Investigation on the present status and the future of the earth science

研究的目的是考察近年来地球科学的研究趋势，把握现状和对未来的建议。1998财年，计划举行了一次专题讨论会，以调查地球科学在各个领域的发展，作为大地测量百年纪念的里程碑。本文就地球科学史概述、在日地物理学中取得显著进展的雷达天文学、以厄尔尼诺现象在大气和海洋科学领域的研究为代表的气候系统科学的发展、地震学领域的地震预报现状、火山学领域的岩浆动力学和火山喷发预报、空间探测器在行星科学领域取得的重大成就以及先进的空间技术在大地测量领域的应用等七个问题，由各个领域的杰出研究人员针对地球科学的发展和未来前景进行了总结，并作为题为《地球视野中的新洪流》的研讨会报告发表。在1999财政年度，分发了专题讨论会的会议记录，并继续在感兴趣的研究人员之间进行讨论。上述报告表明，全球定位系统这一利用人造卫星的全球定位系统在地球科学领域具有广泛的应用前景。因此，与全球定位系统--应用于地球科学以及与其他空间大地测量技术相互作用国际专题讨论会密切合作，开展了关于全球定位系统应用的调查。此外，还在加拿大举行的国际URSI会议上对行星射电科学的国际研究趋势进行了调查，并安排发表关于未来行星探测计划的提案。

Research has been made for the purpose of investigating the recent research trend in earth science, and performing a firm grasp of the present status and the proposal to the future. In FY 1998, a symposium was planned and held in order to survey the development of earth science in varieties of field as a milestone for the centennial of geodesy. Here, the seven issues, viz., the overview on the history of earth science, the radar aeronomy which has made a remarkable progress in the solar terrestrial physic, the development of the climatic system science referring to the elucidation of EL Nino study in theatmospheric and ocean science fields, the present status of earthquake prediction in the field of seismology, the dynamics of magma and the prediction of volcanic eruption in the field of volcanology, the big achievements which the space probes have performed in the planetary science field, and advanced space technology applications in the geodesy field, were summarized in view of the development and future prospect of earth sciences by the distinguished researchers in each field.These were published as a symposium report entitled "The new torrent in the view of the earth". In FY 1999, the symposium proceedings were distributed, and discussions among interested researchers were continued. It was evident in the above report that the GPS which is a global positioning system using the artificial satellite tends to possess a broad range of applications in the earth science fields. Hence, investigation was performed concerning GPS applications in close collaboration with the International symposium on GPS- Application to Earth Sciences and Interaction with other Space Geodetic Techniques. Moreover, survey on the international research trend in the planetary radio science at the international URSI meeting in Canada and arrangement for publishing the proposal on the future planetary exploration plan were performed.