Research
FY2022 Coastal Engineering Paper Award
The following paper, published in Journal of JSCE B2 (Coastal Engineering), received Coastal Engineering Paper Award from the JSCE Coastal Engineering Committee. This research focused on a blue carbon function of Tokyo Bay, one of the world's representative urban bays. This paper reported on the continuous observation of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in the surface seawater in a harbor using an inexpensive and practical handmade sensor system. Congratulations to Masanori Endo, Project Academic Specialist, and SUN Jing, 2nd-year master's student. Publication Endo, M., Sun, Jing and Sasaki, J.: Continuous observation of partial pressure of carbon dioxide in winter at a port in the head of Tokyo Bay. Journal […]
Field survey in the Fukido River mangrove on Ishigaki Island in the summer of 2022
We conducted a one-month field survey in the Fukido River mangrove forest in Ishigaki Island again in the summer of 2022; Nakamura (D2) and Phyo (M2) were major contributors. We again received supports from the Port and Airport Research Institute, the National Institute for Environmental Studies, and Osaka Metropolitan University. This summer, we mainly investigated the process of inorganic carbon export from mangrove soils and the carbon cycle between mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs. We express our gratitude to the members of Fukui Prefectural University for their assistance in collecting and analyzing groundwater samples. We will continue our research to understand the whole picture of blue carbon in mangroves in […]
Award for Outstanding Student Presentation at the 2022 Congress of Japan Geoscience Union
Wataru Nakamura, a second-year PhD student, received the Outstanding Student Presentation Award in the Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences Section at the 2022 Congress of the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU Meeting 2022). More than 550 students entered the competition; about 5-10 % of the entries in each section received this award in the 2022 Congress. The title of the presentation was "Tidal-driven high CO2 evasion from mangrove swamp to the air and adjoining waters over spring-neap tidal cycles in the estuary of Fukido River, Ishigaki Island". Congratulations!
Filed survey on Fukido River mangrove in Ishigaki Island
With the cooperation of the Port and Airport Research Institute, Nakamura (D1) and Phyo (M2) have started to study carbon dioxide sequestration and emission by mangrove forests. In August 2021, they conducted a one-month field survey in the mangroves of the Fukidori River in Ishigaki Island. Fukido River mangrove in Ishigaki Island Mangrove forests are said to have a high carbon sequestration capacity due to carbon sequestration by photosynthesis and the deposition of organic matter by complex above-ground roots. The carbon sequestration is also promoted by the fact that the soil is always in a reducing state due to the high organic matter content, and the rate of soil decomposition […]
HYCOM data download and visualization
The HYCOM database is an oceanic reanalysis dataset often used for open boundary conditions in oceanic circulation models. The Netcdf handling tool of xhycom was developed to facilitate the OPeNDAP download and visualization of Netcdf data using xarray. Data visualization includes creation of still images and time-series movies with matplotlib while interactive visualization with hvPlot. Jupyter Notebook on xhycom may help you to understand how to use it. In terms of visualization, matplotlib is superior in terms of ease of fine tuning and speed, which is better for printed materials. On the other hand, hvPlot is useful for checking values and understanding phenomena interactively; but it is slower.