Professor Gary Morris

Dr. Gary Morris, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Valparaiso University, was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to study pollution being carried by wind currents from China to Japan before, during and after the Beijing Olympics. 

With the support of the Fulbright Scholar grant, Dr. Morris traveled to Japan at the beginning of July to begin collecting air quality data from the city of Sapporo in northern Japan. He will continue working with colleagues from Hokkaido University and NASA to collect the air quality data through the end of September, and will then spend October and November analyzing the data with air pollution researchers at the Frontier Research Center for Global Change in Yokohama.

Dr. Morris says this research project will help quantify how much air pollution China is generating, show how that pollution is affecting neighboring Japan, and indicate the effectiveness of China’s pollution control strategy for the Olympics.

Dr. Morris will return to Japan during the same period next year to collect air pollution data at a time when Chinese emissions are likely to be closer to typical levels. The team will collect data each year on levels of ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and aerosol pollution from a combination of satellites, ground-based instruments and weather balloons. Direct comparisons between the two years of data will permit a determination of the impact of China’s pollution on Japan’s air quality.

To learn more about Dr. Morris’ pollution research, read the full press release.

read the full press release