Study of melting ice using infrared laser for ice sheet drilling

• Project/Area Number: 15K13605
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Geochemistry/Cosmochemistry
• Research Institution: Public Works Research Institute (2016); National Institute of Polar Research (2015)
• Principal Investigator: Sakurai Toshimitsu 国立研究開発法人土木研究所, 土木研究所(寒地土木研究所), 研究員(移行) (00581810)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MOTOYAMA Hideaki 国立極地研究所, 気水圏研究グループ, 教授 (20210099) ; FUJITA Masayuki レーザー技術総合研究所, レーザープロセス研究チーム, 主席研究員 (30260178) ; TOKITA Shigeki 大阪大学, レーザー科学研究所, 講師 (20456825)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,860,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥660,000)
• Keywords: 氷 / 雪 / 融解 / レーザー / 掘削

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We measured melting speed of ice using infrared laser to propose the ice sheet laser drilling system for continuous analysis of the past climate changes. In this study using CO2 laser to melt ice, we found that the ice melting speed is 0.8mm/s for ice, and 4mm/s for snow (153kg/m3). We also propose that the fiber coupled laser is preferred to drilling ice sheet and the fiber should be high transmittance rate. In further study, we need to optimize the laser drilling system including the development of laser source itself.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Micro-droplets containing sulfate in the Dome Fuji deep ice core, Antarctica: findings using micro-Raman spectroscopy (2017)
  • Author(s): T. Sakurai, H. Ohno, H. Motoyama, T. Uchida
  • Journal Title: Journal of Raman Spectroscopy Volume: 48 Issue: 3 Pages: 448-452
  • DOI: 10.1002/jrs.5040
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] State dependence of climatic instability over the past 720,000 years from Antarctic ice cores and climate modelling (2017)
  • Author(s): Kawamura K, Abe-Ouchi A, (以下62名)
  • Journal Title: Science Advances Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Pages: 1-13
  • DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600446
  • NAID: 120005981371
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Studies of melting ice using CO2 laser for ice drilling (2016)
  • Author(s): Toshimitsu Sakurai, Haik Chosrowjan, Toshihiro Somekawa, Masayuki Fujita, Hideaki Motoyama, Okitsugu Watanabe, Yasukazu Izawa
  • Journal Title: Cold Regions Science and Technology Volume: 121 Pages: 11-15
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2015.09.014
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Boiling effect in liquid nitrogen directly cooled Yb3+:YAG laser (2016)
  • Author(s): T. Sakurai, H. Chosrowjan, H. Furuse, S. Taniguchi, T. Kitamura, M. Fujita, S. Ishii, Y. Izawa
  • Journal Title: Applied Optics Volume: 55 Issue: 6 Pages: 1351-1355
  • DOI: 10.1364/ao.55.001351
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Physicochemical properties of bottom ice from Dome Fuji, inland East Antarctica (2016)
  • Author(s): Ohno, H., Iizuka, Y., Hori, A., Miyamoto, A., Hirabayashi, M., Miyake, T., Kuramoto, T., Fujita, S., Segawa, T., Uemura, R., Sakurai, T., Suzuki, T., and Motoyama, H
  • Journal Title: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface Volume: 121 Issue: 7 Pages: 1230-1250
  • DOI: 10.1002/2015jf003777
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] 顕微ラマン分光法による南極ドームふじ氷床コア中の硫酸微液胞の発見 (2016)
  • Author(s): 櫻井俊光、大野浩、本山秀明、内田努
  • Organizer: 日本地球惑星科学連合2016年大会
  • Place of Presentation: 千葉県幕張メッセ国際会議場
  • Year and Date: 2016-05-22
• [Presentation] レーザー氷床掘削のための氷の融解に関する研究 (2015)
  • Author(s): 櫻井俊光、ハイク コスロービアン、染川智弘、藤田雅之、本山秀明、渡辺興亜、井澤靖和
  • Organizer: 日本地球惑星科学連合
  • Place of Presentation: 幕張、幕張メッセ
  • Year and Date: 2015-05-24