TCC Activity Report for 2008
The Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has prepared theActivity Report of the Tokyo Climate Center for 2008, covering climate-related activities by TCC
in 2008 and its plans for 2009.

1. TCC website and products
TCC updated its website (http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/index.html) in March 2008 with several newfeatures including downscaled products for one-month prediction in Southeast Asia.
A new publication, Annual Report on Climate System 2007 was issued in March 2008, covering topics
on extreme climate events around the world and giving a summary of the climate system in 2007.
Other publications, such as Climate Change Present and Future and Climate Change
Monitoring Report for 2007, were also made available on the TCC website.
2. JRA-25 Atlas
The joint project between JMA and the Central Research Institute for Electric Power Industry on
long-term global atmospheric reanalysis (called the Japanese 25-year Reanalysis (JRA-25)), wascompleted in March 2006. In March 2008, maps of annual, seasonal and monthly averaged climate
fields for various meteorological variables from JRA-25 products have been made available in theJRA-25 Atlas at http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/jra/atlas/eng/atlas-tope.htm.
3. Extended- and long-range EPS
In January 2008, new elements of GPV data (700-hPa temperature and its anomaly) were added as
one-month predictions, and have been made available to registered NMHSs.
4. ODAS and El Niño prediction system
The Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of JMA has been developing a new Ocean Data
Assimilation System (ODAS), named MOVE (Multivariate Ocean Variational Estimation), and an
ocean prediction model named MRI.COM (MRI Community Ocean Model) since 1999. The newocean analysis system and the ocean-atmosphere coupled prediction system were put into operation inMarch 2008.
5. Global warming projection
JMA has implemented a projection of the atmospheric and oceanic climate around Japan for the end of
the current century using a regional coupled ocean-atmosphere model developed by JMA/MRI and an
improved version of the global ocean-atmosphere coupled model known as MRICGCM2.3.2.
Global Warming Projection Volume 7, published in March 2008 includes the climate and ocean
currents projected in and around Japan.
6. RCCTCC and the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) wererecommended for designation to Regional Climate Center (RCC) status in WMO RA II at theWorking Group on Climate-Related Matters (WGCRM) meeting in Beijing in April 2007. In close
cooperation with the BCC, the Regional Climate Center Network in RA II(http://www.rccra2.org/detail/index.htm) website went live in June 2007.
At another WGCRM meeting in Tokyo in August 2008, it was agreed that other candidates (India, Iranand Russian Federation) should be encouraged to participate in the RA II RCC Network on apilot-mode working with BCC and TCC.

7. Capacity building
JMA has conducted training courses in meteorology for experts of National Meteorological andHydrological Services (NMHSs) since 1973 on an annual basis as one of the training initiatives
provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The 2008 course was held from
September to December with an emphasis on the operational use of numerical weather prediction,satellite meteorology and climate information. In the climate information session, staff members fromthe Climate Prediction Division gave lectures on climate system monitoring, long-range forecasting,the El Niño outlook and global warming projection. At the request of the Malaysian Meteorological
Department (MMD), JMA/TCC ran a hands-on training course on climate data communication andapplication for three weeks in July – August. Two officers from MMD’s Climate Section participatedin the course to learn the use of Linux machines and data processing for GRIB and GRIB2. Anotherfour-week training course on climate forecasting and its application was conducted in September withthe participation of another two officers from MMD to learn how to use seasonal forecasting models.
TCC convened the Training Seminar on Climate Information and Forecasting at JMA Headquartersfrom 4 – 6November 2008 with 13 invited participants from 12 countries and territories who were engaged inoperational long-range forecasting at NMHSs in East and Southeast Asia. The participants learned
how to use the data and products available on the TCC website for long-range forecasting.
8. International conference and workshop
JMA held a meeting of WGCRM for RA II of WMO at JMA in Tokyo from 7 – 8 August 2008. The
meeting reviewed the implementation of climate-related activities in RA II, and an agreement wasmade to further develop cooperative relationships among members. The Ninth Meeting for theSeasonal Prediction of the East Asian Winter Monsoon took place at JMA from 6 – 7 November 2008
with more than 30 participants from NMHSs in East and Southeast Asia. Attendees discussed thelatest outlook for the 2008 – 2009 winter monsoon and exchanged information and knowledge about
the East Asian Winter Monsoon System, El Niño/La Niña outlook, long-term trends and decadal
variability/seasonal outlooks using statistical and dynamic forecast models.
9. Future plans
In the first quarter of 2009, TCC will publish a gridded dataset of annual and monthly meantemperature anomalies worldwide from 1891 onward on the TCC website. The data, which covers 5° x
5° grid boxes worldwide can be downloaded and displayed on a map. This resource will enable users
to monitor and analyze climate change on a regional scale. In the second quarter of 2009, TCC’s
newly developed software, Interactive Tool for Analysis of the Climate System (ITACS), will be madeavailable on the TCC website, enabling registered NMHSs to display various kinds of maps withselected parameters and to make statistical analysis. In April 2009, the data format ofone-month-forecast GPV products will be changed from GRIB1 to GRIB2. Daily GPV data for
individual ensemble members will also be made available on the TCC website for the first time.
JMA is preparing for the upgrade of its seasonal forecast model scheduled for early 2010. The
upgraded version will introduce a one-tier coupled system instead of the current two-tier system. It isexpected that the forecast skill of the new model will be improved, particularly for precipitation over
the tropics and the Asian monsoon/winter Australian winter monsoon. In February 2009, JMA will
update the El Niño prediction system, which consists of a global ocean data assimilation system and acoupled atmosphere-ocean global circulation model (CGCM). TCC plans to hold a training seminar on
the utilization of JRA-25 data for NMHSs in East and Southeast Asia in late 2009 or early 2010.