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The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

Introduction to Grant Projects

Masahiro Watanabe, Associate Professor, Division of Climate System Research, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo

Future changes to ENSO and their effects

Research grant

Project Description

Considering that there is considerable variation in the reproducibility and future changes of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predicted by climate models, we want to reduce the uncertainty of the models and make more reliable estimations of future ENSO changes. We are aiming to make the evaluation and prediction of global climate change more sophisticated and to promote research into climate change, through international collaboration. We want to obtain results that can contribute to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), and are aiming for new developments that will contribute to global warming research.

Fields
Climate changeMarine resources/food
Grant year
FY2010 Research Grants
Grant term
3 years
April 2011 - March 2014
Grant amount
15,600,000 yen
Activity region
Global

Overview of the Organization

Masahiro Watanabe, Associate Professor
Representative
Masahiro Watanabe, Associate Professor
Profile
Specialist fields
Climate system studies, meteorology
Affiliated academic societies
The Meteorological Society of Japan, American Meteorological Society, European Geosciences Union
Background
Completed Graduate School of Science course (majoring in science), University of Tokyo, March 2000; Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, April 1997 to March 2000; Visiting Researcher, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, April 2000 to March 2001; Visiting Researcher, University of Hawaii, April 2001 to March 2002; Assistant Professor specializing in atmospheric and ocean environmental science, Graduate School of Environmental Science / Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, April 2002 to March 2005; Associate Professor (for reorganization), Group of Atmosphere-Ocean Physics, Section of Earth System Science, Faculty of Environment Earth Science, Graduate School, Hokkaido University, April 2005 to November 2011; Associate Professor, Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo, December 2007 to March 2010; Associate Professor (for reorganization), Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, April 2010 to present
Collaborators
Hirohiko Masunaga, Associate Professor, University of Nagoya; Hideo Shiomi, Tomoo Ogura, Tokuta Yokota, Researchers, National Institute for Environmental Studies
Research record
54 academic papers to date in the fields of climate change and climate modeling (including 10 papers in draft stage), major papers are listed below.
  • (1) Watanabe, M. and M. Kimoto, 2000c: Atmosphereocean thermal coupling in the North Atlantic: A positive feedback. Quart.J.R.Met.Soc., 126, 3343-3369.
  • (2) Watanabe, M. and F.-F. Jin, 2003: A moist linear baroclinic model: Coupled dynamical-convective response to El Nino. J.Climate, 16, 1121-1139.
  • (3) Watanabe, M., 2004: Asian jet waveguide and a downstream extension of the North Atlantic Oscillation. J.Climate, 17, 4674-4691.
  • (4) Jin, F.-F., L.-L. Pan, and M. Watanabe, 2006a:Dynamics of synoptic eddy and low-frequency fl ow feedback. Part I: A linear closure. J.Atmos.Sci., 63, 1677-1694.
  • (5) Mori, M, and M. Watanabe, 2008: The growth and triggering mechanisms of the PNA: A MJO-PNA coherence. J.Meteor.Soc.Japan, 86, 213-236.
  • (6) Watanabe, M., and Coauthors, 2010: Improved climate simulation by MIROC5: Mean states, variability, and climate sensitivity. J. Climate, 23, 6312-6335.
  • (7) Watanabe, M., M. Chikira, Y. Imada, and M. Kimoto, 2011: Convective control of ENSO simulated in MIROC. J. Climate, 24, 543-562.