RECENT ACTIVITIES ON THE CURATION OF
ANTARCTIC METEORITES IN NATIONAL INSTITUTE
OF POLAR RESEARCH.
N. Imae1,2, A. Yamaguchi1,2, T. Ojima1, M. Kimura1,3, M. Ebihara1,4, N. Shirai4, and H. Kojima1,2. 1Antarctic Meteorite ResearchCenter, National Institute of Polar Research. 2The Graduate University for Advanced Studies. E-mail: imae@nipr.ac.jp. 3Ibaraki
Univ. 4Tokyo Metropolitan Univ.
Introduction: We will present the recent activities on the curation of Antarctic Meteorites at the National Institute of Polar
Research (NIPR). Refer the home page (http://yamato.nipr.ac.jp)
for the detail.
Member: The member consists of one head (HK), two curators (NI and AY), and several technical staffs (TO et al.), with
two guest professors (MK and ME).
Classification of Antarctic Meteorites: The classification
number of meteorites is ~1000 by year in these several years, andthe result is annually published as Meteorite Newsletter (up tovolume 23 in 2014). The unclassified meteorites are ~8000 atpresent, which are mostly small (less than 10g). Polished mounts
are currently made for these samples instead of making polishedthin sections (PTSs), partly because a technician making PTSs
passed away recently. The electric database for the outside researchers on the classification and the relating data of Antarctic
Meteorites in NIPR is under revision.
Allocation and Loan of the Antarctic Meteorites: The allocation and loan of the samples are usually judged by the curators and, if needed, with the comments by the member of theCommittee of Antarctic Meteorites, at any time. The record ofthe allocation of the fragment and the loan of PTSs are managed
by the electric database programmed by a software and also by
the paper sheet files for the back up.
Facilities: Antarctic meteorites (the number ~17000) and thePTSs are all stored in a class 10000 clean room, and they are processed using three wire saws, clean benches in the next room
controlled to be under the positive pressure. An electron probe
micro analyzer (EPMA, JXA-8800) is used especially for classification.
Search for the Extraterrestrial Materials in Antarctica:
The recent meteorite search was carried out in 2011-2012, as
joint search with Belgian Antarctic Expedition (BELARE), on
the Nansen Ice Field [1-3]. The next search has not been decided.
The future search for the phase IX (2016-2021) of Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE 58-63) is being focused on thebare ice field around the Yamato Mountains for the collection ofmeteorites and on the surface snow on the top of the Antarctic Ice
Sheet for collecting fresh and fragile micrometeorites.
The Importance of the Collaboration with the JAXA Curation Team: The curation of Antarctic Meteorites in NIPR andthe returned samples from the asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa
mission are both starting points for the common researchers ofplanetary science. Their scientific data are complementary andinterrelated, and it may be thus fruitful to have communication of
the independent extraterrestrial material curation teams in Japanbetween JAXA and NIPR.
References: [1] Imae N. et al. 2013. JGU Meeting. [2] Imae
N. et al. Antarctic Record (in submission). [3] Debaille V. et al.
2013. Antarctic Meteorites XXXVI, 11-12.