No. 39

Winter 2015
Contents

P a geState of Global Warming in 2014 ~ The year 2014 was the warmest since 1891.~

1

Highlights of the Global Climate in 20142

Summary of Japan’s Climatic Characteristics in 2014

4

TCC Training Seminar on Global Warming Projection Information

5

TCC Activity Report for 2014

6State of Global Warming in 2014
~ The year 2014 was the warmest since 1891.~
Global Surface Temperature in 2014
The annual anomaly of the global average surface temperature for 2014 (i.e., the combined average of thenear-surface air temperature over land and the SST) was+0.27°C above the 1981 – 2010 average (+0.63°C above
the 20th-century average), making it the highest since1891. The top five warmest years are now 2014 (+0.27°C),
1998 (+0.22°C), 2013 and 2010 (+0.20°C), and 2005(+0.17°C). On a longer time scale, global average surface
temperatures have risen at a rate of about +0.70°C per
century since 1891 (Figure 1).
In 2014, the monthly average air temperatures for April,May, June, August, September, October and December,and the seasonal average air temperatures for boreal
spring, summer and autumn, were also the highest since
1891.
Warm temperature deviations are seen not only acrossmuch of Asia and Europe but also over a wide ocean area,
particularly in the North Pacific (Figure 2).
All years this century rank within the warmest 16 since1891. The recent high temperatures are thought to result
from the global warming trend caused by increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other anthropogenic
greenhouse gases. Global temperatures are also affected byinter-annual to decadal natural fluctuations intrinsic to theearth’s climate. The highest temperature for 2014 isthought to be associated with the El Niño phenomenon thatbegan in summer 2014.
JMA monitors monthly, seasonal and annual averageanomalies of global surface temperature. The results areroutinely updated on the following TCC web page:

Figure 1 Long-term change in annual mean surface temperature anomalies over the globe
The black line with filled circles indicates anomalies of surface
temperature in each year. The blue line indicates five-year runningmean, and the red line indicates a long-term linear trend. Anomalies are represented as deviations from the 1981-2010 average.

http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/gwp/temp/ann_wld.html(Koji Ishihara, Climate Prediction Division)
Figure 2 Annual mean temperature anomalies in 2014
The circles indicate anomalies of surface temperature averaged in
5°x5°grid boxes. Anomalies are deviations from the 1981-2010
average.

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Ocean Heat Content in 2014
Oceans have a significant impact on the global climate
because they cover about 70% of the earth’s surface andhave high heat capacity. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment report(IPCC, 2013), more than 60% of the net energy increasein the climate system from 1971 to 2010 is stored in theupper ocean (0 – 700 m), and about 30% is stored below
700 m. Oceanic warming results in sea level rises due tothermal expansion, and impacts marine ecosystems.
It is virtually certain that globally integrated upper
ocean (0 – 700 m) heat content (OHC) rose between 1950
and 2014 at a rate of 2.11 × 1022 J per decade as along-term trend with interannual variations (statisticallysignificant at a confidence level of 99%). Oceans exhibited marked warming from the mid-1990s to the early
2000s. Although the slope has become more moderate,
OHC has continued to increase significantly since then. A
rise of 0.022°C per decade in the globally averaged upper
ocean (0 – 700 m) temperature has accompanied the OHC
increase.
These long-term trends can be attributed to global
warming caused by increased concentrations of anthropogenic greenhouse gases such as CO2 as well as naturalvariability.
(Yoshikazu Fukuda, Marine Division)

Figure 3 Time series representation of the globally
integrated upper (0 – 700 m) ocean heat content
anomaly
The 1981 – 2010 average is used as the normal. The solidline with dots shows the annual mean for the global integrals of upper (0 – 700 m) ocean heat content anomalies.
The shaded area indicates a 95% confidence level.

Highlights of the Global Climate in 2014
Annual mean temperatures were above
normal in many parts of the world, andwere below normal in the Philippines,
from Western Siberia to Central Asia andfrom central Canada to the southern USA(Figure 4). Extremely high temperatures
were frequently observed from Malaysia
to Indonesia, in southern Europe, in western Africa, around northern Madagascar,in western Alaska, from the southwestern
USA to northwestern Mexico, around the
Caribbean Sea, around southern Brazil andin southern Australia, and extremely low
temperatures were frequently observed in
the southern part of Western Siberia, in thesouthern part of Central Asia and aroundthe Midwest of the USA.

TCC News

Figure 4 Annual mean temperature anomalies in 2014
Categories are defined by the annual mean temperature anomaly against the normal divided by its standard deviation and averaged in 5° × 5° grid boxes. The
thresholds of each category are -1.28, -0.44, 0, +0.44 and +1.28. The normal values and standard deviations are calculated from 1981-2010 statistics. Land areas
without graphics represent regions for which the sample size of observation data is
insufficient or normal data are unavailable.

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Annual precipitation amounts wereabove normal from Central Siberia to theeastern part of Central Asia, on the southern Scandinavian Peninsula, in southeastern Europe, around the Red Sea, in thenortheastern USA, in western Mexico, inthe southern part of South America andfrom Micronesia to the southern Philippines, and were below normal on thesouthern Arabian Peninsula and in southern Algeria (Figure 5). Extremely heavy
precipitation amounts were frequently
observed in southeastern and western Europe and around southern Brazil.
Figure 5 Annual total precipitation amount ratios in 2014
Categories are defined by the annual precipitation ratio to the normal averaged in
5° × 5° grid boxes. The thresholds of each category are 70%, 100% and 120%.
Land areas without graphics represent regions for which the sample size of observation data is insufficient or normal data are unavailable.

Major extreme climatic events and weather-related
disasters occurring in 2014 are listed below (also see Figure 6).
(1) Torrential rain in Japan (August)(2) Drought in northeastern and eastern China (June −August)(3) Low temperatures in the southern part of Western Siberia (July, September – October)(4) Low temperatures in the southern part of Central Asia
(February, October – November)(5) Typhoon in the Philippines (July)(6) High temperatures from Malaysia to Indonesia (June –July, October – November)(7) Torrential rain in India, Nepal and Pakistan (July −September)(8) Floods and Landslides in northern Afghanistan (April− June)(9) Heavy precipitation in southeastern Europe (May –June, August – September, December)(10) High temperatures in southern Europe (February,
April, October – November)(11) Heavy precipitation in western Europe (January –February, May, July – August, November)(12) High temperatures in western Africa (June – July,
November)(13) High temperatures around northern Madagascar (July– August, October – December)(14) High temperatures in western Alaska (January, August, November)(15) Low temperatures around the Midwest of the USA(January – March, July, November)(16) Drought in California (all year round)(17) High temperatures from the southwestern USA tonorthwestern Mexico (all year round)(18) High temperatures around the Caribbean Sea (June –July, November)(19) High temperatures (January – February, September –October) and heavy precipitation (June – July, September – October) around southern Brazil(20) High temperatures in southern Australia (May, September – October)(Ayako Takeuchi, Tokyo Climate Center)

Figure 6 Major extreme climate events and weather-related disasters across the world in 2014
Major extreme climate events and weather-related disasters that occurred during the year are indicated schematically.

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Summary of Japan’s Climatic Characteristics in 2014
- Annual mean temperatures were near normal
all over Japan. Annual precipitation amounts
were above normal in many regions of thecountry, and were below normal in Okinawa/Amami. Annual sunshine durations weresignificantly above normal on the Pacificside of northern Japan and eastern Japan,
and were below normal in western Japan.
- Western Japan experienced cool, wet summer conditions for the first time since 2003.
- Hazardous extremely heavy rains were observed in some areas nationwide from late
July to August.
- Two record-breaking heavy snowfall events
hit the Kanto Koushin region in February.

Figure 7 Time series of five-day running mean temperature anomalies
for subdivisions (January – December 2014)
The normal is the 1981 – 2010 average.

(1) Annual characteristics
The annual mean temperature over Japan was nearnormal. Although all regions of the country experienced above-normal temperatures for several months,
temperatures fluctuated periodically with largely below-normal
temperature
periods.
Migratory
high-pressure systems were dominant and broughtsunny weather to northern and eastern Japan mainly inspring and autumn, while a number of typhoons anddeveloped cyclones brought high precipitation
amounts there.
(2) Seasonal characteristics(a) Winter (December 2013 – February 2014)
Although the strength of the winter monsoon wasnear normal, snowfall amounts were significantly below normal on the Sea of Japan side of Japan. Meanwhile, the Pacific side of eastern Japan was hit by two
heavy snowfall events in February, with maximum
snow depths significantly exceeding previous records
at many stations in the Kanto Koushin region.
(b) Spring (March – May)
Migratory high-pressure systems were dominant
over the main islands of Japan, bringing more sunnydays than normal to northern, eastern and western Japan and cold air advection to Okinawa/Amami.
(c) Summer (June – August)The expansion of the Pacific High to western Japanwas weaker than normal. This part of Japan experienced cool summer conditions for the first time since2003, and sunshine durations were the lowest for August since 1946 on the Pacific side of western Japan.
Hazardous extremely heavy rains were observed insome areas nationwide due to active fronts and typhoons from late July to August.

Figure 8 Annual climate anomaly/ratio for Japan in 2014(d) Autumn (September – November)
Migratory high-pressure systems were dominant overnorthern Honshu and brought the highest sunshine durations
since 1946 to the Sea of Japan side of eastern Japan. The Pacific High covered the Sakishima Islands, bringing hot dry
conditions to the area from the second half of summer to thefirst half of autumn.
(Norihisa Fujikawa, Climate Prediction Division)

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TCC Training Seminar on Global Warming Projection Information
JMA's Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) assists National
Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in
improving their climate services. The Center's two major
activities in this regard involve providing basic climate
data and products to NMHSs through its website and assisting with capacity development at NMHSs in the
Asia-Pacific region. TCC holds annual training seminars
as part of capacity development activities related to itsrole as an RCC in the WMO RA II area. In addition torunning annual training seminars, it arranges expert visits
to and hosts visitors from NMHSs to support discussions
on cli-mate services and the effective transfer of technology.
In fiscal year 2014, TCC held the Training Seminar on
Global Warming Projection Information from 26 to 30
January 2015 at JMA Headquarters in Tokyo. The event
was attended by 13 experts from NMHSs in Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar,
Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.
The seminar focused on enhancing knowledge regarding
global warming and related issues, and on improving individual countries’ capacity for the generation of global
warming projection information. The teaching involved

TCC News

lectures and practical exercises using one of the latest results of global warming projection. The participants generated global warming projection information for their own
countries using JMA’s JRA-55 reanalysis data and
20-km-resolution MRI-AGCM data produced by JMA’s
Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) under Theme C of
the Program for Risk Information on Climate Change (alsoknown as SOUSEI) – an initiative supported by Japan’s
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
At the end of the seminar, all attendees gave presentations on the results of their exercises and engaged in fruitful
discussions with the lecturers and other participants. The
content of the lectures is available on the TCC website at
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/library/library2014.html.
Attendees also listened to lectures by Co-Chairs of IPCC
Working Groups at the Symposium “Science on Climate
Change and our Future” organized by Japan’s Ministry of
the Environment. JMA and MEXT were among its
co-organizers.
(Atsushi Goto, Tokyo Climate Center)5

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TCC Activity Report for 2014
In 2014, the Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) continued tosupport the climate services of NMHSs in Asia-Pacific countries by providing and enhancing data and products, holding
training seminars, sending experts and hosting visitors.

time scale are of great benefit in socio-economic activities
such as mitigating the effects of floods and heatwaves andensuring appropriate food and water supplies. TCC hasdeveloped a set of extreme weather warning products forphenomena such as high/low temperatures, heavy precipitation/drought conditions, and strong winds, based on
JMA’s operational one-month ensemble prediction system(EPS) to support the provision of early warnings for extreme events. The products include maps of the Extreme
Forecast Index (EFI), extreme weather warnings based on
the EFI, and probabilistic forecasts for extreme conditions
together with an EPSgram covering the period up to two
weeks ahead. On 28 August 2014, TCC started providing
the new forecast products via the TCC website (TCC News
No.38).

1. Highlights of 2014
1.1 Contribution to the Global Framework for Climate
Services (GFCS)At its 15th session held in Doha, Qatar in December
2012, the WMO Regional Association recognized that theimplementation of the GFCS depends on the sharing of
good practices and lessons learned (including advanced
project management capabilities), the development of projects and the improvement of climate services provided by
NMHSs. Toward the achievement of these aims, the new
Pilot Project for Information Sharing on Climate Services
was adopted. TCC plays a leading role in the implementation of the Project, and started collecting information from
NMHSs in 2013. Based on the data received, the Centerhas developed a new dedicated website to support thesharing of information on climate services provided by
NMHSs and on their Framework-related activities. The
website (http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/pilot/) was officiallylaunched on 31 March 2014, and is kept updated. RAII
Members are encouraged to inform TCC of any updates on
their related activities.
The GFCS is intended to enable better management ofclimate-related risk. As reported in TCC News No. 38,
JMA has also developed a new website for climate risk
management (CRM)(http://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/risk/en/index.html), which is
linked to the TCC website. The new website includes information on the following to support CRM activities inJapan:- Clarification of the basic CRM concept and related processes- Good practices in CRM conducted by JMA together withpartner organizations in the agriculture and apparel/fashion industries

1.4 Issuance of special reports on extreme events
In its role as a WMO Regional Climate Center (RCC) in
RA II, TCC monitors world climate conditions with focus
on Asia and the surrounding area. The Center issues reports on extreme climate events and summaries of the
Asian summer/winter monsoon on its website at
http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/clisys/reports/index.html.
In August 2014, Japan experienced unseasonable
weather. In particular, the western part of the country saw
record-high precipitation and record-low sunshine durations. TCC invited members of its Advisory Panel on Extreme Climate Events (TCC News No. 28) to investigate
and discuss possible factors related to these unseasonableconditions. Based on its deliberations, the Panel issued astatement on primary factors causing the cloudy and rainy
conditions observed. The statement and detailed analysis
were issued in Japanese and English on the JMA website,
and the English versions were also made available on the
TCC website(http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/news/press_20140903.pdf).
TCC also closely monitored the extreme events listed
below and a number of others, and issued related media
releases in Japanese. These are available on the JMA website at
http://www.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/cpd/monitor/extreme_world/inde
x.html.

1.2 New provision of “Monthly Discussion on Seasonal
Climate Outlooks”
On 25 March 2014, TCC started providing a new product called Monthly Discussion on Seasonal Climate Outlooks on its web page(http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/products/model/index.html).
This website is intended to assist NMHSs in the
Asia-Pacific region in interpreting and assessing products
from the Global Producing Center of Long-range Forecasts(GPC) Tokyo for three-month prediction and warm/coldseason prediction, and to facilitate understanding of current
climate system conditions. (TCC News No.36)- Extreme cold in northern America in December 2013 andJanuary 2014
- Drought in the southwestern US starting in January 2013
In its role as an RCC in RA II, TCC informed WMO ofevents in the region to assist in the preparation of theWMO Statement on the Global Climate in 2014.
It is worth noting that the global temperature for 2014
was the highest since 1891 according to TCC’s analysis. A
preliminary report was issued on 22 December, and thefinal report was published in February 2015 (TCC News
No.39).

1.3 New Forecast Products in Support of Early Warnings for Extreme Weather Events
Early warnings for extreme events on a sub-seasonal

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1.5 Upgrade of JMA's One-month forecast model inMarch 2014
TCC provides one-month prediction products via the
web based on JMA’s Ensemble Prediction System (EPS)
for operational one-month forecasting (One-month EPS).
On 6 March, JMA implemented a major upgrade of the
One-month EPS. Major changes to the new system include
increased horizontal resolution of the Atmospheric Global
Circulation Model (AGCM), improvement of its boundary
conditions, and amendment of the ensemble method (TCC
News No.35).

3.2 Expert visits and other follow-up activities
In June, a TCC expert visited the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) of Myanmar in Nay Pyi
Taw to assist with improvements to seasonal prediction
services using numerical prediction model outputs andproducts available on the TCC website. The visit wasplanned as a follow-up to the TCC training seminar held in
2013, and also provided opportunities for DMH and TCC
to discuss future collaboration. (TCC News No.37).
Other follow-up activities to previous TCC training
seminars included hosting expert visits at TCC and conducting teleconferences to provide technical support.

2. Enhancement of data/products/tools on the TCC
website

4. International meetings

TCC strives to continuously enhance its services in theprovision of data, products and tools. In 2014, the following data and products were made available on this site:
30 January:

Upgraded version of ClimatView

10 February:

Updated hindcast gridded data forone-month forecasts

28 February:

JRA-55 data via ITACS

3 March:Climate products (e.g., analysis
charts and indices on the Asian
Monsoon) generated using JRA-55(as opposed to the previous products
generated using JRA-25)

25 March:

Monthly Discussion on Seasonal
Climate Outlooks

28 August:

Forecast Products in Support of Early Warnings for Extreme Weather
Events, including Extreme Forecast
Index (EFI) maps

4.1 Regional Climate Outlook Forums
RCCs are expected to actively contribute to discussions
in Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs). In 2014,
TCC experts participated in the following RCOFs in Asia:- Fifth session of the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum(SASCOF-5) held in Pune, India, from 22 to 23 April,
and a preceding training workshop on operational seasonal prediction- Tenth session of the Forum on Regional Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction for Regional Association II (FOCRA II) held in Beijing, China, from 23 to 25
April- Second session of the East Asia winter Climate Outlook
Forum (EASCOF) held in Tokyo, Japan, from 29 to 31
October (Hosted by JMA; see 4.2 for details.)- Third session of the ASEAN Climate Outlook Forum(ASEANCOF) held in Singapore from 17 to 19 November
TCC attendees gave presentations on seasonal predictions based on JMA’s numerical model and participated in
discussions toward the formulation of a consensus statement on regional forecasts.

Some of these were made available in response to requests by NMHSs, and are also expected to be useful toother parties. The Center will continue to accommodate
requests from NMHSs wherever possible.

4.2 EASCOF
From 29 to 31 October, JMA hosted the second sessionof EASCOF at its headquarters in Tokyo with the attendance of over 30 experts from China, Japan, Mongolia andthe Republic of Korea (TCC News No.38). After thesession, TCC developed a new dedicated EASCOF website
in collaboration with experts from other participating
countries to share presentations and reports at EASCOF
sessions(http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/library/EASCOF/). The new
website is linked to the WMO website and the TCC website.

3. Capacity development
TCC 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 and hosts visitors from NMHSs tosupport exchanges of views on climate services and theeffective transfer of technology.

4.3 Other meetings
In 2014, TCC was represented at the 16th session of the
WMO Commission for Climatology (CCl-16) (July, Heidelberg, Germany) and the 2nd session of the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Services (IBCS-2) (November, Geneva, Switzerland). In conjunction with CCl-16 andthe 35th Meeting of the Joint Scientific Committee of theWorld Climate Research Programme, the WMO TechnicalConference on Climate Services- Building on CLIPS Leg-

3.1 Training seminar
TCC holds a training seminar each fiscal year (whichruns from April to March). In 2014, preparations weremade for the event to be held in January 2015. As the Fifth
Assessment Report of the IPCC was issued in November
2014, the Center chose global warming as the subject of
the annual event. Details of the training are reported in
TCC News No. 39.

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No. 39 | Winter 2015

acy was held. At this event, TCC made a presentation on
support from research for the operational activities of
RCCs as well as a poster presentation on JRA-55. TCC
experts also participated in the 16th Session of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM-16) (April,
Antalya, Turkey), giving two poster presentations on
JMA’s contribution to improving climate risk managementin Japan’s agricultural sector and an introduction to
JRA-55.

mate is underway. Teleconnection indices (e.g., the Arctic
Oscillation Index) are also being developed using JRA-55
to enhance monitoring of atmospheric circulation. TCC
plans to make the investigation results and the indicesavailable online in 2015.
TCC further plans to upgrade the Interactive Tool for
Analysis of the Climate System (ITACS) to version 5.0 in
2015. The new version will have a renovated Graphical
User Interface (GUI) to reduce network traffic and user
burdens, and will feature a new function enabling the generation of one-month probabilistic forecasts at station
points based on the Model Output Statistics (MOS) technique with 30-year (1981 – 2010) hindcasts. These upgrades are expected to provide ITACS users with a moreconvenient operational environment and to be more useful
in application.
TCC is additionally working on the development of information/products based on the Standard Precipitation
Index (SPI) for improved monitoring of drought around theworld.

5. Publications
TCC has published its newsletter (TCC News) on aquarterly basis since 2005. The publication is intended toenhance communication and provide information to
NMHSs and related communities about recent TCC developments, events and activities as well as details of theCenter’s reports on the state of the climate, monitoring
results and outlooks. In 2014, TCC News No. 35 and No.
38 were issued and made available online by TCC.
Other English-language publications related to the climate, such as Climate Change Monitoring Report 2013
and Annual Report on the Climate System 2013, were also
published by TCC on the Web.

- Capacity development
In the last quarter of the year, TCC will hold its annual
training seminar with a dozen invited experts as attendees.
The Center will also continue to dispatch experts to
NMHSs as necessary and host visitors from NMHSs uponrequest.

6. Staff changes
Ryuji Yamada, who served as a TCC focal point for foreign colleagues for a number of years, moved to the WMO
Secretariat in October to work as Programme Manager at
the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific(RAP; part of WMO’s Development and Regional Activities Department (DRA)). His position was taken over byAtsushi Goto, who also assumed his responsibilities as amember of the RCC’s CCl Expert Team.

(Teruko Manabe, Tokyo Climate Center)

7. Plans for 2015
- Contribution to the Global Framework for Climate
Services (GFCS)RCCs are expected to play a major role in the implementation of the GFCS, and TCC plans to further
strengthen its activities to lead RA II’s contribution to the
Framework. Such activities include further assistance to
NMHSs for the provision of better climate services, as wellas maintenance and updating of the portal site for the Pilot
Project for Information Sharing on Climate Services.
- New/upgraded data, products and tool
TCC plans to implement a major upgrade of its Seasonal
Ensemble Prediction System for operational three-monthand warm/cold season forecasting by the summer of 2015.
Taking advantage of the JRA-55 long-term reanalysis
dataset, investigation of ENSO’s impact on the global cliTokyo Climate Center (TCC), Japan Meteorological Agency
Address: 1-3-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8122, Japan
TCC Website: http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/index.html

Any comments or inquiry on this newsletter and/or the TCC
website would be much appreciated. Please e-mail to
tcc@met.kishou.go.jp.
(Editors: Teruko Manabe, Atsushi Goto
and Yasushi Mochizuki)

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