Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Studies on Antarctic Ocean and Global Enviornment  (STAGE)

Outline
Since the IGY, the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) has been continuing intensive studies on glaciology, atmosphere science, oceanography, sea ice physics and ecology, marine and terrestrial biology, geology etc at Syowa Station on shore as well as around Syowa Station including the inland area of the Antarctic Continent. However, the ice-covered sea area off Syowa Station and the seasonal sea ice zone in further north have not been fully investigated yet, while a limited marine science research work has been carried out in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean on board the JARE icebreakers en route to and from Syowa Station. In order to understand the role of the Antarctic ocean in the global environmental change, marine production processes and marine life involved, and the history of Gondowana break up and paleoenvironment of the Antarctic continent and the Antarctic Ocean, the multi-disciplinary investigations applying the multi-ship operation in the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean are the key activities of this project. The project proposes to operate icebreakers and ice-strengthened ships, which are equipped with necessary multi-instruments and observation platform. The project consists of the following 5 key research groups. Each group needs a ship opportunity to reach its goal and the project focuses to facilitate efficiency of ship operation and research resources under the national and international collaborative scheme.1. Sea ice production and dense water formation/transport in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (PI: Masaaki Wakatsuchi)2. Behavior of greenhouse related gases and biogeochemical cycle near theKerguelen plateau (PI: Shuichi Watanabe)3. Study on the past environmental changes with high time resolution in theSouthern Ocean during the late Quaternary (PI: Naomi Harada)4. Process study of marine production in the seasonal sea ice zone of the Antarctic Ocean (PI: Tsuneo Odate)5. Circum-Antarctic Census of Marine Life, in particular to clarify structure and function of meso-pelagic system of the Antarctic Ocean (PI: Mitsuo Fukuchi)6. Gondowana breakup history and paleoenvironment in the Southern Indian Ocean (PI: Yoshifumi Nogi)7. Shallow marine drilling for high-resolution reconstruction of East Antarctic Ice and Southern Ocean history during the late Quaternary (PI: Hideki Miura) Each component of the project stands on itself as an innovative research activity, and, at the same time, has close relationships with other international programs, such as iAnZone, Clivar/Clic, ANTEC, ANTIME, ACE, SOLAS, CircAntCoML.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
A synoptic set of multi disciplinary observations are carried out to determine the present status of the Indian sector of the Antarctic Ocean, and the data and samples obtained will be compared with the other sectors of the Antarctic Ocean to understand the whole status of the Antarctic Ocean. Both the conventional and the new technology will be applied to understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes in the Ocean, in particular to discover unknown meso-pelagic life forms. To understand the paleoenvironment and to reconstruct the Southern Ocean history, the bottom drilling will be essential

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The project is based on the bottom-up preparation among Japanese and Australian polar scientists in aclose connection with the variety of international programs, such as iAnZone, Clivar/CliC, ANTEC, ANTIME, ACE, SOLAS, CircAntCoML.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Indian sector of the Southern Ocean

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: 11/07 – 03/08      11/08 – 03/09      
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Ice-breaker, ice strengthened research ship, conventional research ship, ship recovery of moored buoys, AUV and automated data loggers are necessary. These resources will be efficiently shared with other projects.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
The project is not merely a Japanese domestic one but it is designed based on the previous international collaboration among different disciplines in polar science. The project promises to further strengthen the interdisciplinary organization and net work in polar science and establish the nest polar generation.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Consortium
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
National agency
Other sources of support

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
The project has been endorsed by the Japanese national committee and also been well approved by the Australian programs.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?


STAGE program was originated in the JARE 43rd expedition in 20001/2002 summer, and area and magnitude of observations have been varied year to year. STAGE is focusing on the IPY period as well as beyond the IPY.

How will the project be organised and managed?
Before starting the STAGE in 2001/2002, the long detailed discussion and preparation were carried out among the Japanese polar scientists and the Australian colleagues. Based on those bottom-up arrangements, the time-series multi-ships observations were successfully established in 2001/2002. The mutual organization and net work among Japanese and Australian polar scientists have been well founded and managed already.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
Large proportion of scientists involved in this project will be young scientists, in particular graduate students. Also, undergraduate students will participate in some of the research cruises as a part of their undergraduate courses. These young people will be potential polar scientists for the next generation.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
All data and samples will be registered as pre-metadata before the start of the observation. Then, the obtained data will be immediately registered as a metadata after the field observations. The general principles at SCAR/COMNAP JCADM will be applied to the project.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Individual PI has each funding mechanism and we are proposing to meet individual ship operation to synchronize to the IPY timeframe.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
Many aspects of the project are closely linked to the international research programs. In particular, an arrangement of ship opportunities has been well communicated among PIs of ship operation in Japan as well as in Australia.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Mitsuo Fukuchi
1-9-10 Kaga, Itabashi-ku
Tokyo
173-8515
Japan

Tel: +81-3-3962-6031
Mobile: no
Fax: +81-3-3962-4914
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation