NEWS

ICU Associate Professor Chika Minejima Wins Best Paper Award at the 57th Meeting of the Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment

Update: July 30, 2016

ICU Associate Professor Chika Minejima (Major: chemistry, environmental studies) won the Best Paper Award (note/preliminary report category) from the Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment* for her paper "Measurements of Nitrous Acid (HONO) Direct Emission from Rice Paddy Soil and Its Contribution to Atmospheric HONO Concentration." The award will be presented at the general assembly of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment to take place on September 8.

The award-winning paper

Measurements of Nitrous Acid (HONO) Direct Emission from Rice Paddy Soil and Its Contribution to Atmospheric HONO Concentration

The paper investigates the source of nitrous acid gas (HONO), a kind of nitrogen oxide that exists in the atmosphere. HONO is a precursor to hydroxyl radicals (OH) one of the most powerful oxidizing agents in the atmosphere. It is, however, extremely difficult to precisely elucidate the behavior of these hydroxyl radicals themselves, so it is important that we understand the behavior of HONO, which plays a key role in the generation of hydroxyl radicals. The source of HONO, particularly emission sources during the daytime has not been made clear. This study focuses on the emission sources of HONO during the daytime, and has observed and quantitatively measured the direct emission of HONO from soil in the fields for the first time in the world. It also assesses the impact direct emissions from soil have on the atmospheric concentrations of HONO.

Comment from Associate Professor Chika Minejima

I am so happy to receive such an honorable award. I would like to express my appreciation for the students and co-researchers who worked together with me in this project. I am already working on another research projects building on the findings of this work. As little as it may be, I hope to gain new findings and insight that will contribute to the chemical and environmental studies of the world.

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* Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment

The Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment aims to contribute to the diffusion of knowledge on and hence conservation of the atmospheric environment through scholarly investigations and research of the atmospheric environment.