Japanese research activities for Asian marine science - 25 years of WESTPAC -

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC), which includes pre-WESTPAC as a Cooperative Study of the Kuroshio and Adjacent Regions (CSK) project (1965‒1979), WESTPAC program under IOC (1979‒1989), and WESTPAC after establishment of the sub-commission (1989‒present), based on an aspect of Japanese community. This paper also reviews the current system and research activities under and associated with WESTPAC and discusses future perspectives on coastal to regional ocean researches in the Indo-Pacific regions.