Program Activity
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 Climate Variations Research Program
| We are pleased to introduce Dr. Mototaka Nakamura,
who joined our Program in this May. |
 After
18 years in the United States, I'm back for a while in Japan to focus
on science. It feels just like another phase of my journey over the
past 10 years. Since graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) eight years ago, I have worked in several institutions
in the United States, including the Goddard Space Flight Center, MIT,
and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in addition to spending a two-year
break living as a professional musician. Aside from my passion for
fly fishing and music, I have devoted signifcant time to the study
of climate dynamics from the perspective of treating the atmosphere,
oceans, and ice as an inseparable system. I have participated in research
on various topics, including the dynamic characteristics of the North
Atlantic Ocean and the parameterization of mixing by small-scale quasi-horizontal
motions in the oceans. During my stay at FRSGC, I hope to contribute
to the development of a super-high-resolution-coupled simulation model
of the atmosphere, oceans, and ice that represents most of the important
climatic processes with reasonable accuracy. I also hope to address
the issue of middle latitude atmospheric responses to middle latitude
sea surface temperature anomalies in a more meaningful way, and hopefully
demonstrate the mechanism of the North Atlantic Oscillation. |
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Hydrological Cycle Research Program
| We would like to introduce a business
trip report by Dr. Xieyao Ma. |
| From April 6 to 11, I participated in the European Geophysical Society
(EGS)-American Geophysical Union (AGU)-European Union of Geosciences
(EUG) Joint Assembly held in Nice, France. It was the first time for
these three societies to jointly organize a conference. It was also
the first time for me to attend a conference organized by any of these
societies. On the opening day, the number of researchers attending
the conference exceeded sponsors' expectations, which lead to some
confusion. The sessions conducted in the large venue ran simultaneously,
which kept me busy every day. Fortunately, since each session proceeded
as scheduled, I was able to listen to various presentations that interested
me, including the great floods in Europe over recent years, changes
in the amount of water resources in each region associated with climate
changes, and progress in hydrological modeling on land surface. I
myself made a poster presentation of hydrological analytical results
in a semi-arid region of Mongolia and enjoyed lively discussions with
a number of researchers. As a result, I spent quite a meaningful time
during the six days of the conference. I am looking forward to applying
the research trends shared at this Joint Assembly to my own studies. |
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Global Warming Research Program
From May 5 to 8, Researcher Dr. S. Lan Smith, participated in the
JGOF Open Science Conference held in Washington, D.C., in the United
States. He presented a paper on the simulation results of a marine
chemical and ecosystem model in four observation points in the North
Pacific Ocean.
From May 20 to 30, group leader Dr. Yamanaka, researcher Dr. Kishi,
and research promotion staff Ms. Aita participated in the Third International
Zooplankton Production Symposium held in Gijon, Spain. They made a
presentation on the effect of primary production and carbon flux on
the seasonal vertical movement of zooplankton, based on the ocean
general circulation model that incorporates the Northpacific Ecosystem
Model Understanding Regional Oceanography (NEMURO) ocean ecosystem
model. The conference enabled group members to obtain valuable information
on the role of zooplankton in the circulation of marine substances.
During the meeting, it was decided that the next conference in 2006
will be held in Japan. |
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Atmospheric Composition Research Program
| Croplands have been identified as a very important source of atmospheric
trace gases such as N2O (nitrogen
monoxide), NO (nitric oxide), NH3
(ammonia), and CH4 (methane). Agriculture
in East, Southeast and South Asia exhibits unique factors related
to the generation of these gases. Although this region accounts for
only 36% of the world's cropland area, it consumes more than half
of the world's nitrogen fertilizers. Moreover, approximately 90% of
the world's rice fields, a source of CH4,
are located in this region. Therefore, emissions of N2O,
NO, NH3 and CH4 from croplands in
this region merit the close scrutiny of Xiaoyuan Yan in the Emission
Inventory Sub-Group. By analyzing the relationships between emissions
and fertilizer use, soil properties, water management and climate,
and by drawing upon agricultural activity data, we have developed
a fine emission inventory of N2O,
NO, NH3 and CH4
from croplands for each country in this region. For China and India,
the inventory was developed for each province or state. In addition,
we are trying to predict future emissions of these gases by considering
changes in land use and population as well as economic growth. |
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Ecosystem Change Research Program
| We are pleased to introduce Dr.
Rikie Suzuki, who joined our Program in this April. |
 Until March
2003, before transferring to the Ecosystem Change Research Program,
I had been a member of the Hydrological Cycle Research Program of
the Frontier Research System for Global Change. My research focuses
on the relationship between vegetation and the climate system. It
is well known that the distribution of vegetation is strongly controlled
by climate. However, when seasonal and annual variations are included,
there are many unknown factors. In addition, looking at the global
scale, the quantities of water vapor discharged into the atmosphere
and carbon dioxide absorbed by plants are considerably huge, and significantly
affect global climate change. It is therefore important to understand
the relationship between vegetation and the climate system as one
of the key aspects of global change. Based on research I have conducted
at the Hydrological Cycle Research Program, I would like to extend
my study on climate systems from the viewpoint of vegetation, utilizing
various vegetation data and other current meteorological data observed
by satellites. |
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Integrated Modeling Research Program
 We
have started a research collaboration with a team from the Hadley
Centre in the U.K. (FUJI, First UK-Japan Initiative of climate model
intercomparison) as a part of Subject 1 of the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)'s project for Sustainable
Co-existence of Humans, Nature and the Earth. The team visited us
three times; in September, February and May-June. Visiting team members
included Dr. Dave Griggs (the Director), Dr. Richard Wood and Dr.
Malcolm Roberts from the Hadley Centre, and Prof. Julia Slingo, Dr.
Loïs Steenman-Clark, Dr. Jeff Cole and Dr. Mat Collins from the
University of Reading. Some of us involved in this project also visited
the U.K. last February. Through this collaboration we hope to facilitate
information exchange on the development of high-resolution climate
models, detailed comparison of our model results, and collaboration
utilizing the Earth Simulator. |
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International Pacific Research Center (IPRC)
The IPRC Implementation Committee met in February and
set up a subcommittee to draft a renewal agreement between the Japan
Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC) and the University
of Hawaii regarding the IPRC, in order to reflect the JAMSTEC reorganization
and the framework of the US-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research
& Development in Science and Technology. During the meeting, Dr.
Tetsuya Sato, Director-General of the Earth Simulator, encouraged
IPRC's scientists to participate in Earth Simulator activities.
In March, Kevin Hamilton held the Modeling Atmospheric Tides Workshop,
and Julian McCreary, the IPRC Director, hosted the spring meeting
of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academies. In May, the
IPRC held its Third Annual Symposium.
The IPRC bid a "sayonara" to Fumio Mitsudera, who has accepted
a professorship at the Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido
University; to Masami Nonaka, who has transferred back to Frontier
headquarters in Yokohama; and to Hyoun-Woo Kang, who has taken a research
position at Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute.
Volume 3, No. 1, of the IPRC Climate, which features recent research
and activities at the IPRC, is now available at the IPRC website:
http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/ |
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International Arctic Research Center (IARC)
 Sea
ice is highly anisotropic, characterized by orientated leads and ridges.
Developing models of sea ice deformation is an important step toward
understanding the influence of sea ice on the climate. Essentially,
the plastic nature of sea ice defines lead density, large-scale ice
motion and ice export from the Arctic. Jenny Hutchings is developing
inexpensive GPS-equipped buoys for measuring mesoscale ice deformation.
In March-April this year she attended the Office of Naval Research
ICEX camp on the Beaufort Sea. Recorded data will provide insights
into the mechanisms controlling sea ice deformation and will complement
Frontier's model development efforts. It is anticipated that buoys
will be used on future cruises and at ice camps to extend the database
of small-scale ice deformation observations. This information will
lead to improved rheological models for sea ice and may be used in
model validation. One interesting finding at the ICEX camp was that
the lead studied appears to exhibit a pattern of opening and closing
twice a day. This indicates that inertial motion is important in the
leads of evolution and should affect the large-scale deformation field.
Hutchings and Bill Hibler will continue to pursue this line of investigation. |
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