Regarding the news release “World's First Ship-based Observations of Atmospheric Black Carbon Particles over Arctic Ocean -Towards more sophisticated prediction of climate changes around the globe-”in February 2016, we asked to the author of the paper, Dr. Fumikazu Taketani (JAMSTEC), for some more explanation. Hope you enjoy this blog post as an additional information.
Key points of the news release
- Dr. Taketani and his team performed measurement of black carbon (BC) aerosol particles using a highly sensitive online instrument, a single particle soot photometer (SP2) on board during a cruise by the JAMSTEC's R/V Mirai across the Arctic Ocean. Single-particle-based observations with the SP2 enable the measurement of even extremely low BC mass concentrations of 0.01ng/㎥. As such examples had not been reported so often, these findings provide important information about understanding of BC's optical properties and removal process from the atmosphere.
Questions and Answers
1. What was the biggest challenge which you should’ve pushed through?
We had several troubles during the cruise. One of them is the blockage of the air inlet of the instrument with ice accretions. Also, we employed a highly sensitive instrument which can provide huge amount of data, so we required quite a lot of effort to analyze.
2. How was the domestic and international response to the news release?
We were interviewed for a domestic newspaper. Moreover, our result was featured in the Research Spotlight of EOS, a magazine of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
3. Can you think of any specific communities that you want to have them become interested in your research?
The researchers who are performing the ground observation of BC at Arctic area as well as the researchers who are working on the model simulation of atmospheric BC.
4. What is your plan for the future research?
We will continue further BC observation by using R/V Mirai to accumulate data. Furthermore, we will start BC monitoring in Alaska to understand the transportation of BC to the Arctic Ocean.
Dr. Taketani is a member of the “Atmospheric climate forcers in the Arctic” research program of the ArCS project. We can’t wait to deliver what he will come up with next.
Dr. Taketani (JAMSTEC)
