National Institute Of Polar Research Research Articles

Japan's Arctic Policy: Status and Future Prospects

Japan's Arctic Policy:Status and Future Prospects Sakiko Hataya (bio) In the Arctic, temperatures are rising three times as fast as the global average. Global warming has caused rapid and widespread changes in sea and land ice (glaciers and ice sheets), permafrost, snow cover, and other geological elements. Warmer Atlantic and Pacific waters flowing into the Arctic Ocean and reduced sea ice cover are resulting in the northward range expansions of sub-Arctic fish and marine mammals.1 These swift environmental changes have also led to increased use of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) through the polar region and greater resource development in the Arctic Ocean as international interests in the region continue to develop rapidly. Japan is not an Arctic state, but it is easily affected by the climate change taking place in the high north through oceanic and atmospheric circulation. It is the closest Asian country to the Arctic Ocean and as a result enjoys many opportunities in the region's economic and commercial sectors, such as access to the Arctic sea routes. Japan has been participating in and contributing to the Arctic Council discussions since it first gained observer status in 2013, and it has continued its observation and research activities on environmental changes in the Arctic. Japan expects to continue to actively contribute to the Arctic region. This essay reviews the history of Japan's Arctic policy and discusses the extent of the country's involvement in the Arctic region in recent years. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, international relations in the Arctic have been rapidly changing. The functioning of the Arctic Council has all but ceased, and international research cooperation and data sharing with Russia have also been discontinued. Amid such complicated international relations, this essay outlines how Japan should be involved in the Arctic region. Japan's History in the Arctic The first milestone for Japan regarding engagement in Arctic affairs was the 1957 research expedition of Hokkaido University professor Ukichiro [End Page 20] Nakaya, who participated in the U.S. Arctic expedition to Greenland. For several years thereafter, Nakaya traveled to Greenland every summer to study the ice and snow. In the 1990s, Japan furthered its Arctic research capacity with the creation of the Arctic Environment Research Center at the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo. In 1991, Japan became the first non-Arctic state to establish an observation station in the region, in Ny-Ålesund, Norway, and was also the first non-Arctic state to join the International Arctic Science Committee. Hokkaido, the northernmost region of Japan hosted the First International Conference on Human Environment in Northern Regions in 1976, and it became a founding member of the Northern Forum that emerged from the conference series in 1991. Since 1996, Hokkaido has financially supported the high north region in the areas of economics, life, education, welfare, sport, and culture. In 1993, Japan joined the Barents Euro-Artic Council, the official body for intergovernmental cooperation in the Barents Sea region, as an observer state. Representatives of Japan were even present at the signing of the Ottawa Declaration that formally established the Arctic Council in 1996. Much more recently, Japan hosted the 2015 Arctic Science Summit Week, the most important international conference on Arctic research. After perestroika in the Soviet Union, the Arctic Ocean, which had long been closed to other states, began to open to international navigation, and Norway approached Japan to discuss developing the NSR as a commercial shipping route between the Far East and Europe. Following this proposal, Japan initiated joint international research on the NSR in 1993, with the Ship and Ocean Foundation of Japan (the forerunner to the Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation) partnering with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute of Norway and the Central Marine Research and Design Institute of Russia. These organizations mutually agreed on the importance of the NSR and launched the International NSR Programme to help map out potential shipping opportunities through the NSR above Russia. To establish the NSR as a permanent commercial sea route, developing hardware- and software-based navigation systems, an emergency refuge and rescue support system, and mutually satisfactory legal, tax, and tariff frameworks for...

Chondritic breccias: An optical microscopic classification

Numerous meteorites are breccias, indicating asteroid collisions. Herein we systematically investigate brecciated chondrites to efficiently and quickly classify large numbers of breccias that are housed in organizations such as the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR). We observed 1024 chondrites in the NIPR collection only by using optical microscopy. Many terms have been proposed to describe breccias. In order to classify breccias in a short time, we propose a determinative chart only by optical microscopy from terminology previously proposed and our observations. Fragmental breccias consist of primordial lithology as a clast or a host among fragmental fine-grained minerals. If the lithology is apparently consistent throughout, it is considered a monomict breccia. Otherwise, it is provisionally called a fragmental breccia. Breccias can be classified according to evidence of in situ melting. Melt breccias contain unmelted clasts, which preserve the original chondritic textures, whereas melt rocks do not contain such clasts and represent nearly total melting.

Activities of the Polar Environment Data Science Center of ROIS-DS, Japan

The Polar Environment Data Science Center (PEDSC) is one of the centers of the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research (DS) of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), which was established in 2017. The purpose of the PEDSC is to promote the opening and sharing of the scientific data obtained by research activities in the polar region led by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR). Activities of the PEDSC have been carried out along a five year plan with the following seven specific tasks since 2017: (1) construction of an integrated database; (2) upgrade and interoperable use of the three existing database systems (NIPR Science Database, Arctic Data archive System (ADS), and Inter-university Upper atmosphere Global Observation NETwork system (IUGONET)); (3) processing of the time-series digital data; (4) processing of the sample data; (5) data publication in the Polar Data Journal; (6) collaboration with external communities; and (7) promoting data science using the database and database system.

Sluggish metabolism keeps Greenland sharks going on meagre meals

Apparently, Greenland shark is an acquired taste. The meat of these leviathans, tainted with urea and toxic trimethylamine N-oxide, requires fermentation and drying before it is safe to consume. But the long-lived giants of the deep are coming under increasing threat as they compete with humans for their own preferred delicacy, Greenland halibut. And their Arctic home is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet, putting these monsters in even more danger. ‘If we understand their energy requirements in the wild, we can estimate how much food they need to eat and hypothesise about their survival strategies’, says Eric Ste-Marie from The University of Windsor, Canada, adding that it is increasingly important to predict how they will be impacted by these threats. Together with Nigel Hussey (University of Windsor), Yuuki Watanabe (National Institute of Polar Research, Japan), Marianne Marcoux (Fisheries and Ocean Canada), in collaboration with Jayson Semmens (University of Tasmania, Australia), Ste-Marie headed north to Nunavut to go shark fishing.Working with local hunters and trappers, the team set long fishing lines baited with shark treats in the Scott Inlet, Nunavut, and further north in Tremblay Sound, capturing 30 sharks over a 5 year period before carefully hauling the animals to the surface, measuring their length and attaching a temperature and motion sensor behind the head to monitor their activity. ‘Seeing a Greenland shark up close is a unique experience. Their movements are slow but powerful, their eyes are typically cloudy and their skin feels like sandpaper’, says Ste-Marie, adding that the animals were usually calm once secured alongside a boat. The team then retrieved each tag when it detached up to 48 h later. ‘Arctic field work poses unique challenges: wind, water and ice conditions often change quickly, making tag recovery difficult, especially on days when we had multiple tags to recover or when sharks swam tens of kilometres away’, says Ste-Marie.Having previously learned from Watanabe how to extract information from the movements recorded by motion sensors, Ste-Marie painstakingly analysed the lethargic sharks’ manoeuvres and calculated how fast they beat their tails. In addition, he estimated each animal's mass, based on their length, and calculated their metabolic rate as they propelled themselves through the depths. After months of patient calculation, Ste-Marie determined that the shark's metabolic rate is ∼21.7 mg O2 h−1 kg–0.84, compared with 187–506 mg O2 kg−0.86 for bull sharks, although the metabolic rate that he determined for a smaller group of sharks wearing an activity monitor for a whole year was slightly higher (∼25.5 mg O2 h−1 kg–0.84).But how much food does that translate into? Converting the metabolic rate into energy use and then into the amount of fish a shark would have to consume to provide that energy, Ste-Marie calculated that an average 224 kg shark must consume 164–193 g of fish each day. So, a shark could keep going for 5–6 days on a 1 kg Greenland halibut meal, while a 15 kg narwhal snack would support a shark for up to 175 days and 15 kg of ringed seal could sustain an animal for up to 250 days – over 8 months – before it needed to dine again.‘Our estimates of field metabolic rate were very low across the sharks in our study. They likely do not require much energy and food to fuel their daily lives, which may allow them to survive extended periods without feeding’, says Ste-Marie, who is keen to find out how often these massive fish depend on scavenging or pursuing tasty treats to satisfy their meagre appetites.

Gravity Changes at National Institute of Polar Research

Gravity Changes at National Institute of Polar Research

Studies on Arctic aerosols and clouds during the ArCS project

Aerosols and clouds play important roles in the Arctic climate. Conversely, aerosol emissions and cloud formation are affected by changes in the Arctic climate. This paper reviews studies of aerosols and clouds performed during the Arctic Challenge for Sustainability (ArCS) project carried out by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) in Japan and collaborating institutions. The ArCS project included intensive studies of black carbon aerosols (BC). We installed Continuous Soot Monitoring System (COSMOS) instruments to measure atmospheric BC at four locations in the Arctic, establishing the Arctic BC COSMOS Measurement Network (ABCM-net). We also measured BC concentrations in snowpack in extensive areas of the Arctic and showed that previous studies have greatly overestimated BC in snowpack. We developed and improved new aerosol models that achieved better agreements with measurements of BC in the Arctic atmosphere, snowpack, and falling snow. We made new estimates of radiative forcing of BC in the Arctic atmosphere and snow/ice surfaces that lower their albedo. In addition to these researches on BC, we made accurate measurements of ice nucleating particles (INPs) at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, showing that their concentrations increased in summer as a result of dust particle emissions from glacial outwash sediments. This high ice nucleating ability was likely due to the presence of organic substances mixed with the dust particles. We also made continuous cloud radar measurements and the first continuous in-situ measurements of cloud microphysical properties in the Arctic at Ny-Ålesund. Results from these cloud measurements and their relationship with aerosols are described.

In the field: an interview with Katsufumi Sato.

Katsufumi Sato is a Professor at The University of Tokyo, Japan, where he investigates the behaviour of top marine predators. He completed his undergraduate degree in Fisheries, and his Master's degree and PhD at Kyoto University, Japan. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan, Sato was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the same institute, before moving to the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 2004. Sato was awarded a National Geographic Emerging Explorer grant in 2009 and promoted to Professor in 2014. Telling us about his research experiences around Japan and in Antarctica, Sato describes how his data logging devices have led to collaborations with scientists across the globe.

Optical calibration system of NIPR for aurora and airglow observations

Calibration of optical instruments is important for accurate measurement of the absolute emission intensity of aurora and airglow. The National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan, has been operating a facility for the optical calibration which consists of three independent calibration systems to share with collaborating researchers. This paper introduces an outline of the facility and specifications of each system, calibration procedures, and examples of calibration results. With this facility, we can obtain the calibration data for the absolute sensitivity of optical instruments with an accuracy of about 2% within a wavelength range between 420 and 1050 nm. In addition, it is possible to calibrate transmission of optical filters and also relative sensitivity of optical instruments as a function of wavelengths. Current facility, upgraded in 2012, has been used by many researchers to calibrate their various optical instruments.

Hunting great white sharks could motor but prefer to mosey

Yuuki Watanabe has always been fascinated by speed and power. As a child, he recalls being transfixed by the space shuttle, bullet trains and the raw strength of great white sharks (Carcharadon carcharias). ‘They look cool’ says Watanabe, from the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan. However, he now has another reason for being in awe of these charismatic predatory sharks: ‘they are an endothermic fish’, he says. In other words, they maintain a warmer body temperature than the surrounding water – in contrast to most fish, which simply go with the thermal flow. This relatively warm-bodied lifestyle should place the sharks’ energy requirements somewhere between those of true warm-blooded (endothermic) creatures – such as birds and mammals – and genuinely cold-blooded (ectothermic) fish. It should also allow them to swim at much higher speeds than their cold-blooded contemporaries. Yet, no one had successfully recorded the great white's behaviour to find out how their relatively warm lifestyle influences their activity. Would their warm muscles allow them to live up to their high-speed reputation, or would the sharks reserve their warm-blooded power for other activities?Heading to the Neptune Islands Group (Ron and Valerie Taylor) Marine Park off South Australia – popular with tourists keen to dive with the great whites, which congregate there to dine on seals – Watanabe and his colleagues, Nicholas Payne, Jayson Semmens, Andrew Fox and Charlie Huveneers, prepared tags equipped with sensors to detect the sharks’ movements, swim speeds and depth. However, Watanabe admits that tagging the colossal fish could be frustrating. ‘They needed to swim nice and slow, close to the boat with their dorsal fins breaking the surface, but we rarely had such ideal situations’, he smiles. And when the team wanted to get in alongside the sharks to determine their size and sex, Huveneers explains that they had to climb into a cage for protection. ‘When seen from the boat, they look very aggressive, but I was surprised how elegantly they swim when seen underwater’, says Watanabe.After the tags detached automatically a couple of days later, the team successfully retrieved nine from the water, with the 10th eventually washing ashore several weeks later. Although one shark did manage to hit the higher speeds (2 m s−1) that the team anticipated – presumably when commuting between the islands – Watanabe was surprised that the sharks that lingered near the seal colony were swimming quite sluggishly (0.8 to 1.35 m s−1). He adds that this was unexpected, because swimming becomes costly and inefficient at very low speeds. However, Watanabe suggests that the animals may benefit from their profligacy when moseying along by increasing their chance of encountering a fat seal to dine on.‘This strategy is as close to a ‘sit-and-wait’ strategy as is possible for perpetual swimmers, such as white sharks’, says Watanabe, who also analysed the sharks' manoeuvres when they dived. Noticing that the animals were clearly gliding as they descended, he compared the amount of energy consumed by the sharks during dives with their exertions when swimming at the surface, and it was clear that diving is a far more economical mode of transport than battling through waves at the surface. However, Watanabe suspects that instead of diving to conserve energy, sharks descend primarily in pursuit of seals.So, even though great white sharks are capable of swimming fast thanks to their warm muscles, living fast may not always be a benefit when waiting for dinner, and Watanabe is now keen to find out how often the super predators successfully snatch a seal for a fat snack.

Mineralized biosignatures in ALH-77005 Shergottite - Clues to Martian Life?

Abstract The ALH-77005 Martian meteorite was found in Allan Hills on Antarctica during the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research (1977-1978) mission. One thin section sample was studied by optical microscopy for microtexture and by FTIR-ATR microscopy for interpretation of biogenic minerals and embedded organic materials. The geochemical data (biogenic elements, δ13C) of ALH-77005 meteorite from literature implementing recent results were compared to terrestrial geological samples. The ALH-77005 has poikilitic textures with coarse pyroxenes and brown olivines, and with recrystallized melt pocket. The coarse-grained minerals do not contain any alteration along the grain boundaries. Melt pocket and vicinity of opaque minerals contain biogenic signatures as filamentous, coccoidal forms of iron-oxidizing bacteria. The biosignatures were determined by 1) coccoidal, filamentous forms, 2) presence of embedded organic material, 3) presence of biogenic minerals, like ferrihydrite, goethite, and hematite. The other signatures for biogenicity of this meteorite are strong negative δ13C, enrichment of Fe, Mn, P, Zn in shock melt support scenario. This study proposes presence of microbial mediation on Mars.

Science Metadata Management, Interoperability and Data Citations of the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

The Polar Data Centre (PDC) of the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) has a responsibility to manage polar science data as part of the National Antarctic Data Centre and the Science Committee on Antarctic Research. During the International Polar Year (IPY 2007–2008), a remarkable number of data/metadata involving multi-disciplinary science activities were compiled. Although the long-term stewardship of the accumulation of metadata falls to the data center of NIPR, the work has been in collaboration with the Global Change Master Directory, the Polar Information Commons, the World Data System and other data science bodies/communities under the International Council for Science. In addition, links with other data centers, such as the Data Integration and Analysis System Program of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems and the Polar Data Catalogue of Canada were initiated in 2014 using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting. The metadata compiled by the PDC were recently modified using an automatic attributing system and DataCite through the Japan Link Center.

Visible and near-infrared spectral survey of lunar meteorites recovered by the National Institute of Polar Research

Lunar meteorite chip samples recovered by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) have been studied by a UV–visible–near-infrared spectrometer, targeting small areas of about 3 × 2 mm in size. Rock types and approximate mineral compositions of studied meteorites have been identified or obtained through this spectral survey with no sample preparation required. A linear deconvolution method was used to derive end-member mineral spectra from spectra of multiple clasts whenever possible. In addition, the modified Gaussian model was used in an attempt of deriving their major pyroxene compositions. This study demonstrates that a visible-near-infrared spectrometer on a lunar rover would be useful for identifying these kinds of unaltered (non-space-weathered) lunar rocks. In order to prepare for such a future mission, further studies which utilize a smaller spot size are desired for improving the accuracy of identifying the clasts and mineral phases of the rocks.

Cluster analysis on the bulk elemental compositions of Antarctic stony meteorites

Remote sensing observations by recent successful missions to small bodies have revealed the difficulty in classifying the materials which cover their surfaces into a conventional classification of meteorites. Although reflectance spectroscopy is a powerful tool for this purpose, it is influenced by many factors, such as space weathering, lighting conditions, and surface physical conditions (e.g., particle size and style of mixing). Thus, complementary information, such as elemental compositions, which can be obtained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and gamma-ray spectrometers (GRS), have been considered very important. However, classifying planetary materials solely based on elemental compositions has not been investigated extensively. In this study, we perform principal component and cluster analyses on 12 major and minor elements of the bulk compositions of 500 meteorites reported in the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan database. Our unique approach, which includes using hierarchical cluster analysis, indicates that meteorites can be classified into about 10 groups purely by their bulk elemental compositions. We suggest that Si, Fe, Mg, Ca, and Na are the optimal set of elements, as this set has been used successfully to classify meteorites of the NIPR database with more than 94% accuracy. Principal components analysis indicates that elemental compositions of meteorites form eight clusters in the three-dimensional space of the components. The three major principal components (PC1, PC2, and PC3) are interpreted as (1) degree of differentiations of the source body (i.e., primitive versus differentiated), (2) degree of thermal effects, and (3) degree of chemical fractionation, respectively.

Detection of light-absorbing iron oxide particles using a modified single-particle soot photometer

Atsushi Yoshida, Nobuhiro Moteki, Sho Ohata, Tatsuhiro Mori, Ryuji Tada, Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserov a, and Yutaka Kondo Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland, Hvanneyri, Iceland; Faculty of Physical Sciences and Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjav ik, Iceland; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; Meteorology and Glaciology Group, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan

オープンサイエンスにおける北極域データアーカイブ（ADS）の戦略 －国立極地研究所のケース－

オープンサイエンスにおける北極域データアーカイブ（ADS）の戦略 －国立極地研究所のケース－

Ionospheric variation during pulsating aurora

AbstractWe have statistically analyzed data from the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) UHF/VHF radars in Tromsø (69.60°N, 19.20°E), Norway, to reveal how the occurrence of pulsating auroras (PsAs) modifies the electron density profile in the ionosphere. By checking five winter seasons' (2007–2012) observations of all‐sky aurora cameras of the National Institute of Polar Research in Tromsø, we have extracted 21 cases of PsA. During these PsA events, either the UHF or VHF radar of EISCAT was operative and the electron density profiles were obtained along the field‐aligned or vertical direction near the zenith. From these electron density measurements, we calculated hmE (E region peak height) and NmE (E region peak density), which are proxies for the energy and flux of the precipitating PsA electrons, respectively. Then, we examined how these two parameters changed during the evolution of 21 PsA events in a statistical fashion. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) hmE is lower (the energy of precipitation electrons is higher) during the periods of PsA than that in the surrounding interval; (2) when NmE is higher (flux of PsA electrons is larger), hmE tends to be lower (precipitation is harder); (3) hmE is lower and NmE is larger in the later magnetic local time; and (4) when the AE index during the preceding substorm is larger, hmE is lower and NmE is larger. These tendencies are discussed in terms of the characteristics of particles and plasma waves in the source of PsA in the magnetosphere. In addition to the statistics of the EISCAT data, we carried out several detailed case studies, in which the altitude profiles of the electron density were derived by separating the On and Off phases of PsA. This allows us to estimate the true altitude profiles of the PsA ionization, which can be used for estimating the characteristic energy of the PsA electrons and better understanding the wave‐particle interaction process in the magnetosphere.

Future-Proofing Japan’s Interests in the Arctic: Scientific Collaboration and a Search for Balance

In May 2013 the Arctic states convened in Kiruna, Sweden, in part to decide on whether six new states should be admitted as observers to the Arctic Council. Japan's application was accepted along with those of China, India, Italy, Singapore, and South Korea. At a glance, one might ask what credentials Japan has to be involved in the leading Arctic forum. However, a closer look at its engagement in the Arctic indicates that Japan has genuine interests in political, economic, and environmental developments there. This essay examines Japan's interests in the Arctic, its new role as an observer to the Arctic Council, and the international relationships that will affect Japan's engagement in the region.Japan's Current Engagement in the ArcticJapan is no newcomer to the Arctic. Already in 1925, the country became one of the fourteen high-contracting parties to the Spitsbergen Treaty, which recognizes the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. In 1990, Japan formally joined the Arctic research community by becoming a member of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) as a non-Arctic state. In the same year, the Centre for Arctic Research at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) was established in Japan.According to the Japanese government, the country's primary aim of engagement in the Arctic has been and remains understanding and protecting the natural environment.1 As the negative impacts of climate change became more apparent, policies related to scientific research were given higher priority. Since May 2011, the NIPR has led a nationwide project that seeks to integrate the various strands of Japanese scientific research related to climate change in the Arctic.2 In addition, since Japan made the decision to prioritize becoming an observer in the Arctic Council, the region has gained a certain level of political momentum and Japan's Arctic policies have started to gather pace and shape. For instance, just before the council's decision, an Arctic ambassador was assigned by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in March 2013, and the Arctic was included in the central government's new Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, published in April 2013.3This greater focus on the Arctic can be partly attributed to a stronger lobby from the Ocean Policy Research Foundation (OPRF). OPRF is a think tank and lobbying organization for the Japanese shipping and manufacturing industries and has conducted several research projects on the Arctic, especially regarding the Northern Sea Route (NSR). Guided by the Basic Plan on Ocean Policy, a new interministerial committee on the Arctic (called Hokkyokukai Ni Kakaru Shomondai Ni Taisuru Kankei Shocho Renraku Kaigi, or the Liaison Committee among Ministries and Agencies on Various Issues Related to the Arctic) was set up in July 2013. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)-one of the more proactive and powerful ministries of Japan-has also shown an interest in the Arctic. In 2013, MLIT conducted a small project to study the practical legal implications of using the NSR along the Russian coast, with a view toward developing the sea route further. More recently, in January 2014, OPRF began collaborating with MLIT and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on a new project to specifically consider the construction of a new icebreaker for Arctic observations.4Japan's Reasons for Joining the Arctic CouncilJapan's decision to apply for observer status on the Arctic Council came at a time when the council was beginning to take on new responsibilities. As the Arctic region underwent climate changes, the council's adoption of new roles related to safety of navigation and search and rescue was taken as an indication that the council itself was changing and that the positions of member states were shifting.5 The council is the only formal mechanism in the Arctic similar to the Antarctic Treaty System. …

Metadata Management at the Polar Data Centre of the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan

The Polar Data Centre of the National Institute of Polar Research has had the responsibility to manage the data for Japan as a National Antarctic Data Centre for the last two decades. During the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008, a considerable number of multidisciplinary metadata that mainly came from IPY-endorsed projects involving Japanese activities were compiled by the data centre. Although long-term stewardship of those amalgamated metadata falls to the data centre, the efforts are in collaboration with the Global Change Master Directory, the Polar Information Commons, and the newly established World Data System of the International Council for Science.

Report from the International Permafrost Association: High level of permafrost interdisciplinary research activity

Report from the International Permafrost Association : High level of permafrost interdisciplinary research activity

Near real-time monitoring of flow velocity and direction in the floating ice tongue of the Shirase Glacier using low-cost GPS buoys

The horizontal velocity vector of ice flow on the floating ice tongue of the Shirase Glacier, East Antarctica, was determined using two GPS buoys located on its east and west sides. The GPS buoys consisted of a single-frequency GPS receiver module and an Iridium satellite communication system. The instantaneous horizontal position of each GPS buoy was automatically obtained every 30 minutes, and the data were immediately transmitted to the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Tokyo, Japan, via a satellite link. The location data demonstrated that the floating ice tongue moved primarily in a linear manner during the monitoring period between February and April, 2010. The speed and azimuth of the eastern buoy were (5.779 ± 0.004 m/day, N1.4°E ± 0.5°), respectively, while for the western buoy the speed and azimuth were (7.005 ± 0.006 m/day, N13.1°W ± 0.6°), respectively. Short-term variations about the mean speed and azimuth of the ice flow, with a period of 3–10 days, were also identified.