JapaneseJapanese Alliance
Alliance forfor
ClimateClimate Change
Change Observation
Observation(JACCO)(JACCO)

Office for Coordination of Climate Change Observation(OCCCO)

Supported byMinistry of the Environment and Japan Meteorological Agency

Japanese Alliance for Climate Change Observation
Toward the integration of climate change observation-Toward
With the increasing emphasis placed on earth observation, international cooperation for the promotion ofearth observation has increased, and as a result, the GEO (Group on Earth Observations) was established andthe GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) 10-year Implementation Plan was adopted at the third
Earth Observation Summit in 2005.
In Japan, the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) released the Earth Observation Promotion
Strategy in 2004, which proposed the establishment of an organization promoting earth observation and anational alliance to enhance cooperation between ministries and institutions.
Following this, the Earth Observation Promotion Commission was established at the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and the Japanese Alliance for Climate Change Observation(JACCO) was organized. As the secretariat of JACCO, the Oﬃce for Coordination of Climate Change Observation(OCCCO) was established by the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)in April 2006. OCCCO is located in the Center for Global Environmental Research of the National Institutefor Environmental Studies (NIES).

Report the status ofimplementation plan

Council for Science andTechnology Policy

Earth Observation Promotion Commission,
Subdivision on R&D Planning and Evaluation,Council for Science and Technology, MEXT

Coordinate, createand propose
implementation plan

Relevant
Ministries andOrganizations

Create theimplementation
plan

Report the statusand implementation
plan for each fiscal year

Japanese Alliance for
JACCO Climate Change Observation

Steering Committee

Requestdocuments

Providedocumentation

OCCCO

ProvideadviceScientific
Advisory Board

Providesupport

Office for Coordination of Climate
Change Observation, Japan (MOE & JMA)

Request scientificinvestigation

Report scientificinvestigation

Scientific Working Group★JACCO Structure

Main Activities
JACCO has been engaged in the following activities to promote interagency and interdisciplinary cooperationin climate change observation. It aims to promote long-term continuous observations by interagency cooperation,
as well as to create new research ﬁelds and provide original research results by interdisciplinary collaboration.
Furthermore, JACCO has been facilitating the dissemination of information through the OCCCO website.

1. Conducting surveys
JACCO investigates the current state of and future needs for climate change observation by surveys and discussion
in working groups. The results of the surveys are reported to the Earth Observation Promotion Commission.
Surveys for the current state of Climate Change Observation
In order to enhance the joint usage of observational sites and to promote interagency and interdisciplinary cooperation,

JACCO conducts surveys on observational sites in Japan and investigates the current situation of the collaborativeuse of facilities and equipment. The survey results are provided on the OCCCO website.

Observation of plant p
photosynthesis
respiration
andn resrespiratio
ir i nObservation of CO2 flux

Measuring equipment forphotosynthesis & transpiration

CO2 analyzer & Sonic anemometer-thermometer

Gifu University, River Basin Research Center,
Takayama Experiment Site

mounted on the meteorological observation tower
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute,
Appi Forest Meteorology Research Site

Analysis of futuref t e needs
eed fofor Cli
Climatete Ch
Change Observation
JACCO has set up scientiﬁc working groups comprised of experts, and has discussed issues on the current status ofand future needs for observations in various ﬁelds. The results reported by the scientiﬁc working groups have been compiledin two Japanese volumes, which have been submitted to the Steering Committee and the Earth Observation Promotion Commission.
The following English summaries of the reports were issued:・ Observations for the monitoring of greenhouse gases and the carbon cycle and for the assessment of the impacts of climate change (2008)
・ Observations for the monitoring of clouds, aerosol and atmospheric radiation, and for the assessment of the impacts of climate change (2012)
JACCO has also organized expert meetings and set up relevant working groups to address priority issues raised in these reports.

2. Discussing in expert meetings and scientific working groups
JACCO has organized expert meetings and set up working groups (WGs) to discuss collaborative eﬀorts toward speciﬁc issues.
Expert meetings

・ Standard Scale for Greenhouse Gas Measurement (February, 2010)
・ Interagency Cooperation on Observations in the Cryosphere and Arctic Research Consortium (November, 2010)
・ Calibration of Atmospheric Radiation Measuring Instruments (December, 2010)
Working groups

・ WG for compiling statistics on climate change impacts (2010)

・・This WG has compiled a plan for collecting statistical data on climate change impacts to promote the developmentof environmental statistics and enhance data sharing. On the basis of this plan, OCCCO released a list of statistical data on“MOE portal site of statistical data on climate change impacts”† and has kept it updated since 2012.
†URL : http://www.nies.go.jp/occco/statistics̲portal/index.html
WG for the standardization of greenhouse gase (GHG) observational data (2010〜)
To facilitate the standardization and dissemination of GHG observational data, this WG has conducted InterComparison
Experiments for GHG Observation (iceGGO) with standard reference gases of GHGs since 2012.
WG for the calibration of atmospheric radiation measuring instruments (2011〜)
The WG is considering collaborative ways to calibrate atmospheric radiation measuring instruments.

3. Organizing workshops
JACCO has organized annual workshops to raise awareness among the public about issues relating to climate change
observation. The following workshops entitled Toward the integration of climate change observations were held:
・ In view of long-term climate change observations and interdisciplinary and interagency collaborations (October, 2007)
・ In the frontline of observations of climate change impacts (December, 2007)
・ In the frontline of observations in the cryosphere (January, 2010)
・ In the frontline of forest observations (November, 2010)・ Climate change revealed by long-term observational data - In view of data collection, rescue, and archive (December, 2011)
・ Observation and utilization of solar radiative energy (November, 2012)
Panel discussions regarding interdisciplinary and interagency cooperation were held in the workshops. Based on thesediscussions, proposals for future collaboration among research bodies were compiled and submitted to the Earth Observation
Promotion Commission, aiming to be reﬂected in national science policies. The following proposals were submitted:
・ Cooperation for terrestrial carbon cycle and ecosystem monitoring (2009)・ Interagency cooperation for observations in the cryosphere (2010)
・ Cooperation for forest observations (2011)
・ Data collection, rescue and archive (2012)
・ Cooperation initiatives for observation and utilization of solar radiative energy (2013)

JACCO and GEO/GEOSSIn recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on earth observation to deal with
global issues such as damages caused by global warming and natural disasters. Internationally,
GEO was launched to coordinate eﬀorts on global earth observations. Since then, various activities
have been initiated to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).
In Japan, responding to these international trends, CSTP released the Earth Observation
Promotion Strategy in 2004, which proposed the establishment of the Earth Observation Promotion
Commission and a national alliance to enhance cooperation between ministries and institutions.
Accordingly, two national alliances have been set up: one for climate change, and one forearthquake and volcanic activity.
References
GEO: http://www.earthobservations.org/index.shtml
GEOSS: http://www.earthobservations.org/geoss.shtml
Earth Observation Promotion Strategy: http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/project/envpt/english/pub/eops̲ﬁnnal1.pdf

JapanOCCCO(NIES)

ContactOﬃce for Coordination of Climate Change
Observation（OCCCO）(MOE/JMA)
Center for Global Environmental Research (CGER)
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)
16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Telephone: +81-29-850-2980 Fax: +81-29-858-2645
E-mail: occco@nies.go.jp
http://occco.nies.go.jp/e̲index.html
September 2013