We present results of AKARI/IRC near-infrared (NIR) slit-spectroscopy (2.5{5.0 m, R  100) of Galactic sources, focusing on ice absorption features. We investigate the abundance of H2O and CO2 ices and other ice species (CO and XCN ices) along lines of sight towards Galactic Hii regions, massive YSOs, and infrared diuse sources. Even among those dierent kinds of astronomical objects, the abundance ratio of CO2 to H2O ices does not vary signicantly, suggesting that the pathway to CO2 ice formation driven by UV irradiation is not eective at least among the present targets.

A wide spectral coverage from near-infrared (NIR) to far-infrared (FIR) of AKARI both for imaging and spectroscopy enables us to eciently study the emission from gas and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI oers a unique opportunity to carry out sensitive spectroscopy in the NIR (2{5 m) for the rst time from a spaceborn telescope. This spectral range contains a number of important dust bands and gas lines, such as the aromatic and aliphatic emission bands at 3.3 and 3.4{3.5 m, H2O and CO2 ices at 3.0 and 4.3 m, CO, H2, and HI gas emission lines. In this paper we concentrate on the aromatic and aliphatic emission and ice absorption features. The balance between dust supply and destruction suggests signicant dust processing taking place as well as dust formation in the ISM. Detailed analysis of the aromatic and aliphatic bands of AKARI observations for a number of Hii regions and Hii region-like objects suggests processing of carbonaceous dust in the ISM. The ice formation process can also be studied with IRC NIR spectroscopy eciently. In this review, dust processing in the ISM divulged by recent analysis of AKARI data is discussed.

The zodiacal light emission is the thermal emission from the interplanetary dust and the dominant diuse radiation in the mid- to far-infrared wavelength region. Even in the far-infrared, the contribution of the zodiacal emission is not negligible at the region near the ecliptic plane. The AKARI far-infrared all-sky survey covered 97% of the whole sky in four photometric bands with band central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 m. AKARI detected the small-scale structure of the zodiacal dust cloud, such as the asteroidal dust bands and the circumsolar ring, in far-infrared wavelength region. Although the most part of the zodiacal light structure in the AKARI far-infrared all-sky image can be well reproduced with the DIRBE zodiacal light model, there are discrepancies in the small-scale structures. In particular, the intensity and the ecliptic latitude of the peak position of the asteroidal dust bands cannot be repro- duced precisely with the DIRBE models. The AKARI observational data during more than one year has advantages over the 10-month DIRBE data in modeling the full-sky zodiacal dust cloud. The resulting small-scale zodiacal light structure template has been used to subtract the zodiacal light from the AKARI all-sky maps.

We present the AKARI far-infrared (FIR) all-sky maps and describe its characteristics, calibration accuracy and scientic capabilities. The AKARI FIR survey has covered 97% of the whole sky in four photometric bands, which cover continuously 50{180 micron with band central wavelengths of 65, 90, 140, and 160 microns. The data have been publicly released in 2014 (Doi et al., 2015) with improved data quality that have been achieved since the last internal data release (Doi et al., 2012). The accuracy of the absolute intensity is  10% for the brighter regions. Quantitative analysis of the relative intensity accuracy and its dependence upon spatial scan numbers has been carried out. The data for the rst time reveal the whole sky distribution of interstellar matter with arcminute- scale spatial resolutions at the peak of dust continuum emission, enabling us to investigate large-scale distribution of interstellar medium in great detail. The lamentary structure covering the whole sky is well traced by the all-sky maps. We describe advantages of the AKARI FIR all-sky maps for the study of interstellar matter comparing to other observational data.

In this paper, offshore wind resources within the Japan’s EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) are assessed using wind speed data from the microwave scatterometer SeaWinds onboard QuikSCAT. At first, from the 10m-height wind speed from QuikSCAT, 60 m-height wind speed is estimated by using an empirical equation for height correction. Based on the 60m-height wind speeds, annual energy production is calculated under an assumption of installing 2 MW wind turbines every 0.64 km2. The annual energy production is then accumulated for the entire Japan’s territorial waters and EEZ (4.47×106 km2). As a result, it is shown that the total energy production is estimated to be 4.86×104 TWh/yr. This offshore wind energy potential within the EEZ is approximately 50 times higher than the actual annual electricity production in Japan.