No. 5
Thursday, August 25, 2016.

Practical Test FinishedThe practical tests of the 10th International Earth
Science Olympiad were held yesterday. The test of
astronomy used a portable planetarium, diameter ofwhich is 7 m, installed in a room in Mie University.
In the planetarium, diurnal movements of the Sun andstars observed from an imaginary astronomical object
in the solar system were simulated. Based on themovement, students answered about astronomicalparameters, such as the revolution period and size ofthe object.
The test of meteorology requested students tomeasure temperature and solar radiation in thecampus. Based on the data, students calculated thealbedo and infrared radiation. They also calculated
the power generation efficiency of solar panels andwind turbines in the test of renewable energy. The
test of geology evaluated the geological literacy at
two sites in the city of Tsu.
The faculty staff of Mie University designed thepractical test and finalized it after slight editing in theWednesday review meeting. The test quality waspraised by the mentors and observers.

Today's Schedule

Students
06:30 - 08:00 Breakfast
08:10
Departure to Kumano
11:15 - 11:45 Lunch
12:00 - 14:50 International Team Field Investigationsin 4 sites
15:15 - 16:00 Exchange meeting in Kumano civic hall
18:30 - 20:00 Dinner - rotation
19:30 - 21:00 Preparations for ITFI presentation

Weather Forecast
Today (25)

max 31 ºC
chance of rain 50%
rain, sunny in pm

Clockwise from top left; Portable planetarium, and its inside,
measureing solar radiation, examining a rock specimen,
measureing strike, welcomed by local residents.

Mentors and Observers (Alterable)
07:00 - 08:00 Breakfast (Room Ise)
08:30
Departure
09:00 - 12:00 Visit to World Heritage Kumano Kodo
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 15:00 Visit to ITFI sites
15:15 - 16:00 Exchange meeting in Kumano civic hall
18:30 - 20:00 Dinner (Room Ise)
20:00 - 21:00 Jury Meeting 3 (Room Aoi)

Friday (26)Saturday (27)sunny, partly cloudy

cloudy, partly summy

min 26 ºC
max 31 ºC
chance of rain 10%

min 26 ºC
max 31 ºC
chance of rain 40%

Incidents

Earth Science Project[Suzuka] An Indonesian student was trapped in anelevator in her accommodation, Sportsman House
Suzuka, yesterday, at 5 pm. She made a call tooutside in a calm manner using an emergency phone
installed in the elevator. She was rescued 50
minutes later by a maintenance engineer. Noearthquake was observed when the elevator stopped.

Students tackled the Earth Science Project (ESP)on Tuesday night. They were given a theme,"Living on the edge of a tectonic plate". They
made a research on the theme using informationon the Internet and had discussions to make aposter presentation. Since the 2 hours-period
given to students was rather short, many teamscould not complete their poster presentations.
However, their serious and enthusiastic discussion
was impressive.

[Ise] A mentor left her iPad at Jingu Kaikan
yesterday morning. A staff of Jingu found it andhanded it to a Japanese IESO staff. The IESO staff
easily recognized the owner from the idle screen ofher portrait. Japanese IESO staffs were impressed byher ingenuity; no high-tech, such as name tag,laser-engraving or GPS monitoring, but just a simple
way of identification.
[Tsu] Prof. Sugi kindly brought back Akafuku fromIse to staffs in the IESO headquarter in Tsu. Akafuku
is a well-known specialty sweet of Ise, but also soldin Kyoto or Nagoya. Prof. Takigami, head of theadministration section, tasted the sweet and insisted
that Akafuku sold in the main store is definitely
different from that sold in other places.

Profs. Sugi and Takigami with a box of Akafuku.

Today's Quiz
Tsunami is a complex word made up of “tsu” and“nami” and means “port wave” . Tsu, the capital ofMie prefecture, also means port and its Chinesecharacter is the same as tsu of tsunami. In fact, Tsu
was an important port in ancient times but wasdestroyed by the tsunami generated by an earthquakeoccurred in 1498. This earthquake occured in theNankai Trough, which is a convergent plateboundary between the Philippines Sea and EurasianPlates. The question is: how many megathrustearthquakes in the Nankai Trough are recorded in
the historical documents? Choose the closest number
from the following:A) 3
B) 6C) 12

I like Akafuku.
Station sign of Tsu. Three
expressions in different
characters are seen.

Editor;Kazutaka Mannen, Kentaro Tada
and Bogdan Dumitru Enescu
Publisher; Japan Earth Science Olympiad Committee
http://ieso2016.jp/
https://www.facebook.com/ieso2016Mie/