Report of the "International Symposia on Recent Progresses in Climate Variability Study: New Faces of Climate Variability"

The international symposium on "New Faces of Climate Variability" was arranged to discuss some of the newly found modes of climate variability. The ENSO Modoki is one such phenomenon and the research study published by the group of JAMSTEC scientist led by APL Director Prof. Toshio Yamagata is the top searched topic of the AGU journal JGR. Very recently, yet another new regional climate mode called "Ningaloo Niño" is identified off Western Australia by researchers from JAMSTEC, U. of Tokyo and CSIRO, Australia. Therefore, to harness these new research activities and for the international exchanges of JAMSTEC's climate research results, the present symposium was proposed and organized by the Application Laboratory.

Prominent climate researchers from USA, UK, France, Italy, Australia, Korea, India, Zimbabwe and Mozambique presented exciting research results. The symposium attracted a large number of participants and there were intensive discussions following each presentation. In the beginning, Prof. Yamagata and several others introduced the new faces of the climate variations such as ENSO Modoki, Ningaloo Nino and California Nino and scale interactions among climate processes. Several talks also brought out successes/inherent challenges associated with the model predictability of ENSO, ENSO Modoki, NAO and the decadal-scale climate variations. One of the major topics of discussions in this symposium, however, was the newly discovered climate mode off Western Australia called the Ningaloo Nino. While SINTEX-F climate prediction model has shown ability to predict the mode, it is felt that ultra-fine resolution climate models augmented by better in situ observations will be needed to realistically predict the intensity and the phase of this newfound climate mode. In addition, several speakers discussed the societal impacts of cyclones and other climate phenomena like tropical temperate troughs in Mozambique and other parts of southern Africa.

The symposium was very successful to provide such a nice platform for the researchers of JAMTEC to announce their novel research results and exchange cutting-edge research information with the international experts. This process will not only improve the visibility of JAMSTEC's new research outcomes but also will help to develop and strengthen research networks with other institutions particularly related to climate modeling and predictability. In addition, the symposium provided an opportunity to the researchers of southern Africa to interact with JAMSTEC scientists and it will help to develop research collaboration with those countries in the near future.

APLシンポジウム「International Symposia on Recent Progresses in Climate Variability Study:New Faces of Climate Variability」開催報告

近年、新しいタイプの気候変動現象が頻発してきた。山形アプリケーションラボ所長らが発見したエルニーニョモドキ現象は正にその一つであり、気候研究分野で益々注目されてきている(論文Ashok et al. [2007]はAGUの国際誌JGRの2012年アクセスランキング一位、引用数は現在まで351)。またオーストラリア西岸の海水温が異常に暖まるニンガルー・ニーニョと呼ばれる地域気候変動現象も2013年に発見された(CSIROのDr. Ming Feng、山形APL所長、Behera PDらが命名)。これら近年発見された新しい気候変動現象に関する最先端の研究成果を、国際的に第一線で活躍する研究者同士で議論するため、国際シンポジウム"New Faces of Climate Variability"(気候変動現象のニューフェース)を開催した。

国際色豊かな講演者(米、英、仏、伊、豪、韓、印、ジンバブエ、モザンビーク等)が、エルニーニョモドキ/ラニーニャモドキ現象、ニンガルー・ニーニョ/ニーニャ現象だけでなく、エルニーニョ/ラニーニャ現象、インド洋ダイポールモード現象、太平洋10年規模変動や北大西洋振動、大西洋数十年規模変動や地球温暖化等について世界最先端の研究成果を発表した。またそれぞれの気候変動現象同士の多重スケール間の相互作用や、熱帯低気圧や熱帯温度トラフへの影響、その社会経済へのインパクト等まで議論された。

本シンポジウムで、最先端の気候研究成果を国際的に相互交換できたことにより、JAMSTEC研究者の成果発信並びに、その将来の研究戦略に資することができ、また、気候モデリング、気候予測の発展に力を入れている国際機関とのネットワークを更に強化できた。これは今後の研究協力にとって非常に重要な鍵となるであろう。