On 25 August 2016, Professor Mitsuo Uematsu, Co-Chair of the WESTPAC Working Group on Asian Dust and its Impact on Ocean Ecosystem (2010-2015), was awarded the Japan Prime Minister’s Commendations for Contributors to promote the country as a “Maritime Nation” in recognition of his significant achievements in and contribution to the development of multidisciplinary studies in marine and atmospheric science.

Professor Uematsu is the Director of the Center for International Collaboration, the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo. He is recognized for his pioneering work on understanding large-scale transport of aerosol from land to the ocean and its impacts on ecosystems. He has been playing key roles in a number of international collaborative projects including the WESTPAC Working Group, which successfully achieved its preliminary goals to realize the correlation of Asian dust with primary productivity in the western Pacific and to improve understanding of solubility and bioavailability of nutrient in dust aerosol. http://iocwestpac.org/asian-dust-and-its-impact-on-ocean-ecosystem/57.html

Professor Uematsu has been dedicating himself to promoting cooperation in marine and atmospheric science at national, regional, and global level over 35 years. He has served as national focal point of Japan for WESTPAC as well as for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO) since December 2011, on his responsibility as Chair of the IOC Working Group under the Subcommittee on Natural Science, UNESCO National Committee of Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).