The enormous resources of post-K supercomputer might enable us to visualize what has been impossible to investigate the detailed processes in “the Earth in the computer”, such as the movement and structure of rainfall and typhoons on a smaller scale. The enormous computing resources might also allow us not only to “understand more detailed and complicated structure”, but also to “handle more complicated data interchanges.” Using this enormous computing resources, sub-issue C aims to investigate the detailed processes of aerosols such as PM2.5. PM2.5 is not a specific chemical species like nitrogen oxides, but it covers a variety types of microparticles floating in the air, having a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. A few years ago, it was reported that an extremely high level of PM2.5 was observed in China, and such small particles might cause health problem if the concentration level exceeds critical level. Research projects in sub-issue C focus on pollutants which have completely different sources, reactions and impacts on global warming, the environment and human health. For example, black carbon particulate and sulfate aerosol in flue gas from factories. They explore the possibilities of more in-depth studies of how air pollutants are transported, changing and related to human activities, and work toward better capture of a wide variety of observation data on air pollutants.
CO2 concentration estimated by NICAM-Chem global chemical transport model
Used stretched grids which covers East Asia in high resolution (approximately at 14-km intervals) (units: ppm).
Aerosol optical depth estimated by NICAM-Chem global chemical transport model
Aerosol optical depth is a kind of index for the radioactive impact of aerosols. It includes the effect of various kinds of aerosols such as dast particles and black carbon.