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Department of Civil Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology Professor Keisuke Nakayama

Assessment of climatic changes on cold-region ecosystems; the situation in Shiretoko

Research grant

Project Description

In this research, we direct our attention to Shiretoko, a natural environment that offers a compact collection of the features of cold regions, as we reveal the impact of climatic change on mass transport modes and propose measures for preservation. More specifically, we take on-site measurements of water/nutrient balances along the watersheds of the Rausu/Horobetsu rivers and model the water circulation process by means of a hydrological outflow model. We then formulate a number of climate change scenarios and, utilizing the model together with onsite measurements, propose a method of preserving the overall ecosystem. Vegetation on the east side of the Shiretoko Peninsula is much different from that on the west. Here, if we could confirm the reproducibility of the model upon application to the east and west watersheds, we would thus presumably be able to apply the model to cold regions in general (i.e., to areas beyond Shiretoko). We would also be able to propose measures upon analysis of differing climate change scenarios.

Fields
Climate changePreservation of biodiversity and ecosystem
Grant year
FY2008 Research Grants
Grant term
3 years
April 2009 - March 2012
Grant amount
9,808,000 yen
Activity region
Eastern Hokkaido, Japan
Sampling by students from Hokkaido Rausu High School

Overview of the Organization

Professor Keisuke Nakayama
Representative
Professor Keisuke Nakayama
Profile
Specialist fields
Environmental fluid mechanics, hydrology, coastal engineering
Affiliated academic societies
Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources; Japan Society of Civil Engineers; American Geophysical Union (AGU); Japan Society of Fluid Mechanics
Background
In April 1995 became an Assistant at the Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University. In October 1999 took a position of Research officer, Port and Airport Research Institute, Ministry of Transport. From January 2001 to March 2007 was a Senior researcher, National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Transport. In March 2001until March 2003 was a Visiting Fellow (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) at the University of West Australia, and April 2003 to March 2007 was Assistant Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School. Was a joint assignment as senior researcher at National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management from September 2005 to December 2005. Invited Senior Researcher (under a Gledden Fellowship Award) and from April 2007 onward was a Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology
Collaborating researchers
Tomonari OKADA, Chief Researcher, National Institute for Land and Infrastructural Management; Tomohiro Kuwae, Team Leader, Port and Airport Research Institute; Tetsunori INOUE, Senior Researcher, Port and Airport Research Institute; Takashi NAKAO, Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology; Hiroshi HAYAKAWA, Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology; Akira HORI, Associate Professor, Kitami Institute of Technology
Research record
  • (1) Simanjuntak M. A., J. Imberger and K. Nakayama, Numerical wave drag due to stair-step topography in a geophysical flow model, Journal of Geophysical Research, in press, 2009.
  • (2) Nakayama K. and T. Kakinuma, Internal waves in a two-layer system using fully nonlinear internal-wave equations, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, in press, 2009.
  • (3) Dushmanta D. and K. Nakayama, Impacts of Spatial data resolution in River flow Simulation by Physically Based Distributed Modeling Approach: A Case Study in Tsurumi River Basin, Japan, Hydrological Processes, in press, 2009.
  • (4) Kakinuma T. and K. Nakayama, Internal waves induced by typhoon, SUISUI Hydrological Research Letters, Vol.1, No.1, 2007.
  • (5) Okada T. and K. Nakayama, Modeling of dissolved oxygen in an enclosed bay with sill, Journal of Environmental Engineering - ASCE, Volume 133, Issue 4, pp.447-453, 2007.