Environmental Information Center
Outline of Research ( pamphlet )
In order for environmental conservation to succeed, it is necessary to put environmental information into the hands of regular people and to foster a common understanding regarding the state of the environment. Through the internet and our paper publications, the Environmental Information Center provides to the public both the results of research conducted at NIES and a variety of environmental information collected from external sources.
NIES Website
We report on the activities and research results obtained at NIES through the institute’s website. On the site, we introduce the research activities of our four priority programs and six fundamental research divisions, in addition to providing a searchable list of the research papers published by our employees. It is also possible to download databases, and a variety of publications such as annual reports and research reports from the website. Furthermore, we provide movies of our NIES Open Symposia so people who could not attend can get an idea of what they were like.
Environmental Geographic Information System
The Environmental GIS (Geographic Information System) Website provides various environmental data in Japan and East Asia. It is presented in an easy-to-understand, visual way using images and graphs superimposed on maps.
The website consists of following 14 fields. •Transboundary Air Pollution in East Asia, •Air Pollution Prediction System, •Air Environment Monitoring Survey, •Hazardous Air Pollutant Monitoring Survey, •Designated or Control Area of Air Environment, •Life Environment Information, •Motor Vehicle Traffic Noise Survey, •Monitoring Survey of Water Quality, •Monitoring Survey of Marine Environment, •General Survey of Total Emission on Water Pollution, •Basic Survey of Environmental Management in Seto Inland Sea, •Designated or Control Area of Water Environment, •Environmental Survey of Dioxins, •Integrated Retrieval System of Monitoring Survey,
http://www-gis.nies.go.jp/
Environmental Research and Technology Portal Site
This site contributes to the promotion of environmental conservation by providing a wealth of information on research and development in the environmental field. The site includes information from press releases and websites on governmental and commercial environmental technologies in addition to news articles that introduce technologies currently in the spotlight. In addition to providing a means to obtain information on environmental technologies easily, the site also offers information on upcoming events and seminars, and tips for environmental learning.
Environmental Numerical Databases
The results of regular monitoring of air pollution conditions and the results of water quality measurement of public water areas are available to be downloaded. Monthly and yearly data (1970 to 2006) is available for the atmospheric environment and yearly data (1971 to 2006) is available on the water quality in public water areas. These data files are available to be copied onto magnetic media. We are also able to lend out hourly data on the atmospheric environment over 20 different prefectures.
Publishing and Distributing Environmental Information
NIES regularly publishes annual reports, research reports, and newsletters and distributes them to national and prefectural research organizations. We also publish a quarterly newsletter called Kankyogi that explains environmental phenomena in an easy-to-understand way. All of these publications are available as PDF files on our website.
NIES Library
The NIES library collects documents and materials necessary for environmental research from domestic and international sources and makes them available to the researchers at NIES. The collection includes about 50,000 books, and 400 domestic and international journal titles. The library also provides access to online search and reference systems such as Web of Science and Science Direct.
Maintaining the Computer Network System
The Environmental Information Center runs the supercomputer system and the backbone network for the institute. The supercomputer system includes a vector processing computer that allows large quantities of data to be processed efficiently at ultrafast speeds. Researchers can use the system to predict future climate change and analyze global observational data. In addition, we provide support to the internal users of our backbone network, prevent unauthorized access to the system, and take security measures against viruses and other attacks.