Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...

Preface
In summer the World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg on the African continent,
the birthplace of humankind, while also marks the tenth anniversary of the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit,
so for the international community, global environmental problems are still a very compelling concern. In summer
, Washington DC hosted the Earth Observation Summit where participating countries began examining cooperation
and the systematic implementation of earth observation.
Before we can hope to resolve global environmental problems, we must first gain an accurate understanding of
the true state of the earth, build up our scientific knowledge about the unknown global systems and mechanisms,
then devise accurate predictions and formulate the necessary countermeasures based on this. Much is therefore
expected of JAMSTEC in its capacity as a leading marine science and technology test and research organization,
and we are committed to giving back to the wider community our observation achievements from our fleet of
oceanographic research vessels, observation buoys, manned research submersibles and unmanned vehicles, and our
analysis achievements from such systems as the Earth Simulator.
Against this backdrop, this year all facilities of the Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences were completed, and in
August we held the opening ceremony with Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Toyama
as our special guest. Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences will make a significant contribution to a broad range of
research aimed at resolving global environmental issues through its four roles as an R&D and operation center for
the Earth Simulator, a research center encompassing the Frontier Research System for Global Change and other
organizations, a comprehensive information center for JAMSTEC, and a center for distributing the fruits of our
research on the oceans and earth to society.
In September we invited the directors of of the world's major ocean research institutions to take part in an
international symposium under the theme of "Ocean science in the st century" to commemorate JAMSTEC's th
anniversary. The results of the discussions were summarized and conveyed to the world in the Yokosuka Statement.
In October the Center for Deep Earth Exploration (CDEX) was inaugurated. CDEX will operate the deep-sea
drilling vessel CHIKYU, which is currently under construction and scheduled for completion in , and provide
strong support for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) to start in October .
In November the analysis program for the Earth Simulator, which commenced full-scale operations in March,
won the Gordon Bell Award. The Gordon Bell Awards are highly prestigious awards given in recognition of
outstanding achievements in practical scientific and technical computing.
From April JAMSTEC will be reborn as an independent administrative institution, and with this we are determined
to advance our research into ocean and earth science and technology even more positively and efficiently.
This annual report outlines JAMSTEC's programs during fiscal , and we hope it will give you a better understanding
of our activities and the kind of research and development we carry out. We
at JAMSTEC look forward to your continuing support and cooperation.
November
Takuya Hirano
President
Japan Marine Science and Technology Center