Research Activity

Geochemical Research Department (GRD) has been studying temporal variations and spatial distributions of chemical constituents in atmosphere and ocean and elucidating the biogeochemical and climatological mechanisms controlling their distributions in the earth system, to have better understanding of the geochemical behavior and fate of chemical constituents in atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial environments and to assess their ecological effects. In order to achieve these purposes, GRD observes the increasing tendency of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere using specific plat homes such as commercial airlines and a meteorological tower especially focusing on outflow of pollutants from the East Asia . GRD studies the exchange processes of greenhouse gases and others between air and sea by on-board observation. GRD studies long-term variability of total inorganic carbon and nutrients in the ocean following climate change. A pronounced research project of GRD is the radioactivity study in the atmosphere and ocean; the longest time-series data of deposition of anthropogenic radionuclides has been recorded. The radioactivity data has been used as a tracer to detect environmental changes and to verify the ocean and atmosphere modeling as well as the radiological assessment of anthropogenic radionuclides.