1
1 Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Japan kusano@nagoya-u.jp
The activities of the sun are now known to have a significant impact on the global environment as well as human society. However, the mechanisms of solar explosion and the subsequent dynamics in the heliosphere have not yet been fully elucidated.
Therefore, the modern socio-economic system will have potential risk to severe space weather disturbance caused by giant solar explosion.
A new nation-wide research project “Project for Solar-Terrestrial Environment
Prediction (PSTEP)” was recently established with the support of the Grant-in-Aid for
Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from MEXT/Japan. In this project, we are aiming for synergistic development of the solar-terrestrial science research and the next generation space weather forecast. More than fifty scientists from the various disciplines on the sun, heliosphere, magnetosphere, ionosphere, climate, and space weather forecast operation collaborate in this project, which continues five years from this fiscal year.
This project coordinates the interdisciplinary research on the following subjects: (1)
The development of next generation space weather forecast system, (2) Prediction of solar storms, (3) Prediction of magnetosphere and ionosphere dynamics, (4) Prediction and understanding of solar cycle activity and the impact on climate, (5) Mathematical sciences for solar-terrestrial environment variability.
In this lecture, I will explain the basic plan of PSTEP with the brief summary of space weather study in Japan. I also would like to discuss about the future prospect of international joint research of space weather and space climate in Asia-Pacific area.