TCC Activity Report for 2022
In 2022, the Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) continued to support the climate services ofNational Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in Asia-Pacific countries byproviding and enhancing data and products, holding training seminars, publishing quarterly
newsletters and participating in online international meetings.
1. Enhancement of data/products/tools on the TCC website
1.1 Issuance of special reports on extreme events
In a mandate role as a WMO Regional Climate Centre (RCC) in Regional Association II (RAII),TCC monitors world climate conditions with focus on Asia and its surrounding area. The Center issues
reports on extreme climate events and summaries of the Asian summer/winter monsoon on its website(https://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/clisys/reports/index.html).
A series of heavy snowfall events hit Japan on the Sea of Japan side and elsewhere from late
December 2021 to early January 2022, bringing unprecedented snowfall for this period in the Kinki
region and other areas. TCC issued a press release on factors behind this snowfall and low
temperatures around the country, and uploaded an English-language report to its website(https://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/news/press_20220201.pdf).
TCC also issued a press release on the summary of the heavy snowfall events during the whole
winter season (https://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/news/press_20220329.pdf).
From late June to early July 2022, record high temperatures were observed in eastern andwestern parts of Japan. From mid-July to mid-August, many parts of Japan experienced
record-heavy rain. In this context, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), with the help of
the Advisory Panel on Extreme Climatic Events (see TCC News No. 28), investigatedatmospheric and oceanic conditions considered to have contributed to such climate extremes
and summarized related primary factors. The comprehensive report is available on thewebsite (https://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/news/press_20220914.pdf)
1.2 Upgrade of the JMA’s Seasonal Ensemble Prediction System
JMA’s Seasonal Ensemble Prediction System was upgraded in February 2022 to improvesub-seasonal and seasonal forecasts, including operational three-month predictions, warm/cold season
outlooks and El Niño outlooks. The latest system, JMA/MRICPS3 (the Japan Meteorological
Agency/Meteorological Research Institute-Coupled Prediction System version 3), is anatmosphere/ocean/land/sea ice-coupled prediction system featuring a variety of changes in its
initialization and the forecast model used.
1.3 Upgrade of the Global Ensemble Prediction System for One-month Prediction
JMA upgraded its Global EPS for one-month prediction on 17th March 2022. In this upgrade, thehorizontal resolution of the model was enhanced and the 2-tier SST method was updated with using
SSTs predicted by the new Seasonal EPS (JMA/MRI-CPS3) for the forecast longer than 6 days.
1.4 Update of Weekly Report on Global Extreme Climate Events

The weekly report on global extreme climate events was updated on June 29, 2022. In this update,
JMA newly provides users with weekly data on weather stations recording extreme climate conditionsin HTML and CSV format files and new distribution maps showing such stations. The conventional
overview of extreme climate events and meteorological disasters in the world is also provided asbefore. The URL of the update page is https://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/climate/weekly/ .
2.

Capacity developmentTCC holds annual training seminars as part of capacity-development activities related to its role as
an RCC in RA II. In addition to running annual training seminars, it also arranges expert visits to andhosts visitors from NMHSs to support exchanges of views on climate services and the effective
transfer of technology.
2.1 Training seminar
TCC holds training seminars every fiscal year (April – March), with the November 2022 event
covering the Global Warming. The seminar was held online as last year due to COVID-19. Details ofthe events are reported in TCC News No. 71.
2.2 Hosting of NHMS staff
In response to request from BMKG (Indonesia) under an ongoing JICA project, TCC held the2-days seminar at JMA on 13-14th December 2022 in order to learn climate-relevant expertise and do
exercise in iTacs. Details are reported in TCC News No. 71.
3. International meetings
3.1 Regional Climate Outlook Forums
RCCs are expected to actively contribute to and lead profound discussions in Regional Climate
Outlook Forums (RCOFs). In 2022, TCC experts participated in the following RCOFs in Asia:- Eighteenth session of the Forum on Regional Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction forRegional Association II (FOCRA II-18) held online, on 9 May- Twenty-second session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-22) held online,from 26 to 28 April- Twenty-third session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum (SASCOF-23) held online, from26-28 to 30 September- Tenth session of the East Asia winter Climate Outlook Forum (EASCOF-10) held online, on 10November- Nineteenth session of the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum (ASEANCOF-19) held online, from21 to 25 November
TCC attendees gave presentations on seasonal predictions based on JMA’s numerical model andparticipated in discussions toward the formulation of a consensus statement on regional forecasts.
In collaboration with TCC, a representative from the World Meteorological Centre Tokyo (WMCTokyo) attended SASCOF-22, SASCOF-23, and ASEANCOF-19 on line.

4.

Publications

TCC has published its newsletter (TCC News) on a quarterly basis since 2005. The publication isintended to enhance communication and provide information to NMHSs and related communities
about recent TCC developments, events and activities as well as details of the Center’s reports on thestate of the climate, monitoring results and outlooks. In 2022, TCC News No. 67 – 70 were issued andmade available on the TCC website.
5. Plans for 2023
-Eleventh session of the East Asia winter Climate Outlook Forum (EASCOF-11)
TCC will organize the EASCOF-11 as its host in autumn 2023. The details will be announced indue course.
- Contribution to the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)RCCs are expected to play a major role in the implementation of the GFCS. TCC plans to further
strengthen its activities and lead RA II’s contribution to the Framework. Such activities include theprovision of further assistance to NMHSs for better climate services, as well as maintenance of theportal site for Information Sharing on Climate Services in RA II.
- New/upgraded data, products and tool development
Enhancements of the new dataset are planned in the former half of 2023 include the utilization ofJRA-3Q (Japanese Reanalysis for Three-Quarters of a Century), COBE-SST2 (Centennial in situ
Observation-Based Estimates of the Variability of SST and Marine Meteorological Variables, version2), and MOVE/MRI.COM-G3 (the Multivariate Ocean Variational Estimation/MeteorologicalResearch Institute Community Ocean Model - Global version 3). These improvements will influence
several products on the TCC website, including the interactive iTacs tool, with details to be provided
in due course.
- Capacity development
Within the latter half of Japanese fiscal year 2023, TCC will hold its annual training seminar with adozen invited experts as attendees. The Center will also continue to dispatch experts to NMHSs asnecessary and host visitors from NMHSs upon request. The format of these activities (i.e., online or inperson) will depend on COVID-19 developments.
Besides, TCC will dispatch experts to some NMHS to do a follow-up seminar of the last TCC
training seminar.
(TAKAHASHI Kiyotoshi, Tokyo Climate Center)