Institute Greeting for 2010

The mission of the Institute of Geology and Geoinformation is to shed light on the geological nature of Japan’s national territory and surrounding oceans, and to organize the country’s collection of terrestrial and marine geological information into a national archive of useful information.

This archive will form the core component of geological studies to be performed by public institutions. It has been nine years since the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) was established, and this fiscal year marks the start of the Third Medium Term. In this time, the importance of geological information has steadily increased in solving social issues pertaining to disaster prevention, resource management, and environmental problems, as well as in contributing to the sustainable development of a safe and sound society. As a result, recent acquisitions of geological data combined with solid science allow the Earth’s past to be understood, which in turn aids in evaluating the future health of the global environment, and in providing scientific information and warnings to citizens about risks to the natural environment.

Started in May 2004 after restructuring of the Institute of Geoscience and the Institute of Marine Resources and Environment, today’s Institute also features two research groups added from the Research Core for Deep Geological Environments, which were newly added in April 2007. The Institute was further enhanced by restructuring of the geological mapping, information geology, mineral resources, and geophysics research groups in April 2009, and January and April of 2010.

With this new organizational structure, our Institute is currently engaged in key research areas of conducting land and marine geological surveys to augment our data archive, and improving the accuracy of predicting volcanic eruptions to better evaluate geological risk. In addition, the Institute is engaged in research supporting various endeavors being promoted in the field of geological studies, such as surveying coastal regions and researching safety standards for underground disposal of radioactive waste. We are also engaged in mineral resource research, as well as supporting the AIST initiative to integrate geological data into the GEO Grid. Lastly, the Institute is engaged in a range of social programs including 1) providing information to national and local authorities on industrial site evaluations, natural disaster mitigation, resource management and global environmental preservation, and underground utilization; 2) improving the scientific understanding within local communities in order to facilitate understanding of the planet and implementation of environmentally sustainable practices; 3) making international contributions; and 4) supporting geological businesses with geological data and surveying technology.

By applying the combined strengths and research experience built up by our Institute, our hope is to help create a society capable of sustainable development for humankind, and to develop a high quality of life based on long-term safety and security through the use of geological surveys. In working toward these goals, the Institute and its members look forward to your continuing support.

April 1, 2010