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Welcome to GAIA project site

Latest News

2024/07
Presentations will be held at COSPAR meeting.
2024/05
Presentations were held at JpGU meeting.

About GAIA project

The GAIA project combines atmospheric and ionospheric models (developed separately thus far), and targets the development of a simulation model for the whole global atmosphere. Upon being realized, this model will provide a powerful means of studying and solving such upper atmosphere issues as the vertical coupling in the Earth’s atmosphere. This project is also aimed at reproducing actual upper atmospheric variations by assimilating observation data into the GAIA model.


Purpose of GAIA project

The demand for quantitative predictions of the situation in the upper atmospheric region has increased, along with brisker human activities in space in recent years. And in conjunction with the effects stemming from human activities, it has become more important to understand the long-term process of atmospheric variations. Thus, the development of a global atmospheric model is considered beneficial for such demand in the future.

In the field of academic research on the upper atmosphere, however, the coupling to the lower atmosphere has been an essential issue. Evidence regarding the interrelationship between ionospheric and tropospheric variations has been consistently reported based on recent observations using satellites and ground-based radars. A model applicable to the entire atmospheric region is thus needed to understand such vertical coupling from the troposphere through the ionosphere, as variations propagating across regions with different characteristics and complex dynamics must be handled.

Against such a background, efforts to develop models describing the vertical coupling in the Earth's atmosphere have intensified worldwide. This project aims to build the world's first global atmospheric model by mobilizing domestic resources. For this purpose, research using the GAIA model will address the following issues:

  • Understanding the process of vertical coupling in the Earth’s atmosphere
    • Relation between lower atmospheric weather and space weather (daily variations in the ionosphere and thermosphere)
    • Relation between climatic changes in the lower atmosphere and long-term changes in the upper atmosphere
  • Understanding the interacting processes between the neutral atmosphere and ionospheric plasma in the upper atmosphere
  • Understanding the process of how disturbances occur in the ionosphere and thermosphere due to solar flares or magnetic storms
  • Building a base model for numerically predicting space weather


Members

Atmospheric model

Yasunobu Miyoshi
Kyushu University (miyoshi_AT_geo.kyushu-u.ac.jp)
Hitoshi Fujiwara
Seikei University (h_fujiwara_AT_st.seikei.ac.jp)

Ionospheric model

Hiroyuki Shinagawa
NICT (sinagawa_AT_nict.go.jp)
Kaori Terada
Tohoku University

Electrodynamics model part

Hidekatsu Jin
NICT (jin_AT_nict.go.jp)

Model experiments & extension

Mitsuru Matsumura
Ryosuke Yasui
Meteorological Research Institute
Satoshi Andoh
NICT
Chihiro Tao
NICT (chihiro.tao_AT_nict.go.jp)

Model coupling method

Naoki Terada
Tohoku University
Takashi Tanaka
Kyushu University/NICT
Akimasa Yoshikawa
Kyushu University

Observations and Comparisons

Shigeru Fujita
Meteorological College
Yuichi Otsuka
Nagoya University
Akinori Saito
Kyoto University
Mamoru Ishii
NICT
Takuya Tsugawa
NICT
Huixin Liu
Kyushu University

Acknowledgement

This project has been supported by the following grants.
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) in Japan (21H01150)
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) in Japan (19K03942)
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) in Japan (15H03733)
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) in Japan (23340149)
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) in Japan (23340144)
-MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (20200047)

Contacts

gaia-web_AT_ml.nict.go.jp (please replace "_AT_" by "@")