due to burning of fossil fuels,
manufacturing processes and agricultural practices. Some of these changes arewarming the atmosphere, some are destroying the stratospheric ozone layer andothers are producing tropospheric ozone. The NOAA Global Monitoring Divisionmonitors various aspects of the atmosphere from 100s of locations around theEarth. At some, only one parameter is measured, at others up to 250 aremonitored.
The greenhouse gas CO2 passed the 400 ppm level at Mauna Loa Observatory,Hawaii, in May 2013 and in spring 2018 it was 413 ppm. This is a 133 ppm
increase since pre-industrial times. Methane, the second most important
greenhouse gas, after a decade of no growth, began increasing again in 2007. The
likely causes are increased emissions from tropical wetlands and possibly
emissions from gas and oil fields.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the main gases that cause ozone destruction in thestratosphere known as the “Antarctic Ozone Hole”. The concentrations of the four
CFCs controlled under the Montreal Protocol have decreased greatly in the past 20years and ozone was expected expected to return to pre Ozone Holeconcentrations between 2040 and 2050.
But, in a paper published by Montzka et al., Nature, 557,413-417, (2018), a rapid
CFC-11 emission increase of ~25% since 2012 has been documented. Thissurprising increase in emissions comes when the production of CFC-11 has
supposedly been phased out. Data from Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, points tothe new production of the Montreal Protocol banned CFC-11 as occurring insoutheast China.

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