| October |
- As requested by Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, the authorized corporation, "Japan Marine Science and Technology Center", was established based on the government and industrial investments and contributions.
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| April |
- The system of SHINKAI 6500 was completed.
|
| March |
- KAIKO succeeded in the world's deepest dive in the Mariana Trench.
|
| October |
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| October |
- Washington Office was opened.
- Mutsu Institute for Oceanography was inaugurated.
|
| April |
- Seattle Office was opened.
|
| November |
- Global Oceanographic Data Center (Nago city, Okinawa) was opened.
|
| April |
- Earth Simulator recorded the world's highest computing performance.
|
| August |
- Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences was opened.
|
| April |
- Independent Administrative Institution, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology was inaugurated.
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| July |
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology was reorganized as four research centers and three centers.
|
| February |
- Survey on the Earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island was implemented.
- URASHIMA set a new world record for the continuous cruise of 317 km.
|
| September |
- The newly constructed Deep-Sea Drilling Vessel CHIKYU was opened to the public.
|
| October |
- Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research was established.
|
| December |
- For the first time ever, deep-sea organisms were successfully captured alive using a "shuttle elevator".
|
| February |
- Columnar distribution of methane hydrate on the ocean floor was discovered off the coast of Niigata.
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| March |
- The total number of SHINKAI 6500 dives reached 1,000. SHINKAI 6500 made the 1,000th dive at the Hatoma Knoll off the Ishigaki Island.
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| August |
- A CHIKYU's project, the IODP Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) was launched.
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| July |
- The remarkably abundant Archaea was found to exist in marine subsurface sediments.
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| September |
- Traces of coseismic hydrothermal fluid left in a fault were found for the first time in the world.
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| March |
- The updated Earth Simulator - ES2 was launched.
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| April |
- JAMSTEC's second midterm plan started.
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| August |
- Scientists of JAMSTEC and other organizations found that Japanese waters were a biodiversity hot spot.
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| September |
- A CHIKYU's project, the IODP Expedition 331: DEEP HOT BIOSPHERE was launched.
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| March - |
- JAMSTEC helped urgent seismic research and radioactivity monitoring after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake.
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| August |
- The Dense Ocean-floor Network System for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (DONET) started its full operation.
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