The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Tokyo Office periodically receives and disseminates reports on research developments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission. NSF-sponsored researchers currently working in Japan prepare many of these reports. These reports provide information for use by the global science and engineering community.
Headquartered in Toyokawa City in Aichi Prefecture (located in the center of Japan), and affiliated with the Nagoya University (one of the major Japanese national universities), STEL was established in 1990 as one of the University-attached Institutes for Joint Use. Research is conducted in conjunction with state-of-the-art technologies. Programs conducted include geomagnetic variations, cosmic noise absorption, auroras, minor atmospheric constituents, aerosols, the solar wind, solar neutrons, and cosmic rays.
STEL consists of four divisions: The goal of the Division of Atmospheric Environment is to understand the behavior of trace gases and particulate matter involved in these processes. The Division of Ionospheric and Magnetospheric Environment concentrates on understanding processes associated with the entry of solar wind energy into the magnetosphere and its transfer to the ionosphere. The Division of Heliospheric Environment aims to learn more about the physical laws that describe interplanetary space, and in particular, to study effects associated with solar activity over short and long time scales. The Division of Integrated Studies tries to reach a quantitative understanding of the global behavior of Solar-Terrestrial relationships by treating the solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere-thermosphere-natural atmosphere system in its entirety.
Because of the nature of Solar-Terrestrial science, it is essential that STEL involve itself in international cooperation programs. As of 1998, STEL has agreements with 28 foreign institutions to promote collaboration in observations, data analyses, theoretical studies, and researcher exchange. Also, STEL has a system through which foreign researchers can stay at STEL at least 3 months to pursue collaborative efforts. Under this system STEL receives about 10 visiting scientists per year. In addition, STEL receives about 50 research visitors from abroad on a short-term basis.
Ground based observations are carried out at Moshiri Observatory, Fuji Observatory, Sakashita Station, Sakushima Observatory, Kagoshima Observatory, and Rikubetsu Obervatory, ranging from the northern tip to the southern tip of Japan.
Major instruments used include Atmospheric Composition Spectrometer, Laser Radar, Raman Lider, VLF/ELF Emissions Recorder, GPS-TEC meter, High-Sensitivity Monochromatic All-Sky TV Camera, UHF(327MHz) Antenna for Interplanetary Scintillation Observations, Multi-Directional Cosmic Ray Muon Telescope, Auroral Imagery Processing System, and Three-Dimensional Image Processing System.
Further information can be obtained by visiting STEL's URL at: http://www.stelab.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Opportunities for US collaboration: US researchers interested in working with counterparts at STEL can apply for short (1-8 weeks) or long-term (3-24 month) fellowships sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Opportunities for U.S. researchers to work and visit laboratories in Japan are available at: http://www.twics.com~nsftokyo/home.html
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NSF/T:kshinohara