JAMSTEC > Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC)

Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC)

Benefiting the whole world through research and development aimed at understanding the current status of global environmental change and predicting the future

To contribute to the resolution of global issues such as climate change, ocean acidification, and plastic pollution, we will lead international projects to conduct integrated research on oceans at all depths and on the close interactions of oceans with the atmosphere and land masses. We will apply the data obtained from this research to formulate both short-term seasonal predictions and mid- to long-term predictions covering centuries.

We will actively disseminate our research results through international frameworks such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the Arctic Council (AC). We will contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular Goal 13 (climate action) and Goal 14 (life below water), as well as Japanese government policies.

2024/01/05
JAMSTEC experts participated in the G7 Future of the Seas and Oceans Initiative (FSOI) Working Group meeting
2023/08/04
Visiting Principal Researcher Toshiyuki Hibiya among IUGG Elected Fellows 2023
2023/07/29
The worldwide COVID-19 lockdown impacts on anthropogenic aerosol reductions and climate
― Realistic assessments on changes in aerosol precursor gas emissions based on satellite observations ―
2023/05/08
First Observational Evidence of Beaufort Gyre Stabilization, Which Could be Precursor to Huge Freshwater Release
- JAMSTEC scientists co-authored a paper in Nature Geoscience -
2022/12/27
Mechanism of a meteorological tsunami reaching the Japanese coast
caused by Lamb and Pekeris waves generated by the 2022 Tonga eruption
2022/12/15
Mapping out key sources of emissions for climate change mitigation
- JAMSTEC scientists co-authored a paper in One Earth -
2022/11/11
New method reveals carbon distribution of the past in the Southern Ocean
- JAMSTEC scientists co-authored a paper in Nature communications
2022/11/02
The water-column microplastic inventory in the Arctic Ocean on the Pacific side (Chukchi Sea) was estimated for the first time~Discovering that the key is the inflow from the Pacific Ocean~
2022/10/14
【COP27 Japan Pavilion Seminar】
Current status and future perspectives on greenhouse gas emission mitigation and impacts
2022/09/27
Discovery of a novel type of phytoplankton bloom in the Arctic shelf region: the widespread occurrence with the recent sea ice loss
[Link to The University of Tokyo]
2022/09/12
Discovery of the “Pekeris Wave” — Special Atmospheric Wave Caused by the 2022
Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai Volcanic Eruption
2022/07/01
Dr. Masaki Katsumata (Deputy Group Leader) received "AGU 2021 Editors' Citation for Excellence in Refereeing, Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres".
2022/03/31
“Iodine Fountain”: An Area with Significantly High Atmospheric Iodine Concentrations in the Tropical Western Pacific
―Implications for climate change predictions―
2022/02/17
【Ocean Decade Laboratories】
Symposium: Prosperous Ecosystems in the Western North Pacific
2022/02/17
【Ocean Decade Laboratories】
Workshop: Healthy and Resilient Ocean focusing on Nature’s Contribution to People / Ecosystem Services and Ecosystem Monitoring
2021/09/07
Publication of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group I) - Scientific Contributions of JAMSTEC Researchers and Their Messages [PartII]
2021/08/13
Publication of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (Working Group I) - Scientific Contributions of JAMSTEC Researchers and Their Messages
2021/06/10
Local Lockdowns Brought Fast Global Ozone Reductions, NASA Finds
- JAMSTEC scientists authored a paper in Science Advances
2021/05/18
World's First Measurements of Pacific Sleeper Shark Swimming Speed and Population Density Giant Deep-Sea Sharks of Suruga Bay are the World's Slowest Swimmers
2021/01/25
Discovery of a Colossal “Yokozuna” Slickhead:
An Active-Swimming Top Predator in the Deep Waters of Suruga Bay
2020/11/07
Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Riverine Heat on Declining Arctic Sea Ice and Atmospheric Warming: Increasing Riverine Heat Triggers the Arctic Warming
2020/06/05
Major Reduction in Black Carbon Emissions from China Over the Past Decade – A revision of the emission inputs to IPCC climate models is needed
2019/11/12
Dr. Yugo Kanaya was honored with the 2019 Horiuchi Award of the Meteorological Society of Japan
2019/09/13
Smaller Cumulonimbus Cloud Ensembles in the Tropics Due to Global Warming: Do Clouds Exacerbate Warming?
2019/08/29
Understanding Tidal control on Flow through the Seto Inland Sea
—Possible determination of eastward or westward flow—
2019/08/22
Is the Reduction of Arctic Ocean Sea Ice Changing the Nitrogen Cycle?
—Potential Impacts on the Marine Ecosystem and Marine Resources—
2019/07/03
Variability in the number of intense tropical cyclones during extreme El Niño events
- The importance of predicting internal atmospheric variability in seasonal tropical cyclone forecasts -
2019/05/02
Air pollution causes high iron solubility in anthropogenic aerosols during atmospheric transport: Iron fertilization of the open ocean

Shuhei Masuda
Director-General, Research Institute for Global Change (RIGC)