The Japanese oceanographic research vessel Mirai left its home port of Sekinehama in Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, Monday afternoon to embark on an Arctic voyage.
The ship, owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, is tasked with ocean research and weather observations in the Arctic Ocean, in hopes of finding the cause of rapid global warming in the area and studying its impact.
The climate-related changes in the Arctic have affected not only people, flora and fauna in the area but also midlatitude areas of the world, including Japan.