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 present information for use by NSF program managers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF policy. .
Ms. Karen E. Owens, a Ph.D. student in the School of Forestry and Wood Products at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, prepared the following report. Ms. Owens was a participant in the 1998 Summer Institute sponsored by NSF/NIH/USDA and the Science and Technology Agency of Japan. Dr. Haruo Sawada of the Forestry and Forestry Products Research Institute, MAFF/FFPRI, hosted Ms. Owens. Ms. Owens can be reached via email at: kowens@mtu.edu
The World Forest Monitoring Research Team is a remote sensing and GIS laboratory established to conduct research in the field of forest science, specifically dealing with forests of Japan and other countries. The team promotes basic field survey collection techniques together with information analysis using remote sensing and GIS technology. Their current research includes: monitoring of climax forests in Japan; vegetation classification and monitoring of forests for global environmental study (Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia); early warning/detection system for forest fire prevention in Indonesia; and estimation of stem volume of Hiba (False arborvitae) in Aomori, Japan. The team's laboratory is located at the FFPRI headquarters in Tsukuba. The head of the laboratory is Dr. Haruo Sawada.
I participated in the development of an early warning/detection fire prevention system for the forests of Indonesia. The objective of the research was to develop a GIS model, which would evaluate the fire hazard potential of forests in Indonesia with the use of AVHRR satellite imagery. The imagery could provide large-scale coverage of the entire country, allowing for the monitoring of vegetation health and stress, an indication of fire hazard potential. The project was still in its initial stages. I assisted with literature review and synthesis to evaluate previous models and past success of vegetation health indices. I also helped to test out the initial stages of the model on areas of the United States.
Unrelated to this project, I participated in fieldwork with the World Forest Monitoring Research team as well as other researchers from another branch of FFPRI located in Morioka. I was able to travel to Northern Honshu and see forests common to this region. I met several remote sensing and GIS forest science researchers from FFPRI as well as from the University of Tokyo. Overall this was a great experience which allowed me to meet fellow Japanese researchers and receive exposure to Japanese research styles and methods.