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-

With the increasing emphasis placed on earth observation, international cooperation for the promotion of earth
observation has increased, and as a result, the GEO (Group on Earth Observations) was established and the 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; CSTI since 2014) released the Earth Observation
Promotion Strategy in 2004, which proposed the establishment of an organization promoting earth observation anda national 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) wasorganized. As the secretariat of JACCO, the Oﬃce for Coordination of Climate Change Observation (OCCCO) wasestablished 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 Institute for Environmental
Studies (NIES).

Report the status ofimplementation plan

Council for Science,

Earth Observation Promotion Commission,

Innovation

Subdivision on R&D Planning and Evaluation,Council for Science and Technology, MEXTCSTI Technology andCoordinate, createand propose
implementation plan

Relevant
Ministries
andOrganizations

Createthe実施計画
implementation
実施計画の作成planの作成

Report the status
and implementation
plan for each fiscal year

Alliance for
JACCO Japanese
Climate Change Observation

Steering Committee

Requestdocuments

ProvideadviceScientificAdvisory
Board

Providesupport

Providedocumentation

Office for Coordination of Climate

OCCCO 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 cooperation inclimate change observation. It aims to promote long-term continuous observations by interagency cooperation,aswell 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 anddiscussion in working groups. The results of the surveys are reported to the Earth Observation PromotionCommission.

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 collaborative use of facilities and equipment. The survey results are provided on the OCCCO website.
Observation of plant photosynthesis
and respiration

Measuring equipment forphotosynthesis & transpiration

Gifu University, River Basin Research Center,
Takayama Experiment Site

Observation of CO2 flux

Observation of clouds, aerosol
and radiation

CO2 analyzer & sonicanemometer-thermometer

Skyradiometer &microwave radiometer

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

National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)
Cape Hedo Atomosphere andAerosol Monitoring Station

Analysis of future needs for Climate 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
compiled in two volumes in Japanese with English summeries, which have been submitted to the Steering Committeeand the Earth Observation Promotion Commission.

・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)

2. Discussing in expert meetings and scientific working groups

JACCO has organized expert meetings and set up working groups (WGs) to discuss collaborative eﬀorts towardspeciﬁc 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/statistics_portal/index.html (in Japanese)

・WG for the standardization of greenhouse gase (GHG) observational data (2010〜)
To facilitate the standardization and dissemination of GHG observational data, this WG has conductedInterComparison 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. Based on panel discussions at the workshops, 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.

・In view of long-term climate change observations and interdisciplinary andinteragency 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)
・Recent trends of observation of terrestial carbon cycle,
ecosystem and biodiversity (December, 2013)

JACCO workshop in 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/eops_ﬁnnal1.pdf

Japan
OCCCO(NIES)

Ibaraki Pref.

Tokyo
Haneda Airport

Contact
Office 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/e_index.html
November 2014

Narita Airport