Progress report on Mt.
Fuji Weather Stationand future research
proposals
Yukiko Dokiya,
NPO”Valid Utilization of Mt. Fuji
Weather Station”
http://npo.fuji3776.net

A Progress Report

What’s going on at Mt. Fuji
weather station?

http://npo.fuji3776.net

Pre History of Mt. Fuji Weather Station(more than 100 years ago)

1817? Measurement of Altitude (Tadataka Ino)
1827
Measurement of Altitude (Keisaku Ninomiya, F. F. vonSiebold)
1880
Pressure measurement (T.C. Mendenhall)
1889
Meteorological Observation ( Kiyoo Nakamura)
1895
October to December observation (Mr. & Mrs. ItaruNonaka)～1910 Observation in summer（Central Meteorological Observatory）

http://www4.big.or.jp/~naomy/

Mt. Fuji Weather Station
1927 A private observation laboratory was built by Junichi Sato by the fund of Mitsui
1932 Second IGY, International observation. One year
weather station at Higashi Yasunogawara
1936 Mt. Fuji weather station at Kengamine
1950 Mt. Fuji weather station of JMA
1964 800km Mt. Fuji RADAR
1999 End of the RADAR operation
2001 RADAR dome removed
May,2005
2004 End of attended operation

Short history of the Society
Autumn, 2003 “Save Mt. Fuji Air
Observation” appeal
WinterAppeal to scientificsocieties

Feb.5, 2004 Speech at IGOS meeting

Got a recommendation
Mt. Fuji High Altitude Research Society

IGOS-P
Atmospheric Chemistry Theme:
Discussion and Summary Recommendations
IGOS International Workshop, February 4-6, 2004,Tokyo, Japan

Need for:
Coordinated network of long-term and systematic satellite/balloon/aircraft/ground-based
measurements, especially focusing on realizing the followings:
1. Coordination among in-situ observations of several agencies(i.e., JMA/GAW, NIES rural stations, NIES/NDSC, etc… )2. Satellite monitoring system for air quality in Asia, including precursor gases of GHG for GHG
inventory/climate change

3. Maintaining the mountain-top station at Mt.

Fuji
4. Additional ground-based column measurements( i.e., CO & CO2 with FTIR; NO2 & SO2 with DOAZ)
5. Campaign type measurements (in addition to long-term comprehensive measurements) for
validating satellite data and model results

Short history of the Society(continued)
Got a recommendation but・・・・

Nothing happedSpring, 2004 Appeal to Shizuoka and Yamanashi LocalGovernments
summer An investigative tour to weather station

Establishment of the society

autumnn
winterPublication of a book。
Applied to research funds
Meetings

Mt. Fuji High Altitude Research SocietyMt. Fuji High Altitude Research Society

includes the researchers of atmospheric chemistry, highaltitude physiology and medicine, astronomy, ecology, etc.（50members on Sept. 1,2005）
Atmospheric Chemistry
Tasuku AKAGI, Hiroshi BANDOW, Yukiko DOKIYA, Shinnichi FUJITA, Shiro HATAKEYAMA,
Hiroshi HAYAMI, Tomoyoshi IDETA, Yasuhito IGARASHI, Yasunobu IWASAKA, Yoshizumi KAJII,Naoki KANEYASU, Yasuko KASAI, Yoko KATAYAMA, Shungo KATO, Mizuka KIDO, Hiroshi
KOBAYASHI, Kazuhisa KOMURA, Jun MATSUMOTO, Yukiya MINAMI, Kazuhiko MIURA, Hitoshi
MUKAI, Ippei NAGAO, Osamu Nagaｆuchi, Tomoaki OKUDA, Hiroshi OKOCHI, Kazuo OSADA,Yasumune SADANAGA, Yoshihiro SHINODA, Akira TAKAHASHI, Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, Norimichi
TAKENAKA, Hiroshi TSUNO, Takatsugu UEHIRO, Koichi WATANABE, Katsuhiro YOSHIOKAHigh Altitude Medicine

Katsumi ASANO, Masako HORII, Rika IDE, Shigeru MASUYAMA, Kou MIZUNO, ShigeyoshiNAGASAKI, Eisuke TAKAZAKURA, Masayoshi YAMAMOTO

Astronomy
Satoshi YAMAMOTO,Ecology
Takehiro MASUZAWA, Emiko MARUTA

Glaciology
Keisuke SUZUKI

Organization
Yoshiyuki SAKURAI, Toyohiro WATANABE

Mt. Fuji High Altitude Research Society
The aim of the society is the scientific utilizationof the facilities of the Mt. Fuji weather station.

Researchers, who are also performing
observations in other mountains, areincluded. Such as:
Okutama（Tokyo）・Tanzawa（Kanagawa）
Chichibu（Saitama）・Norikura/Happo（Nagano）・Tateyama（Toyama）・
Hotatsuzan（Ishikawa）

Research activities other thanmeteorology at Mt. Fuji
1980～ Plant ecology, observation on snow and ice
1980-81 CO2 observation (Tohoku University)
1986-91 Experiment of high altitude medicine
studies on mountain sickness
1990-92 Precipitation chemistry
Feasibility study on the establishment of thesub-mm wave telescope

Research activities other thanmeteorology at Mt. Fuji (continued)
1992-2004 Continuous measurement of surface ozone
1993,4 Precipitation and aerosol chemistry observation(summer)
1994
The summit of Mt. Fuji was proved to be an ideal
spot for sub-mm wave telescope
1998Establishment of the first sub-mm wave telescope at
Nishi Yasunokawara (winter)1997-2001 Intense observation study on plant ecology andsnow and ice

1997-2001 Summer campaigns on atmosphericchemistry2002-2004 Summer/autumn campaigns andcontinuous measurement on atmospheric chemistryBlack carbon analyzer
High volumesampler
SO2 analyzer

Lab. in the Mt. Fuji Weather
Station

Until July, 2004

Rn monitor

CO2 monitor

Lab. In the Mt. Fuji Weather Station

Until July, 2004

Now it looks.
August 23, 2005

Photo by Dr. H. Kobayashi

High Mountain Observationsites in the World
Mauna Loa (USA)（CO2,CH4,N2O,CO,CFCs,Aerosols,etc.）
Jung Frau Joch (Switzerland)（CH4,N2O,CO,NOx,SO2,VOC,CFCs,etc.）
Waligan(China)（CH4,CO2,CO,H2,SO2,etc.)
Zugspitze (Germany)（CO2,CH4,N2O,CO,VOC,CFCs,Rn, Kr)
Mt. Fuji (Japan)（No continuous observation）

Japan is far behind in this field.

In the world, researches using
mountains are getting popular

Zugspize, Germany
2,962ma.s.l.
Jung Frau Joch, Switzerland
3,550m a.s.l.

Mauna Loa, USA
3,397m a.s.l.
Mt. Waligan, China
3,810m a.s.l.

Short history of the Society(continued 2)

Spring, 2005 A symposium on the activities of the society,
Publication of the research proposal
May 17

A “Revival of Mt. Fuji weather station” event
was held in Shizuoka

June 26

・・・ at Odaiba, Tokyo

Approached to JMA and other governmentalorganization and found:
JMA is reluctant in promoting any new valid
utilization way of the weather station.
EA and MEXT are willing to utilize and also to support, however,
have no intention to take the leadership.

Mt. Fuji High Altitude Research SocietyAnd hot and long summer of2005・・・
Visiting members of Diet, asking for
help, visiting to JMA, ME, MEXT andMLIT, with plenty of data , brochures andname cards, sometimes in vain.・・・・・

We did whatever we could!
Our conclusion is: Establishment of NPO is theonly solution

Research Proposals
Utilizing Mt. Fuji WeatherStation
NPO Valid Utilization of Mt. FujiWeather Station

Contents
28 proposals are collected up to present(Feb., 2006) including 5 research fields
from 42 researchers.
Atmospheric chemistry 19 titles (27researchers)High altitude medicine 6 (10)Astronomy 1(1)Ecology 1(3)Glaciology 1 (1)Atmospheric Chemistry Continuous

observations of trace gases
and aerosols in the free troposphere Base line
observation overAtmosphere
Japanese Islands
 Long range
transport ofchemicals

The summit iscovered with fog
very often, whichmeans the cloud
can be collectedon site. Wet anddry processes of
air chemistry canbe clarified

The mountain canserve as anobservation towerof 4000m. Verticalinformation on theconcentrations oftrace gases andaerosols will beobtained

Mt. Fuji is an observation tower of 4000 m
COS at 3776 m
COS at 3255 m
COS at 2400 m
COS at 1300 m

High Altitude Medical Studies
At the summit of Mt. Fuji
air pressure ： about 60 % of the surface,respiratory oxygen:12 %acute mountainsickness.

The mechanism of the disease will be
studied from the view point of blood
circulation, otorhinolaryngology,
pulmonary circulation and preventive
medicine
High altitude training is a promisingtraining method in many fields of sport,
the mechanism of which will be very
efficiently investigated utilizing thefacilities

Astronomy
The summit of Mt. Fuji is one of thebest sites in the world for astronomicalObservations.
In winter,Lowtemperatureand humidity A

telescope of sub-mm wavelength has
been set at the Nishinogawara, the summitof Mt. Fuji in 1998.
 Successful operation (1998-2005) showed:
Sub-mm line of the atomic carbon toward a
number of nearby molecular clouds andexplored formation of molecular clouds:
birthplace of new stars.

Circulation of interstellar matter in galaxy

Ecology Permafrost was found at the summitof Mt. Fuji in 1970s. The moss andlichens growing near the summit of Mt.
Fuji utilize the melt of the permafrost
for their life. Recently, the distributionof these organisms are found to bechanging because of the decrease ofpermafrost.

ActualMeasureofGlobalWarming

To o hot !

Glaciology
Mountain snow of high altitude conserves thehistory of air pollution as the concentration ofchemical species.
CollaborationwithPrecipitation,
fog anc rime
chemistryLong range transport
SO2NOxDetails of the proposals will
follow.

Thank you