Extreme events with heavy rainfall caused by tropical cyclones, atmospheric rivers, and so on are the serious concerns in the modern era in Japan. Their moisture transport and behavior deeply depend on large-scale atmospheric and oceanic variations associated with ENSO, monsoon, ISV (intra-seasonal variation), and so on. CCOAR tries to understand atmospheric and oceanic phenomena and variations through observations from the tropics to mid-latitudes, which provide the knowledge on background conditions for extreme events. A key to understand their behavior is to capture its variation as a coupled ocean-atmosphere system. We also develop new observation tools which promote our understanding of weather and climate.

Kunio YONEYAMA
Director, Center for Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Research