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- Advance toward the prediction of climate change - 
Dr. Toshio Yamagata (Prof. of the Univ. of Tokyo), Program Director of the FRSGC (JAMSTEC / NASDA) and Dr. Satoshi Iizuka, a researcher, and Dr. Tomonori Matsuura, section chief, of the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), and other research scientists, first succeeded in reproducing the Dipole Mode phenomenon in the Indian Ocean by a simulated calculation utilizing a high resolution coupled atmosphere/ocean model (Figure 1). They made a great advance in the prediction of climate change in Asian countries including Japan. Their findings were printed as an important highlighted research in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) published on October 15, 2000. Background In September 1999, Dr. Toshio Yamagata, and Dr. Saji N. Hameed, researchers of the FRSGC, and other scientists discovered the Dipole Mode phenomenon. Their findings were printed in Nature (published on September 22, 1999). The Dipole Mode phenomenon is characterized by atmospheric and oceanic interaction in the Indian Ocean, where an abnormal decrease in sea surface temperature (SST) in the eastern tropical Indian Ocean (Sumatera side) and an abnormal rise in the temperature in the western tropical Indian Ocean (Africa side) occurs. Since this phenomenon greatly influences the climate of the coastal nations of the Indian Ocean, Australia and Far Eastern Asia including Japan, the predictability of this phenomenon will offer important information in taking countermeasures beforehand against floods, drought, and intense heat, and it will have a great impact upon the social economy of this densely populated area. Findings and Consideration In this research using a high-resolution coupled atmosphere/ocean model, the Dipole Mode Phenomenon was successfully reproduced by a simulation, which clarified the processes of occurrence, growth and decrease of the phenomenon (Figure 2). In addition, it was found that the Dipole Mode phenomenon is an independent atmosphere/ocean interaction in the Indian Ocean, with no causal relation to El Nino effect in the Pacific Ocean (Figure 3). Further, the equatorial current in the Indian Ocean enhanced by ocean surface wind, plays an important role during its developing process. Based on the model's success, predictability of climate change in the Asian countries including Japan and in the Indian Ocean can be significantly increased by joint development of JAMSTEC's Triton Buoy Program deployed in the Indian Ocean, and the satellite observation program of ocean surface wind planned by NASDA (by ADEOS satellite sensor, SeaWinds). Supplementary materials 
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