(Updated:16 JUN 2026)
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***Japan Geoscience Union Mailnews June Issue No.417 12 JUN 2026***
<< Contents >>
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| 1. Foreword by Simon Wallis, President of JpGU
| 2. JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 Report
| -> Meeting Overview
| -> Please give us your feedback of JpGU-AGU JM 2026
| -> Contents we provide after the 2026 meeting
| -> Certificates
| -> Lost and Found at the Local Venue
| 3. From Committees
| -> Educational Affairs Committee
| Recruitment Notice of instructors in the JpGU 2026 Geoscience course for school teachers
| -> Committee for Diversity Management and Talent Pool
| On-site childcare and schoolchild rooms
| 4. Information from PEPS
| -> PEPS Awarded Papers 2026
| -> Featured Articles
| -> Latest Articles
| 5. From Science Council of Japan
| 6. What’s New
| -> Event Information
| -> Career Opportunity
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#1. Foreword by Simon Wallis, President of JpGU
It was a great pleasure to see so many of you at JpGU-AGU 2026! While final checks are still underway, attendee numbers are expected to top 10,000, cementing our place as the world’s third-largest geoscience meeting. Despite geopolitical headwinds, we saw a surge in international participation—a testament to our collaboration with AGU and global interest in Japanese science.
Beyond the core science, sessions tackled critical themes from science policy to the impact of generative AI on publishing. Highlights were the four plenary centerpiece sessions and a unique crossover of art and science.
= Presidential Forum Lecture = Dr. Kate Kitagawa delivered a powerful message on the relevance of inclusivity amidst global fragmentation. Her encouraging words to early-career researchers served as a brilliant roadmap for ambitious students.
= Frontiers of Science Lecture = Dr. Shang-Ping Xie addressed one of our era’s most pressing themes, clarifying that while global warming trends are established, understanding local temperature variations is key to predicting wind and rainfall changes.
= Leadership Lecture = Dr. Karin Markides masterfully wove together philosophy and management, with real-world success stories and proposed that universities reframe one of their core purposes to become “trusted partners” linking science, government, industry, and society.
= Frontiers of Science Lecture= Dr. Jun Korenaga took us on a stimulating journey through Earth’s history and the origin of life. Beyond his vast kaleidoscope of work, his advice to students searching for research topics—asking “Who cares?” and “So what?”—offered excellent food for thought for us all.
=Art & Science Performance= Dr. Makiko Hirata’s wonderful piano performance brought musical stardust to the meeting. The piece for the left-hand alone evoked themes of overcoming adversity and exploring the possible, and ‘on a drop of water’ left the audience enthralled.
As we reflect on these insights, we are already looking to JpGU 2027. We greatly value your feedback—please take a brief moment to reply to our event questionnaire.
Thank you for making JpGU-AGU 2026 such a resounding success!
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#2. JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 Report
(1) Meeting Overview
We’d like to thank all the attendees for participating in JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026.
Here is the flash report of this year’s meeting.
Period: Sun. 24 – Fri. 29 May 2026
Meeting format: Hybrid (in-person and online)
Local venue: International Conference Hall and Exhibition Hall 7 & 8, Makuhari Messe, Chiba
Meeting chair: Tomochika Tokunaga (The University of Tokyo/Japan Society of Engineering Geology (President))
Program committee co-chairs: Madhusoodhan Satish-Kumar（Niigata University), Carol Finn (USGS)
Co-Hosts: Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU), American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Sponsorship: 26 Societies
Co-sponsors: The Astronomical Society of Japan, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Japan Association for Earthquake Engineering, The Japanese Geotechnical Society, Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering, The Japanese Coral Reef Society
Supporting Members: Regional city Convention attraction Promotion Council, FORTE Science Communication, ASO UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK, Crimson Interactive Japan, SOU Global & Communication Inc, Japan Geopark Network, American Journal Experts, CACTUS COMMUNICATIONS K.K., Chiba Convention Bureau and International Center, TECH OCEAN
♦ Sessions
* Total Number of convened sessions: 285 (249 in 2025, 227 in 2024, 228 in 2023, 224 in 2022)
U: Union 19 (E: 15, J: 4)
O: Public 13 (E: 1, J: 11)
P: Space and Planetary Sciences 25 (E: 24, J: 1)
A: Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences 67 (E: 57, J: 10)
H: Human Geosciences 26 (E: 22, J: 4)
S: Solid Earth Sciences 70 (E: 56, J: 14)
B: Biogeosciences 6 (E: 5, J: 1)
G: General (Education and Outreach) 7 (E: 1, J: 6)
M: Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary 50 (E: 35, J: 15)
L: Section Leading 2 (E: 2, J: 0)
Number of Abstracts: 6006 (5253 in 2025, 4666 in 2024, 4395 in 2023, 3808 in 2022)
Oral: 2960 (2730 in 2025, 2169 in 2024, 2060 in 2023, 2083 in 2022)
Poster*: 3046 (2523 in 2025, 2497 in 2024, 2335 in 2023, 1725 in 2022)
*Including O-12 Poster presentations by high school students (110) and O-13 International Poster Session for high school students（16）
♦ Number of Participants
[Total Number of Registered Participants: 10318]
By categories:
Regular: 4319, K-12 teachers: 70, Graduate students: 2369,
Senior: 140, Up to Undergraduate students: 1544,
Public session attendees (including High school session presenters): 1072,
Press: 109, Guests/ Exhibitors/ Staff: 695
*Total Number of On-site Participants: 8946
By categories:
Regular: 3941, K-12 teachers: 53, Graduate students: 2239,
Senior: 112, Up to Undergraduate students: 1044,
Public session attendees (including High school session presenters): 873
Press: 51, Guests/ Exhibitors/ Staff: 633
(2) Please give us your feedback of JpGU-AGU JM 2026
We would like to hear your opinions on JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 to improve our future meetings. We would also like to hear from those who did not attend the meeting. Please send your feedback by 23:59 (JST) on Friday, 26 June.
[Post-meeting survey]
https://forms.gle/w7QYe7cqHs3bcXEL7
(3) Contents we provide after the 2026 meeting
*Meeting Participation Site (Confit)
The Confit system currently used by JpGU will be discontinued at the 2026 meeting, and the servers will be shut down.
Therefore,
access to presentation materials (abstracts, e-posters, and supplementary materials) posted on Confit, as well as all features (comments, private messages, editing and adding supplementary materials, etc.), will be available until 29 June. Information currently published for the 2026 meeting will be moved to an archive site.
Consequently, on and after 1 July 2026,
・The URL will change. *Redirects from the current URL, which will remain in place through 2026.
・You can view session information, the schedule, and abstract PDFs.
・You will still need to log in to view the content. Until the end of March 2027, access will be limited to registered participants.
(4) Certificates
Certificates are issued for those who request them using the designated form. Please see the following link for details.
[Certificate of Attendance]
https://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2026/documents.php#cert_attendance
[Certificate of Presentation]
https://www.jpgu.org/meeting_e2026/documents.php#cert_presentation
Application deadline: Mon. 31 August
(5) Lost and Found at the Local Venue
Lost and found items that were collected at the headquarters during the meeting will be kept there for a certain period of time after the meeting in the local venue, Makuhari Messe.
Please contact Makuhari Messe using the designated form (below) if you have any inquiries about lost and found items.
https://www.m-messe.co.jp/organizers/contact/lost/
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#3. From Committees
(1) Educational Affairs Committee
– Recruitment Notice of instructors in the JpGU 2026 Geoscience course for school teachers
(Available in Japanese)
(2) Committee for Diversity Management and Talent Pool
– Application for subsidies for the use of on-site childcare rooms and off-site childcare facilities and services
If you have used the on-site childcare room or off-site childcare facilities/services during the JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 and wish to receive a subsidy, please request an application file from the secretariat and send the completed application form and receipts or other proof of use to the secretariat.
Please refer to the “Guidelines for Childcare Support” below when applying.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MiV8q4Es5nZz7jbfPiDTn4l2-gAJYl0r/view
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#4. Information from PEPS
(1) PEPS Awarded Papers 2026
The PEPS Paper Awards 2026 were announced last month, and the award ceremony was held during the PEPS editorial meeting at the JpGU 2026 conference.
Please check below for more details.:
# The Most downloaded Paper Award 2026
@ Yumi Shimada, Yuki Sawai, Dan Matsumoto, Koichiro Tanigawa, Kazumi Ito, Toru Tamura, Yuichi Namegaya, Masanobu Shishikura & Shigehiro Fujino:
‘Marine inundation history during the last 3000 years at Lake Kogare-ike, a coastal lake on the Pacific coast of central Japan’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-023-00577-9
https://link.springer.com/collections/gjbbjgejag (tohoku2011)
@ Hiroshi Tanimoto, Tsuneo Matsunaga, Yu Someya, Tamaki Fujinawa, Hirofumi Ohyama, Isamu Morino, Hisashi Yashiro, Takafumi Sugita, Satoshi Inomata, Astrid Müller, Tazu Saeki, Yukio Yoshida, Yosuke Niwa, Makoto Saito, Hibiki Noda, Yousuke Yamashita, Kohei Ikeda, Nobuko Saigusa, Toshinobu Machida, Matthias Max Frey, Hyunkwang Lim, Priyanka Srivastava, Yoshitaka Jin, Atsushi Shimizu, Tomoaki Nishizawa, Yugo Kanaya, Takashi Sekiya, Prabir Patra, Masayuki Takigawa, Jagat Bisht, Yasko Kasai & Tomohiro O. Sato:
‘The greenhouse gas observation mission with Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW): objectives, conceptual framework and scientific contributions’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-025-00684-9
@ Nana Watanabe, Kohsaku Arai, Makoto Otsubo, Mamoru Toda, Atsushi Tominaga, Shun Chiyonobu, Tokiyuki Sato, Tadahiro Ikeda, Akio Takahashi, Hidetoshi Ota & Yasufumi Iryu:
‘Geological history of the land area between Okinawa Jima and Miyako Jima of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, and its phylogeographical significance for the terrestrial organisms of these and adjacent islands’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-023-00567-x
# The Most Cited Paper Award 2026
@ Peter E. van Keken & Cian R. Wilson;
‘An introductory review of the thermal structure of subduction zones: III—Comparison between models and observations’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-023-00589-5
@ Nobuhiro Moteki;
‘Climate-relevant properties of black carbon aerosols revealed by in situ measurements: a review’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-023-00544-4
-Article by the Recipient of the 4th Nishida Prize
(2) Featured Articles
We will introduce the featured articles selected by the editor-in-chief from the papers published in the past.
[Atmospheric and hydrospheric sciences]
@ Alexandros Panagiotis Poulidis, Sarah-Lena Seemann, Hans Schlager & Mihalis Vrekoussis;
‘Chasing parts in quadrillion: applications of dynamical downscaling in atmospheric pollutant transport modelling during field campaigns’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-024-00642-x
This is a downscaling effort using an atmospheric transport and dispersion model (ATDM), for a field observation campain in Southeast Asia. The study highlights the importance of ensemble approaches, including switching the model’s paraetarization scheme. It convincingly demonstrates that dynamic downscaling can make a significant contribution to planning observation campainss in regions with complex topography.
[Solid earth sciences]
@ Makoto Naoi, Shiro Hirano & Youqing Chen;
‘High-resolution monitoring of hydraulically induced acoustic emission activities using neural phase picking and matched filter analysis’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-025-00696-5
This study proposes an automated method combining deep-learning-based phase picking and matched filter analysis to monitor micro AE activity during hydraulic fracturing experiments. It detected about ten times more events than conventional methods and revealed detailed fracturing features, including tremor-like AE activity.
(3) Latest Articles
The following articles were published.
@ Kenta Shiraishi, Yuka Muto, Atsushi Okazaki & Shunji Kotsuki;
‘Wasserstein GAN-based precipitation downscaling with optimal transport for enhancing perceptual realism’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-026-00815-w
@ Shun Fukushima, Masanao Shinohara & Akiko Takeo;
‘Spatial distribution of Vp/Vs for sediment and crust off Sanriku, Japan, using distributed acoustic sensing data’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-026-00816-9
@ Takaaki Moriguchi, Kyoko Okino, Yasuhiko Ohara & Kenichiro Tani;
‘Melt-poor spreading in the Shikoku back-arc basin: geophysical investigation of the initial spreading stage’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-026-00819-6
@ Yasuhiko Ohara, Kyoko Okino, Norikatsu Akizawa, Valentin Basch, Marco Cuffaro, Masakazu Fujii, Yumiko Harigane, Ken-ichi Hirauchi, So Inoue, Osamu Ishizuka, Shiki Machida, Katsuyoshi Michibayashi, Takaaki Moriguchi, Kohei Nimura, Ryosuke Oyanagi, Alessio Sanfilippo, Camilla Sani, Atlanta Sen, Jonathan E. Snow, Kenichiro Tani & Hiroyuki Yamashita;
‘Melt-poor spreading in the Shikoku back-arc basin: Widespread occurrence of oceanic core complexes and associated features’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-026-00818-7
@ Di Lu & Takashi Oguchi;
‘GIS-based machine learning models for assessing landslide impact in King County, Washington, USA’.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40645-026-00817-8
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#10. From Science Council of Japan
JpGU acts as liaison with the Science Council of Japan.
Below is the archive of the distributed newsletters from the Science Council of Japan.
https://www.jpgu.org/scjinfo/ (Available in Japanese) –
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#11. What’s New
(Please confirm contents from the associated official website)
(1) Event Information
*Please check the event website for the latest information.
Go Beyond the Limit (GBL) International Workshop
Dates: 17-19 June 2026
Venue: Kochi-City Culture Plaza Cul-Port, Kochi, Japan / Hybrid format (on-site and on-line)
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScY2MJfQCiRwZwn6to_3Aull2OlIRoxNDfJwJ4hkVxcRmxbEw/viewform
32nd International Laser Radar Conference (ILRC32)
Dates: 5 – 10 July 2026
Venue: International Conference Center Hiroshima (ICCH) in Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima
https://smartconf.jp/content/ilrc32/
FOSS4G Hiroshima 2026
Dates: 30 August – 5 September 2026
Venue: International Conference Center Hiroshima, Hiroshima
https://2026.foss4g.org/en/
(2) Career Opportunity
JAMSTEC Restart Support Recruitment
[Application deadline: 20 JUN 2026]
https://www.jamstec.go.jp/recruit/e/details/restart20260720/
The University of Tokyo Faculty Position in Earth and Planetary Science [Female only]
[Application deadline: 30 JUN 2026]
https://www.eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/job20260316en/
Call for Applications: Professor in Planetology, Kobe University
[Application deadline: 30 JUN 2026]
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?id=D126031275&ln=1
Employment opportunity at JAMSTEC -New Large-Scale Recruitment Launched-
[Application deadline: 12 JUL 2026]
https://www.jamstec.go.jp/recruit/e/details/jecr20260712/
Recruitment of Professor, Associate Professor or Assistant Professor (Waseda University)
[Application deadline: 17 JUL 2026]
https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?id=D126041597&ln=1
Seeking a few Senior Research Scientists, Research Scientists, Postdoctoral Researchers or Research Associates
[Application deadline: 31 JUL 2026]
https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/researchers/20260415_1/index.html
Professor, Solid Planetary Science
[Application deadline: 24 AUG 2026]
https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/recruit/index.html?id=1973
Recruitment of Researcher or Researcher (II) at Research Institute for Marine Geodynamics (IMG), JAMSTEC
[Application deadline: 14 SEP 2026]
https://www.jamstec.go.jp/recruit/e/details/mgeo20260914/
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Contact: https://www.jpgu.org/en/inquiry/
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