| Kazuichi HAYAKAWA Project Leader |
 |
The Japan Sea is a marginal sea surrounded in Japanese Islands, Korean Peninsula and Eurasian Continent, and it is rich in natural resources such as aquatic resource. However, this area is a popular zone of earthquake and volcanic activity, since the Sea of Japan locates between the continent and ocean trench. Moreover, the Japan Sea is very weak by the artificial accidents of tanker, chemical factory and radioactive contamination etc., since the sea is closed with narrow channels at the both sides. In the meantime, Japan and the countries which locate in the opposite shore of the Japan Sea, China, North Korea, Korea and Russia, have large population and are developing rapidly in industry and economy with remarkable innovations.
With the activities of these countries are supported by the consumption of large fossil fuel, carbon dioxide, acidic products and combustion particulates are exhausted. These pollutants, being combined with the natural materials such as yellow sands, etc., seem to be a large factor which induces the environmental variation of recent global scale. Therefore, the Pan-Japan Sea is one of the most attractive areas for environmental scientists in the world. To prevent the disaster and to form the safe and rich international society, prediction of long- and short-term fluctuation of the environment of the Pan-Japan Sea area and construction of maintenance and accident prevention countermeasure based on the prediction are very important.
In this program,
Division of Global Environmental
Science
and Engineering,
Graduate School of Natural
Science and Technology, Kanazawa
University
is positioned as the center
of excellence (COE) in Japan for
the above research and education
with
foreign universities and research
institutes. Then, the research
and education on development
of highly sensitive environmental
monitoring methods for the
Pan-Japan
Sea area and construction of
the
data information networks,
prediction of environmental variations
based
on the monitoring, the maintenance
of useful resources and efficient
use, the prevention of accidents
that could damage the environment
are carried out in this program.
