Research Center for Climatology
Academic background
Aiming: To become a leading center for climate research in Asia
Professor Jun MATSUMOTO, Dr. Science
Department of Geography,
Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences
This research center was established in July 2015. Global warming and urban climate both induced by human activities are keen issues we are now facing. Japanese climate is strongly influenced by a complex Asian monsoon system, which need extensive research efforts to understand its structure and variability. We need to elucidate the formation mechanisms of urban climate affected by both global warming, changing monsoon system, and local urban effects, and to explore measures to properly predict the occurrence of extreme weather events in order to minimize damage.
At this University, we played a core role in the promotion of the Monsoon Asia Hydro-Atmosphere Scientific Research and Prediction Initiative (MAHASRI), an international joint research project under the Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchanges Project (GEWEX), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) from 2006 to 2016. We now joined its successor new GEWX Project, the Asian Precipitation Experiment (AsiaPEX) since 2019. We have also carried out various urban climate studies including collaborative research, foe example, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Institute for Environmental Protection. In addition, we organized a number of sessions at the International Geographical Union (IGU) Kyoto Regional Conference held in 2013, MAHASRI and Asia-PEX related sessions at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) meetings held every year. We have built strong research collaborations with various institutions both in Japan and overseas. Since April 2021, our research center has set in its second phase. Members include scientists in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to expand our international collaboration.