Carbon amount acquisition device and carbon amount acquisition method

Abstract

A carbon amount acquisition device (100) comprises: an information acquisition unit (11) that acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount contained in the soil in a specific area at a first time point; a plant carbon amount acquisition unit (12) that acquires information indicating the plant carbon amount contained in the plant in the specific area at the first time point; a discharged carbon amount acquisition unit (13) that acquires information indicating the discharged carbon amount discharged from the soil in the specific area during a period from the first time point to a second time point which is after the first time point; and a soil carbon amount acquisition unit (14) that acquires, on the basis of the result of subtracting the discharged carbon amount from the total of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount, information indicating a second soil carbon amount contained in the soil in the specific area at the second time point.

Description

Carbon amount acquisition device and carbon amount acquisition method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a carbon amount acquisition device and a carbon amount acquisition method.

[0002] A dry combustion method has been disclosed in which a sample of dried plants or the like is heated to a high temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the sample is measured based on the measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide generated or the measurement of the mass loss of the sample (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). In recent years, carbon credit trading has required the measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in farmland, forests, and other land where plants grow (hereinafter referred to as "farmland, etc."), and the dry combustion method can be used to measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by plants.

[0003] Nayak, AK et al.Current and emerging methodologies for estimating carbon sequestration in agricultural soils: A review. Science of The Total Environment 665, 890-912 (2019)

[0004] However, in order to measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in agricultural land, etc., it is necessary to know not only the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by plants but also the change in the amount of carbon contained in the soil, and there is a problem in that a device that can obtain the amount of carbon contained in the soil is required.

[0005] The present disclosure was made in response to the recognition of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a carbon amount acquisition device and a carbon amount acquisition method that can acquire the amount of carbon contained in soil.

[0006] The carbon amount acquisition device of the present disclosure is characterized by comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount contained in soil in a specific area at a first point in time; a plant carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a plant carbon amount contained in plants in the specific area at the first point in time; an emitted carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating an emitted carbon amount released from soil in the specific area during a period from the first point in time to a second point in time that is later than the first point in time; and a soil carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a second soil carbon amount contained in soil in the specific area at the second point in time based on the result of subtracting the emitted carbon amount from the sum of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount.

[0007] The carbon amount acquisition device according to the present disclosure can acquire the amount of carbon contained in soil.

[0008] 7A is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a carbon amount acquisition system according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7B is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a carbon amount acquisition device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7C is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a carbon amount acquisition device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7D is a flowchart showing an example of a process for calculating a second soil carbon amount performed by the carbon amount acquisition device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7E is a flowchart showing an example of a process for estimating a plant carbon amount performed by the carbon amount acquisition device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7F is a flowchart showing an example of a process for generating a regression model for estimating a released carbon amount performed by the carbon amount acquisition device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 7A is a graph showing a time series change in the amount of carbon released from soil during a period from a first time point to a second time point, and FIG. 7B is a graph showing frequency components below a preset threshold value extracted from the time series change in the amount of carbon released during a period from the first time point to the second time point.

[0009] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Embodiment 1. First, a schematic configuration of a carbon amount acquisition system 1 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the carbon amount acquisition system 1 according to embodiment 1. The carbon amount acquisition system 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a system for acquiring information indicating the amount of carbon contained in soil in a specific area, such as farmland. Note that, in embodiment 1, the information indicating the amount of carbon may be information indicating the total weight of carbon, information indicating the total substance amount of carbon, or information that can be converted into such information indicating the amount of carbon, such as the total weight of carbon dioxide. As shown in FIG. 1, the carbon amount acquisition system 1 according to embodiment 1 includes a database (hereinafter referred to as "DB") 10, an external device 20, and a carbon amount acquisition device 100, which are electrically connected to each other so as to be able to communicate information via wire or wirelessly.

[0010] DB10 stores information used for various processes by the carbon amount acquisition device 100. For example, DB10 stores information for identifying a specific area from which carbon amount is to be acquired by the carbon amount acquisition system 1, information indicating the appearance of the specific area, information about carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere above the specific area, information about the local weather related to the specific area, measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area, information about plants in the specific area, information about objects other than plants present in the specific area, and information about the soil in the specific area.

[0011] The information for identifying a specific area stored in DB10 is, for example, information indicating the latitude and longitude of the specific area, the elevation of the specific area, the address of the specific area, the area of ​​the specific area, the position of the dividing lines that separate the specific area, the owner, manager, and user of the specific area, the use of the specific area, etc.

[0012] The information indicating the appearance of the specific area stored in DB10 is information obtained by measuring the specific area using a digital camera mounted on a satellite, drone, or aircraft, a digital camera installed on the ground, a smartphone operated by a worker, or other device, such as two-dimensional image information obtained by imaging the specific area, three-dimensional image information obtained by imaging the specific area with a light field camera, point cloud information obtained by scanning the specific area with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and three-dimensional shape information obtained by scanning the specific area with radar. This information indicating the appearance of the specific area is obtained, for example, at multiple different dates and times, and is stored in DB10 in association with information indicating the date, time, position, and orientation at which the information indicating the appearance was obtained. Note that the information indicating the appearance of the specific area may be information that changes over time, such as a moving image, or information that does not change over time, such as a still image.

[0013] The information about carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere above a specific area stored in DB10 is, for example, information indicating the distribution of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere above the specific area. The information indicating the distribution of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere above the specific area is obtained, for example, by differential absorption spectroscopy, which estimates the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere along the light path based on the measurement of the difference in absorption of two-wavelength laser light in the near-infrared range irradiated onto the specific area by an artificial satellite, or the measurement of the difference in absorption at each wavelength by performing spectral analysis of sunlight. Furthermore, the information about carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere above the specific area is obtained, for example, at multiple different dates and times, and is stored in DB10 in association with information indicating the dates and times at which the information about carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere above the area was obtained.

[0014] The regional weather information for a specific area stored in DB10 is, for example, weather information that affects at least one of the growth rate of plants in the specific area and the decomposition rate of organic matter by microorganisms contained in the soil of the specific area, such as information indicating the temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, snowfall, snow accumulation, sunshine hours, sunshine amount, wind direction, wind speed, etc. of the specific area. The weather information is, for example, acquired at multiple different dates and times, and is stored in DB10 linked to information indicating the dates and times at which the weather information was acquired. Note that the regional weather information for a specific area stored in DB10 is not limited to the weather information for the specific area, but may be any information that has a sufficiently high correlation with the weather of the specific area. For example, it may be a representative value of the weather information for the specific area that includes the specific area, or weather information for an area adjacent to the specific area that includes the specific area, or weather information for an area near the specific area.

[0015] The measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area stored in DB10 are obtained, for example, based on signals from carbon dioxide sensors that measure the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area on the ground. Specifically, the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area are obtained by estimating the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil based on the measurement results of carbon dioxide sensors that are placed at multiple locations on the soil surface in the specific area and measure the carbon dioxide concentration on the soil surface. Note that the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area stored in DB10 may also be obtained by other means, for example, by estimating the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil based on the measurement results of carbon dioxide sensors that are placed at multiple locations in the soil in the specific area and measure the carbon dioxide concentration in the soil, or by estimating the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil by differential absorption spectroscopy using laser light emitted horizontally near the soil in the specific area.

[0016] The information about plants in a specific area stored in DB10 is information indicating, for example, the type of plant growing in the specific area, the type of crop being cultivated in the specific area, the planting date and time of the crop being cultivated in the specific area, genetic information about the crop being cultivated in the specific area, the harvest yield of the crop being cultivated in the specific area, the germination rate of the crop being cultivated in the specific area, the number of plant stalks in the specific area, the spacing between plants in the specific area, the number of plant stalks per unit area in the specific area, the size of plants in the specific area, the weight per unit volume of plants in the specific area, the growth period of plants in the specific area, the weight per plant of plants in the specific area, the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area per unit weight, the amount of nitrogen contained in plants in the specific area per unit weight, the weight ratio of the harvested part of plants in the specific area to the residue, the volume ratio of the harvested part of plants in the specific area to the residue, the weight ratio of the shoots to the roots of plants in the specific area, the volume ratio of the shoots to the roots of plants in the specific area, the water content of plants in the specific area, and the relationship between the color of plants in the specific area and the water content. In the first embodiment, the entire above-ground part of a plant is referred to as a "shoot," and the underground part is referred to as a "root."

[0017] The information indicating the weight and the information indicating the volume of plants in a specific area may be information in a dry state, information in a non-dried state, or information in a dry state and information in a non-dried state. The information about plants in a specific area may be information provided by the owner, manager, or user of the specific area, or may be information obtained by surveying plants in the specific area. For example, if the specific area is farmland, the amount of carbon per unit weight contained in plants is obtained from samples of cultivated plants using a dry combustion method, a wet digestion method, elemental analysis, or the like.

[0018] The information about objects other than plants present in the specific area stored in DB10 is, for example, information about carbon-containing objects other than plants present in the soil of the specific area, such as the type of organic or inorganic fertilizer added to the soil of the specific area, the amount of organic or inorganic fertilizer added to the soil of the specific area, the type or composition of food waste added to the soil of the specific area, the amount of food waste added to the soil of the specific area, the amount of carbon contained in food waste added to the soil of the specific area, the type or composition of waste such as paper, clothing, biodegradable polymers, sludge, etc. added to the soil of the specific area, the amount of waste such as paper, clothing, biodegradable polymers, sludge, etc. added to the soil of the specific area, the amount of carbon contained in waste such as paper, clothing, biodegradable polymers, sludge, etc. added to the soil of the specific area, information indicating the type, size, number per unit volume of soil and level of activity of living and dead animals, insects, and microorganisms present in the soil of the specific area, the amount of carbon contained in living and dead animals, insects, and microorganisms present in the soil of the specific area, the type and amount of minerals present in the specific area, and information indicating the amount of carbon contained in minerals present in the specific area. In addition, the information about objects other than plants present in a specific area stored in DB10 may be information about objects that affect the carbon content of the soil, for example, objects that do not contain carbon but affect the carbon content of the soil by affecting the rate at which organic matter in the soil is decomposed by microorganisms.

[0019] The information about the soil in the specific area stored in DB10 includes, for example, the density of the soil in the specific area, the composition of the soil in the specific area, the density of the soil in the specific area, information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide generated from the soil in the specific area, information indicating the amount of carbon contained per unit weight or unit volume of the soil in the specific area, the soil cultivation method, the date and time the soil was cultivated, the number of times or frequency of tilling the soil, etc. For example, the amount of carbon contained per unit weight or unit volume of the soil in the specific area is obtained from soil samples obtained at one or more locations in the specific area by dry combustion, wet digestion, elemental analysis, etc.

[0020] The information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide generated from soil in a specific area may be information indicating the relationship between the amount of carbon dioxide generated from soil in a specific area and weather conditions, or information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide generated from soil in a specific area during a specific period in the past. Furthermore, the information indicating the amount of carbon contained per unit weight or unit volume of soil in a specific area may be information in a dry state, information in a non-dry state, or information in a dry state and information in a non-dry state.

[0021] In addition to the above-mentioned information, DB10 may also store information on road information, traffic volume information, population information, and other factors that affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere within and around the specific area. Furthermore, DB10 is not limited to storing all of the above-mentioned information, as long as it stores at least information that is used when carbon amount acquisition device 100 performs various processes. When carbon amount acquisition device 100 performs various processes, the information stored in DB10 is referenced.

[0022] The external device 20 outputs, to the carbon amount acquisition device 100, information indicating input operations for operating the carbon amount acquisition device 100, and displays information input from the carbon amount acquisition device 100. For example, the external device 20 includes an input device (not shown) that is configured with a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, mechanical switch, voice input device, etc. that accepts input operations by an operator and outputs information to the carbon amount acquisition device 100, and a display device (not shown) that is configured with a liquid crystal display panel, an organic or inorganic electroluminescence (EL) panel, a dot matrix display, an LED (light emitting diode), etc. and displays the information input from the carbon amount acquisition device 100.

[0023] The carbon amount acquisition device 100 includes an information acquisition unit 11 , a plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 , a released carbon amount acquisition unit 13 , a soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 , and a storage unit 15 .

[0024] The information acquisition unit 11 acquires information used by the carbon amount acquisition device 100 to perform various processes from the DB 10 and the external device 20. For example, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in the soil of a specific area at a specific first point in time, from the DB 10. Specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires information indicating the amount of carbon contained per unit weight or unit volume of the soil of the specific area acquired at the specific first point in time from the DB 10, and acquires information indicating the first soil carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in the entire soil of the specific area up to a specific depth, based on the acquired information. Note that the first soil carbon amount is a carbon amount that serves as a reference for acquiring a change in the amount of carbon contained in the soil between the first and second points in time by acquiring the difference between the first soil carbon amount and a second soil carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area at a specific second point in time (described later). Therefore, the information acquisition unit 11 may acquire the information indicating the first soil carbon amount as 0.

[0025] Furthermore, for example, the information acquisition unit 11 is configured to acquire information indicating the appearance of plants in the specific area at a first time point. Specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires image information acquired by imaging the specific area at the first time point. Furthermore, for example, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires, from the DB 10, information indicating extra-plant carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in objects other than plants that were added to the soil of the specific area during a period from the first time point to a second time point that is later than the first time point. Specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 acquires, from the DB 10, information indicating the types of organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers added to the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point and the amounts of organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers added to the soil of the specific area, and based on this acquired information, acquires information indicating the extra-plant carbon amount contained in the organic fertilizers and inorganic fertilizers added to the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point. For example, the second time point is a date and time that is one day, one week, one month, or one year after the first time point.

[0026] The information acquired by the information acquisition unit 11 is not limited to the information described above, and may be configured to acquire information used when the carbon amount acquisition device 100 performs various processes from the DB 10. For example, the information acquisition unit 11 may be configured to acquire information related to the amount of plants cultivated in a specific area from the DB 10. Specifically, the information acquisition unit 11 may be configured to acquire the type, number of plants, cultivation period, and weather information for the specific area of ​​the plants cultivated in the specific area, and based on this acquired information, acquire information indicating the weight or volume of the plants cultivated in the specific area at a first time point from the DB 10.

[0027] The plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12 acquires information indicating plant carbon mass, which is the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at a first time point. For example, the plant carbon mass is the amount of carbon contained in plants that are buried in the soil of the specific area and become part of the soil after the first time point. For example, the plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12 acquires the information indicating plant carbon mass by estimating the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at the first time point based on information indicating the appearance of the plants acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Specifically, the plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12 acquires the information indicating plant carbon mass by estimating the volume of plants in the specific area based on image information obtained by capturing an image of the specific area containing plants at the first time point acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Details of the plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12 will be described later.

[0028] The carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 acquires information indicating the carbon emission amount, which is the amount of carbon emitted from the soil in the specific area to the atmosphere during a period from a first time point to a second time point. For example, the carbon emission amount includes the amount of carbon emitted when organic matter contained in the soil in the specific area is decomposed by microorganisms in the soil. For example, the carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 acquires information indicating the carbon emission amount by estimating the amount of carbon emitted from the soil in the specific area during a period from the first time point to the second time point based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere in the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the soil in the specific area measured on the ground, both of which are acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Details of the carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 will be described later.

[0029] The soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 acquires information indicating the second soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the second time point, based on the result of subtracting the amount of released carbon from the sum of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount. For example, the soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 acquires the carbon amount obtained by subtracting the amount of released carbon acquired by the released carbon amount acquisition unit 13 from the sum of the first soil carbon amount acquired by the information acquisition unit 11 and the plant carbon amount acquired by the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12, as the second soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the second time point. Furthermore, for example, the soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 acquires the carbon amount obtained by subtracting the amount of released carbon acquired by the released carbon amount acquisition unit 13 from the sum of the first soil carbon amount acquired by the information acquisition unit 11, the plant carbon amount acquired by the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12, and the non-plant carbon amount acquired by the information acquisition unit 11, as information indicating the second soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the second time point.

[0030] The storage unit 15 stores information used when the carbon amount acquisition device 100 performs various processes and information indicating the results of the various processes. For example, the storage unit 15 stores parameters used when the carbon amount acquisition device 100 performs various processes, intermediate results and final results of the various processes, and other information. Specifically, the storage unit 15 stores information indicating the amount of carbon contained in the soil of a specific area that was acquired at a specific point in the past.

[0031] Next, the hardware configuration of the carbon amount acquisition device 100 will be described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment that is different from that shown in Figure 2. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 is a computer having a processor 100a, a memory 100b, and an I / O port 100c, and is configured so that the processor 100a reads and executes a program stored in the memory 100b.

[0032] 3, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 is a computer that has a processing circuit 100d, which is dedicated hardware, and an I / O port 100c, and executes a program. The processing circuit 100d is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof. Each function of the carbon amount acquisition device 100 is realized by the processor 100a or the processing circuit 100d, which is dedicated hardware, executing a program. The carbon amount acquisition device 100 may have hardware other than those described above, such as a hardware timer for timing and a filter for extracting signals in a specific frequency band.

[0033] Next, details of the processing performed by the carbon amount acquisition device 100 will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 4 to 6. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing for calculating the second soil carbon amount performed by the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment. As shown in Figure 4, when the carbon amount acquisition device 100 starts the processing for calculating the second soil carbon amount, it first acquires information indicating the first soil carbon amount (step ST01). In this processing, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires, via the information acquisition unit 11, information indicating the first soil carbon amount that serves as a reference for the amount of carbon contained in soil. Note that in this processing, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 may also acquire, via the information acquisition unit 11, information indicating the amount of carbon contained in soil that was previously acquired by the soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 from the DB 10.

[0034] After performing the process of step ST01, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating plant carbon amount (step ST02). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating plant carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at a first time point, using the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12. For example, in this process, the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 acquires the information indicating plant carbon amount by estimating the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at the first time point based on a regression model in which image information acquired by imaging plants grown in the specific area is used as an explanatory variable and the amount of carbon contained in the plants is used as a target variable.

[0035] 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the process for estimating plant carbon mass that is performed by the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment in the process of step ST02 shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, when the carbon amount acquisition device 100 starts the process for estimating plant carbon mass, it first acquires information indicating the appearance of plants in the specific area at a first time point (step ST21). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 causes the information acquisition unit 11 to acquire image information of the specific area, including plants in the specific area at the first time point, which image information was acquired from the sky by a digital camera mounted on an artificial satellite, for example.

[0036] After performing the process of step ST21, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the shoot volume of the specific area using the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 based on the information indicating the appearance of the plant acquired in the process of step ST21 (step ST22). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the shoot volume of the specific area by inputting image information of the specific area including the plants in the specific area at the first time point into a regression model in which image information of the plants growing in the specific area is used as an explanatory variable and the shoot volume is used as a target variable.

[0037] After performing the process of step ST22, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the dry weight of the shoot in the specific area based on the estimated shoot volume using the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 (step ST23). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the dry weight of the shoot in the specific area by inputting the shoot volume acquired in the process of step ST22 into a regression model in which the shoot volume is an explanatory variable and the shoot dry weight is a target variable, for example.

[0038] After performing the process of step ST23, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the plant carbon amount of the specific area based on the estimated shoot dry weight using the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 (step ST24). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 estimates the plant carbon amount of the specific area by inputting the shoot dry weight estimated in the process of step ST23 into a regression model in which the shoot dry weight is an explanatory variable and the carbon amount of the entire plant is a target variable. After performing the process of step ST24, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 ends the process of estimating plant carbon amount.

[0039] Each regression model used in the process of estimating plant carbon mass described above can be generated by a known algorithm such as a convolutional neural network or deep learning, based on information corresponding to a plurality of explanatory variables and information corresponding to a plurality of target variables, which have been acquired in advance. The carbon mass acquisition device 100 may be configured to generate such a regression model using the plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12, or may be configured to acquire a regression model generated by another device (not shown) from the other device.

[0040] 4 , after performing the process of step ST02, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating the extra-plant carbon amount (step ST03). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires, via the information acquisition unit 11, information indicating the extra-plant carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in objects other than plants that were added to the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point.

[0041] After performing the process of step ST03, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating the amount of released carbon using the released carbon amount acquisition unit 13 (step ST04). For example, in this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires the information indicating the amount of released carbon by estimating the amount of carbon released from the soil in the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point using a regression model based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area measured on the ground.

[0042] 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a process in which the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment generates a regression model for estimating the amount of emitted carbon in the process of step ST04 shown in FIG. 6 . When the carbon amount acquisition device 100 starts the process of generating a regression model for estimating the amount of emitted carbon, as shown in FIG. 6 , the carbon amount acquisition device 100 first acquires the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere acquired from the sky during a specific period (step ST41). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires, by the information acquisition unit 11, information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of a specific area, for example, by differential absorption spectroscopy based on information acquired from the sky by an optical sensor mounted on a satellite during a specific period prior to the period from the first time point to the second time point.

[0043] After performing the process of step ST41, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area measured on the ground during the specific period (step ST42). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil in the specific area based on the measurement results from carbon dioxide sensors installed at one or more locations on the ground at the same date and time as or corresponding to the date and time at which the information indicating the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area was acquired in the process of the immediately preceding step ST41.

[0044] After completing the process of step ST42, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 determines whether to end the information collection performed in steps ST41 and ST42 (step ST43). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 determines whether a sufficient number of pieces of information for generating a regression model have been acquired in the processes of steps ST41 and ST42. For example, in this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 determines whether the number of pieces of information acquired in the processes of steps ST41 and ST42 has reached a preset threshold value.

[0045] If the information collection is not to be ended in the processing of step ST43 (NO in step ST43), the carbon amount acquisition device 100 returns the processing to step ST41 and acquires new information at a date and time different from the date and time when the information was acquired in the previous processing of step ST41. In this way, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 repeats the processing of steps ST41 and ST42 until a sufficient number of pieces of information for generating a regression model are acquired.

[0046] When the information collection is terminated in the process of step ST43 (YES in step ST43), the carbon amount acquisition device 100 generates a regression model in which the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere is used as an explanatory variable and the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil is used as a target variable (step ST44). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 generates the regression model based on information acquired multiple times in the processes of steps ST41 and ST42. For example, such a regression model is generated by a known algorithm such as linear regression, a convolutional neural network, or deep learning, based on information acquired multiple times in the processes of steps ST41 and ST42.

[0047] After performing the process of step ST44, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 stores the regression model in the storage unit 15 (step ST45). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 stores the regression model for estimating the amount of released carbon generated in the process of step ST44 in the storage unit 15, so that it can be read out and used as needed. After performing the process of step ST45, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 ends the process of generating the regression model for estimating the amount of released carbon.

[0048] The carbon amount acquisition device 100 may be configured to generate a regression model for estimating the above-mentioned amount of released carbon using the released carbon amount acquisition unit 13, or may be configured to acquire a regression model generated by another device (not shown) from the other device.

[0049] 4 , after performing the process of step ST04, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 subtracts the amount of released carbon from the sum of the first soil carbon amount, the plant carbon amount, and the non-plant carbon amount to calculate information indicating a second soil carbon amount (step ST05). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 calculates the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area at the second time point by subtracting the amount of carbon released from the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point from the sum of the first soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the first time point, the plant carbon amount contained in the plants of the specific area at the first time point, and the carbon amount of objects added to the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point, thereby acquiring information indicating the second soil carbon amount. In other words, in this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 acquires information indicating the amount of change in the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point.

[0050] After performing the process of step ST05, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 outputs the calculation result (step ST06). In this process, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 stores information indicating the second soil carbon amount acquired in the process of step ST05 in the DB 10 and displays it on the display device of the external device 20. After performing the process of step ST06, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 ends the process of calculating the second soil carbon amount.

[0051] As described above, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment includes an information acquisition unit 11 that acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount contained in soil in the specific area at a first time point, a plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 that acquires information indicating a plant carbon amount contained in plants in the specific area at the first time point, a carbon release acquisition unit 13 that acquires information indicating an amount of carbon released from soil in the specific area during a period from the first time point to a second time point that is later than the first time point, and a soil carbon amount acquisition unit 14 that acquires information indicating a second soil carbon amount contained in soil in the specific area at the second time point based on the result of subtracting the carbon release amount from the sum of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount. With this configuration, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can acquire the amount of carbon contained in soil in the specific area at the second time point that is later than the first time point. For example, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can acquire information indicating a time-series change in the amount of carbon contained in soil in the specific area by acquiring the amounts of carbon contained in soil in the specific area at multiple time points after the first time point. Furthermore, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 eliminates the need to directly measure the amount of carbon contained in the soil of a specific area using a dry combustion method or the like, and can improve the workability of acquiring the amount of carbon contained in the soil of a specific area compared to conventional methods. For example, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 makes it possible to acquire the amount of carbon contained in the soil of a specific area from a remote location, without the need for an operator to travel to the site each time a measurement is performed.

[0052] Furthermore, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment is configured to acquire information indicating the appearance of plants in a specific area at a first time point, and the plant carbon amount acquisition unit 12 is configured to acquire information indicating the plant carbon amount by estimating the plant carbon amount based on the information indicating the plant appearance acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Configured in this way, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 eliminates the need to directly measure the amount of carbon contained in plants in a specific area using a dry combustion method or the like, and can improve the workability of acquiring the amount of carbon contained in soil in a specific area compared to conventional methods.

[0053] Furthermore, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment is configured to acquire information indicating the amount of emitted carbon by estimating the amount of emitted carbon based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the soil of the specific area measured on the ground. Thus configured, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can improve the operability when acquiring the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area compared to when the amount of carbon emitted from the specific area is measured only using a sensor installed on the ground. Furthermore, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can improve the accuracy of the information acquired when acquiring the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area compared to when the amount of carbon emitted from the specific area is estimated only using differential absorption spectroscopy from the sky.

[0054] Furthermore, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the first embodiment is configured to acquire information indicating the amount of extra-plant carbon contained in objects other than plants that were added to the soil of the specific area during a period from a first time point to a second time point, and acquire information indicating the second soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the second time point based on the result of subtracting the amount of released carbon from the sum of the first soil carbon amount, the plant carbon amount, and the extra-plant carbon amount. Thus configured, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can improve the accuracy of the acquired information when acquiring the amount of carbon contained in the soil of the specific area by taking into account the influence of various objects, such as fertilizer added to the soil.

[0055] In the first embodiment, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 is configured to estimate the amount of carbon contained in plants in a specific area at a first time point based on a regression model in which image information acquired by capturing images of plants grown in the specific area is used as an explanatory variable and the amount of carbon contained in the plants is used as a target variable, but is not limited to this. The carbon amount acquisition device 100 may be configured to acquire information indicating a plant carbon amount, which is the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at a first time point, using the information acquisition unit 11 to acquire information on the amount of plants grown in the specific area from the DB 10, and to estimate the amount of carbon contained in plants in the specific area at the first time point using a regression model generated in advance, based on the information on the plant amount acquired by the information acquisition unit 11.

[0056] Furthermore, the regression model used by the plant carbon mass acquisition unit 12 to estimate the plant carbon mass may be a single model or may be configured as a combination of multiple regression models. For example, the regression model for estimating the plant carbon mass may be a regression model that directly estimates the amount of carbon contained in a plant from image information acquired by imaging the plant, a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in a plant from the volume of the shoot, a regression model that estimates the dry weight of the entire plant from the volume of the shoot, a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in a plant from the dry weight of the entire plant, a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in a plant after harvesting a crop from image information acquired by imaging the plant before harvesting the crop, or a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in a plant from image information acquired by imaging the plant after harvesting the crop. The regression model may be a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in plants after harvesting a crop from image information obtained by the regression model, or a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in plants using moving images as image information, or a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in plants using point cloud information of a specific area instead of image information, or a regression model that estimates the amount of carbon contained in plants using three-dimensional shape information of a specific area instead of image information, or a regression model generated to reflect the effects of weather conditions on plants based on weather information.Various regression models can be generated using information indicating the appearance of the specific area stored in the above-mentioned DB10, regional weather information related to the specific area stored in DB10, and information related to plants in the specific area stored in DB10, etc.

[0057] Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 is configured to estimate the amount of carbon released from soil in the specific area during a period from a first time point to a second time point using a regression model based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide released from soil in the specific area measured on the ground, but is not limited to this. The carbon amount acquisition device 100 only needs to be configured to acquire information indicating the amount of released carbon, which is the amount of carbon released from soil in the specific area during a period from the first time point to the second time point. For example, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 may be configured to acquire meteorological information about the specific area from the DB 10 using the information acquisition unit 11 and estimate the amount of released carbon based on the meteorological information acquired by the information acquisition unit 11. Specifically, the carbon amount acquisition device 100 can estimate the amount of carbon released from soil in the specific area by inputting meteorological information about the specific area at a specific time point into a regression model generated based on the meteorological information about the specific area acquired from the DB 10 and the amount of carbon dioxide released from the soil measured on the ground when the meteorological information was acquired.

[0058] The regression model for estimating the amount of carbon dioxide emitted may be generated so as to reflect the influence of information on factors that affect the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, such as meteorological information, road information, traffic volume information, population information, and other information, in addition to the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of a specific area obtained from the sky and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the soil of a specific area measured on the ground. The regression model for estimating the amount of carbon dioxide emitted may be a single model or may be configured by combining multiple regression models.

[0059] Furthermore, the carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 is not limited to acquiring the amount of carbon emitted from soil in the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point, as the amount of carbon emitted. The amount of carbon estimated by the regression model based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from soil in the specific area measured on the ground may contain noise due to human activities, etc. For this reason, the carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 may be configured to acquire the amount of carbon emitted from the amount of carbon estimated by the regression model after removing noise. For example, the carbon emission amount acquisition unit 13 may be configured to acquire information indicating the amount of carbon emitted based on frequency components below a predetermined threshold in the time-series change in the amount of carbon emitted from soil in the specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point.

[0060] 7A is a graph showing the time-series change in the amount of carbon released from soil during the period from the first time point to the second time point, and Fig. 7B is a graph showing frequency components below a preset threshold value extracted from the time-series change in the amount of carbon released during the period from the first time point to the second time point. For example, the released carbon amount acquisition unit 13 can remove the above-mentioned noise by using a low-pass filter to extract frequency components below a preset threshold value from the time-series change in the amount of carbon released from soil in a specific area during the period from the first time point to the second time point, and acquiring the amount of carbon of the extracted waveform as the amount of released carbon.

[0061] The carbon amount acquisition device 100 may include some or all of the other components of the carbon amount acquisition system 1, or some of the components may be provided in another device that is communicatively connected to the carbon amount acquisition device 100, or the carbon amount acquisition device 100 may be communicatively connected to the other components of the carbon amount acquisition system 1 via another device, computer, or communication network (not shown). Furthermore, each component of the carbon amount acquisition system 1 is not limited to being composed of a single device, and may each be composed of multiple devices.

[0062] In addition, in the present disclosure, any of the components of the embodiments may be modified or omitted.

[0063] The carbon amount acquisition device 100 according to the present disclosure can estimate the amount of greenhouse gas absorption or emission in a specific area by acquiring the amount of carbon contained in the soil in the specific area, and can be used to manage greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

[0064] 1 Carbon amount acquisition system, 11 Information acquisition unit, 12 Plant carbon amount acquisition unit, 13 Emitted carbon amount acquisition unit, 14 Soil carbon amount acquisition unit, 15 Storage unit, 20 External device, 100 Carbon amount acquisition device, 100a Processor, 100b Memory, 100c I / O port, 100d Processing circuit.

Claims

1. A carbon amount acquisition device comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount contained in soil in a specific area at a first point in time; a plant carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a plant carbon amount contained in plants in the specific area at the first point in time; an emitted carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating an emitted carbon amount released from soil in the specific area during a period from the first point in time to a second point in time that is later than the first point in time; and a soil carbon amount acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a second soil carbon amount contained in soil in the specific area at the second point in time based on the result of subtracting the emitted carbon amount from the sum of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount.

2. The carbon amount acquisition device described in claim 1, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires information indicating the appearance of plants in the specific area at the first time point, and the plant carbon amount acquisition unit acquires the information indicating the plant carbon amount by estimating the plant carbon amount based on the information indicating the appearance of plants acquired by the information acquisition unit.

3. The carbon amount acquisition device described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires information regarding the amount of plants cultivated in the specific area, and the plant carbon amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the plant carbon amount by estimating the plant carbon amount based on the information regarding the amount of plants acquired by the information acquisition unit.

4. A carbon amount acquisition device as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the carbon emission amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the amount of carbon emission by estimating the amount of carbon emission based on the amount of carbon dioxide contained in the atmosphere of the specific area acquired from the sky and the measurement results of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the soil of the specific area measured on the ground.

5. A carbon amount acquisition device as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires weather information related to the specific area, and the carbon emission amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the carbon emission amount by estimating the carbon emission amount based on the weather information acquired by the information acquisition unit.

6. A carbon amount acquisition device as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the carbon emission amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the amount of carbon emitted based on frequency components below a predetermined threshold value of the time series change in the amount of carbon emitted from the soil in the specific area during the period from the first point in time to the second point in time.

7. A carbon amount acquisition device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the information acquisition unit acquires information indicating the amount of non-plant carbon contained in objects other than plants that were added to the soil of the specific area during the period from the first point in time to the second point in time, and the soil carbon amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the second soil carbon amount contained in the soil of the specific area at the second point in time based on the result of subtracting the amount of released carbon from the sum of the first soil carbon amount, the plant carbon amount, and the non-plant carbon amount.

8. A carbon amount acquisition method performed by a device including an information acquisition unit, a plant carbon amount acquisition unit, a released carbon amount acquisition unit, and a soil carbon amount acquisition unit, comprising: a step in which the information acquisition unit acquires information indicating a first soil carbon amount contained in soil in a specific area at a first point in time; a step in which the plant carbon amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the plant carbon amount contained in plants in the specific area at the first point in time; a step in which the released carbon amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating the amount of released carbon released from soil in the specific area during a period from the first point in time to a second point in time that is later than the first point in time; and a step in which the soil carbon amount acquisition unit acquires information indicating a second soil carbon amount contained in soil in the specific area at the second point in time based on a result of subtracting the released carbon amount from the sum of the first soil carbon amount and the plant carbon amount.

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