Progress in Earth and Planetary Science

This special issue highlights the latest scientific findings in the issues and key words of “Earth, Isotopes and Organics.” The Earth harbors the diverse elements that make up organic molecules with Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), Nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O), Sulfur (S), and Phosphorus (P). Major inorganic elements represented by magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe) also have important roles for biosphere. Those diverse elements have also stable and radioactive isotopes in their natural compositions. Standardization through international standard references is underway to develop highly accurate and precise analytical methodology. These highly precise isotope measurements are robust chemical tools in deciphering the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors. Therefore, this special issue can be defined as the understanding of the life science and chemistry on the Earth (e.g., biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere) through the representation of essential elements associated with inorganic and organic molecules in nature. In this special issues, further perspectives for state-of-the-art developments in compound-specific isotope analysis will be overviewed for next decadal progresses.

The western North Pacific is recognized as a large sink region for CO2, involving complex interactions across multiple spheres in the cycling process. Recent rapid climate changes have perturbed the biogeochemical and physical processes in the atmosphere and ocean of this region. To enhance our understanding of these processes in this region, integrated and cross-cutting studies are essential, encompassing the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Humanosphere across various temporal and spatial scales.

In this special issue SPEPS, we invite authors to contribute their latest studies and/or reviews focusing on Atmosphere, Ocean, and Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction in the western North Pacific region. We particularly welcome multidisciplinary studies that couple chemical, biological, and/or physical topics related to the atmosphere and ocean, obtained from ship-based observation, numerical model calculations, satellite data analysis, and laboratory experiments. Discussions centered on ground-based observation surrounding the western North Pacific are also welcomed.

Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is the third sample return mission led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) with international collaborations following Hayabusa and Hayabusa 2 missions. The MMX spacecraft is planned to be launched in September 2024, extensively observe Mars and its two moons Phobos and Deimos over 3 years, and collect samples (> 10g) from Phobos, and return to the Earth in 2029. The major scientific objectives of MMX mission are to solve the mystery of origin of Phobos and Deimos, to elucidate the early Solar System evolution in terms of volatile delivery across the snow line to the terrestrial planets having habitable surface environments, and to explore the evolutionary processes of both moons and Mars surface environment. These scientific objectives will be achieved by extensive observations by various instruments, rover exploration on Phobos, and sample analysis. It is a good timing to call for papers about the progress on science for Mars-Martian moons system, and the final status of the instruments and rover for Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission.

The Asian monsoon is an inter-hemispheric atmospheric system driven by thermal contrast between land and ocean, involving regions where more than half of the global population lives. Concerns grow that climate change will cause extreme events linked to the Asian monsoon, such as extraordinarily heavy rainfall, flooding, drought, or heat waves. Deciphering relationships between the past and present Asian monsoon and climate variability will provide valuable insights into the mechanisms behind these extreme events and Earth's climate system.

Variation in the Asian monsoon is both influenced by the surrounding environment and itself influences the marine environment of the Indo-Pacific and marginal seas. For instance, ocean temperatures around these regions have played important roles on Asian monsoon variability by changing the land-ocean thermal contrast. On the other hand, variability in the Asian monsoon influences the surrounding regions through water vapor circulation, riverine discharge, physical and chemical weathering, transportation of detritus and nutrients, dust emission and transport, and other environmental impacts. Therefore, paleoenvironmental reconstructions of this region are necessary to understand the many links between the Asian monsoon and terrestrial and oceanic systems.

This special issue focuses on past change of Asian monsoon and oceanographic conditions in the Indo-Pacific region, and their relationship with the global climate change over various timescales. It addresses paleoenvironmental reconstruction of terrestrial and marine regions and interplay between them with emphasis on the Asian monsoon, the Japan Sea, and the western North Pacific during the late Cenozoic.

Global warming accelerates Arctic sea ice retreat, which feeds back to significant changes in atmospheric-terrestrial water cycle in the Arctic and subarctic regions. These large-scale environmental changes alter the condition of surface water and vegetation, affecting spatiotemporal variations in greenhouse gases budget. To better understand water–carbon cycles in these regions, integrated studies on atmospheric–terrestrial water–carbon cycles are required.

In this special issue SPEPS, we thus invite authors to contribute latest researches or reviews focusing on atmospheric–terrestrial water and carbon cycles in the Arctic and subarctic regions. Studies aiming to reveal spatiotemporal variations in the atmospheric moisture transport, moisture flux convergence, precipitation, vegetation, permafrost degradation, greenhouse gas fluxes, and the Arctic river discharges and their impacts on peripheral seas are highly welcomed, including the future projections. Additionally, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary researches in cross-cutting with sociological studies are also welcomed.