I participated in an international conference “Climate Change in Asia 2018” at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in Vladivostok during 21-22 August. I jointed the Laboratory tour for soil science laboratory and nanotechnology laboratory on 21 August. At the laboratory tour, everybody was interested in study contents and the facilities of other study fields and was looking for a similarity and the difference with their laboratories. At first, we jointed to discuss the direction of the international conference at the room of Vice President of the FEFU, Professor K. Golokhvast. At the conference, researchers made presentations on the effects of climate change on soil environment and coastal marine environment. I was interested in the influence of global warming to the permafrost in Siberia.

I jointed the meeting of the conference

A snap shot of laboratory tour. Professor Nesterova Olga Vladimirovna explained soil properties in Russia.

During 23-30, I carried out the experiment for separation and concentration of radioisotopes such as Ra isotopes from seawater samples at the laboratory of the Ill’chev Pacific Oceanological Institute (POI), Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science, under Supervisor Dr. T. Chizhova. The purpose of the experiment is to identify the subsurface groundwater discharge (SDG) in the Peter the Great Bay off Vladivostok. The members of POI collected the seawater and river water samples at 21 points on 14-16 August this year to perform this student exchange program.

Stirring the seawater sample

Precipitate of BaSO₄ and Fe(OH)₃ to collect Ra and Th isotopes

Radium isotopes (Ra-226 and Ra-228) were collected by using co-precipitaion with barium carrier, which made by barite (BaSO4) with low background of Ra isotopes. Radium has higher concentration in groundwater rather than in seawater because the soil is a source of supply. So we can use radium as a tracer of SDG. We also collected thorium isotopes (Th-228 and Th-234) to study removal of trace elements from sweater to bottom sediment by the precipitation of iron hydroxide. The precipitation was collected and dried in an oven at 110 – 120 ˚C. The radioactivity of Ra and Th isotopes will be determined by Ge detector. I had very tedious work because I could not carry out usual experimental operation at different environmental tool. I talked to Dr. T. Chizhova to solve problems of the experimental operation with the separation of Ra and Th isotopes from river and sea water samples.