Report on the Second EU-Japan Symposium
on Climate Research
Scientists and policy makers from the leading research
centers in Europe and Japan held a joint symposium organized by
the European Commission (EC) March 13 to 14, 2003, to discuss the
present state of climate research. About 23 participants from Japan
and 20 participants from Europe attended the meeting held at the
premises of the European Commission in Brussels. The symposium was
organized under the framework of the EU-Japan science and technology
cooperation and was a follow-up to the EU-Japan Climate Change Symposium
held in Hakone in March 1999.
Emerging climate research programs in Japan and Europe provided
an excellent backdrop for the Brussels meeting. The research programs
"Sustainable Coexistence of Humans, Nature and the Earth"
of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology (MEXT) and "Sustainable Development, Global
Change and Ecosystems" of the EU Framework were particularly
recognized to foster common goals. The Earth Simulator, the world's
most powerful super-computer, installed in JAMSTEC facilities at
the Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences, was also identified as
providing an opportunity for high-resolution climate simulations.
The symposium opened with a welcome address by Dr. Anver Ghazi,
Research Director-General, Biodiversity and Global Change Unit,
EC, followed by presentations organized in five sessions: 1) Climate
Research Strategy in the EU and Japan, 2) Climate Variability, 3)
The Hydrological Cycle, 4) Climate Modeling, and 5) Observations
and Data Assimilation.
In the opening talk of Session 1, Takuya Hirano, President of JAMSTEC,
discussed the long history of the cultural as well as scientific
and technological exchanges between European countries and Japan.
While discussing recent climate research projects in Japan, he drew
attention to the discovery of the Indian Ocean Dipole by Dr. Toshio
Yamagata and coworkers, and the research on the seesaw between the
Aleutian and Icelandic lows by Dr. Hisashi Nakamura and co-workers
in the Climate Variation Research Program of Frontier Research System
for Global Change (FRSGC). In his presentation, Dr. Ghazi provided
details about the EU Sixth Framework Program for Research and Technology
Development. Mr. Shunichi Kawata, Dr. Kondo and Dr. Sakuma from
Japan presented their respective research programs of MEXT and the
National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), global warming
research, and modeling efforts at the Earth Simulator Center.
Session 2 focused on climate variability based on data analysis
and model simulations. Two presentations discussed the results of
the SINTEX-F1.0 coupled model, which was developed under the EU-Japan
collaborative framework. The societal benefit of multi-model seasonal
predictions under the DEMETER project was discussed by Dr. Palmer.
Presentations in Session 3 highlighted the regional aspects of land
surface processes and hydrological cycles. Modeling studies for
generating anthropogenic climate change scenarios were presented
in Session 4, starting with a presentation by FRSGC Director-General
Dr. Matsuno on the "Integrated Earth System Modeling at FRSGC."
In Session 5, data assimilation studies were presented, including
the current state of the 4-D data assimilation utilizing coupled
models in Japan.
As a result of the symposium, the following four research projects
were concretely identified in the joint statement as fields for
future cooperation.
- Climate variations prediction, from seasonal to decadal scale
(focusing on extreme phenomena and their effects)
- Development of Earth system model and advanced climate model
- Joint contribution for the global climate observation system
- Promotion of research utilizing the Earth Simulator
In addition, it was agreed to encourage regular meetings, including
workshops, on other specific subjects and to hold the Third EU-Japan
Symposium on Climate Research in Japan in 2004.
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