It’s 20 years since we started weather observation, monitoring leading to the future.
Nagano Prefecture is surrounded by three-thousanders. It is wide in the north-south direction and complicated in topography. Since the Nagano Winter Olympics were held in 1998, the prefecture has been making a collective effort to conserve the precious natural environment. The Nagano Environmental Conservation Research Institute (Iizuna Office) started research on climate change as a global warming countermeasure in 2003 and participated in a national research project as one of a few participants from local governments in 2010. The research institute contributed to the defining of the adaptation measure package in the “Nagano Prefecture Environment and Energy Strategies -- The Third Nagano Citizens' Plan for Global Warming Prevention” formulated in FY 2013. It set up the Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change in 2014. We interviewed Takashi Hamada, Senior Researcher at the Global Warming Countermeasures Team, the Natural Environment Division, the Nagano Environmental Conservation Research Institute leading the efforts for climate change adaptation in Nagano Prefecture.
Trying to obtain an accurate picture of the region with the original weather observation
The Iizuna Office of the Nagano Environmental Conservation Research Institute is 30-minute drive to the northeast from the Nagano prefectural government office. Please talk about the role of the institute and your activities on climate change.
The Iizuna Office was opened in 1996 as the Nagano Nature Conservation Research Institute. Nagano has the second largest alpine region in area in the country, following Hokkaido, and the largest number of mountains with a height exceeding 3,000 m. At high altitudes, rare animals and plants inhabit in a very severe environment. Our institute’s role is to carry out research for conservation of the precious natural environment of the prefecture.
I am from Tokyo. When I was a student, I was doing research on an urban heat island. I began research on global warming countermeasures after coming to Nagano to start my first job. Research on climate change was started in FY 2003. Those days, mitigation was the mainstream measures against global warming and we were gathering information on climate change from sources at home and abroad while estimating greenhouse gas emissions in the prefecture. To learn about global warming impacts, we mostly used the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and data issued by the Ministry of the Environment. However, information like impacts on Polar bears or coral reefs was not very relevant to citizens of Nagano Prefecture where there was no sea. We thought we had to collect and analyze meteorological data for ourselves to get a true picture of the region. In a project we launched in FY 2003, we added that perspective and carried out an analysis of the meteorological data from the local meteorological office in the prefecture and monitoring for studying impacts on the living things in the region. We compiled a report from the results and released it in 2008. This report attracted the attention of Professor Mitsuru Tanaka at Hosei University. Professor Tanaka suggested us participating in the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund in Strategic Research and Development Area (S-8) run by the Ministry of the Environment (Comprehensive Study on Impact Assessment and Adaptation for Climate Change). We participated in the S-8 for five years from 2010. From 2015, we took part in the Social Implementation Program on Climate Change Adaptation Technology (SI-CAT) run by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This experience dramatically accelerated progress in research on climate change in the prefecture and drove the prefecture to work toward climate change adaptation.
I understand you started monitoring to get a true picture of the region. What do you think of the significance of continuing the monitoring?
We started the weather monitoring 20 years ago in areas we began monitoring first. That is not long enough to obtain data to grasp the actual situation. We need to continue it to assess climate change likely to occur in the future. Each region should have key locations and items to be monitored. In the case of Nagano Prefecture, they are mountains. If you don’t collect data now, you can never be able to acquire them. If there are such locations, I recommend starting weather monitoring immediately. Some local governments may not have any specialist. It is not impossible at all for the employees of the prefecture or municipality to proceed with weather monitoring once an observation system is established. I hope weather monitoring will be carried out across the country in the way suitable for each region.
I myself am following an example of the carbon dioxide observation conducted on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. As is well known, thanks to the long-term observation of carbon dioxide concentration started by C. David Keeling there, it was proved that carbon dioxide level in the global atmosphere was rising and research on global warming was promoted. Such an excellent example may encourage starting weather monitoring.
How have you output the findings you gained in participating in the national research projects on climate change?
In the S-8, we assessed global warming impacts and developed formulating techniques of adaptation measures. Whereas Saitama, Tokyo and other local governments studied impact assessments in particular fields including agriculture and sudden downpours, Nagano Prefecture was required to do research that would lead to the formulation of climate change adaptation measures for the prefecture in addition to the assessment of impacts on the ecosystem. We provided the prefecture’s Environment Department and other relevant organizations with our own research results together with the findings including impact assessments in various fields available from the S-8 project. At the same time, we suggested the formulation of adaptation plans to those organizations. Around that time, the prefecture’s action plan for global warming countermeasures was revised and the findings of the S-8 were utilized for the revision. As a result, the “Nagano Prefecture Environment and Energy Strategies” was formulated in FY 2013. The strategies combined energy policies and global warming countermeasures. Adaptation plans were included as an adaptation measure package in the strategies. That resulted in the establishment of the Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change and the Shinshu Climate Change Adaptation Platform and has led to the present adaptation measure promotion system of the prefecture. In the SI-CAT, we are doing research, aiming at helping the promotion system work properly. As an example of the uses of research findings of the SI-CAT, when the Nagano City’s board of education discussed the installation of air-conditioners at elementary and middle schools in the city, they used as a reference the numerical simulation result of weather calculated by the JAMSTEC. We will continue to cooperate with the administrations to increase the uses of research findings for adaptation measures like the example.
Nine times as many as the observation points of the JMA! The monitoring network boasts an ample number of observation points.
What activities are the Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change established in 2014 doing?
Mountains account for 80% of the overall area of Nagano Prefecture. Because of difference in altitude and complicated topography, the climate characteristics vary from area to area. The Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) measures air temperatures at the points 20 km apart from each other on average. In Nagano Prefecture, if you travel 20 km, you will cross a mountain. We need the data between the two points but the AMeDAS does not provide them. We thought it would be necessary to collect data from the national government, the prefecture, universities, research institutes and other organizations engaged in meteorological observation and analyze them in detail. To that end, we set up the Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change as a centralized organization to collect meteorological information of the prefecture in FY 2014. Besides, the AMeDAS is mainly aimed at disaster preparation and therefore the observation points are located in residential areas. Naturally, observation points are not installed at high altitudes, for instance, exceeding 1,500 m. The high mountains of Nagano Prefecture are inhabited by rock ptarmigan, alpines and other rare animals and plants. In such a place, our institute installs observation equipment and monitors the weather. The data from the observation equipment are also added to the database created and maintained by the monitoring network. We go to the mountains between July and October when there is no snow to collect data and maintain the equipment.
Researchers climb mountains and install observation equipment for themselves for field studies. Through the activities, do you sometimes feel impacts from climate change?
We hardly feel climate change impacts while we are walking a mountain trail. We do realize feeding damage by deer is notable in some areas. In the Southern Alps, many species of flowers have disappeared in the high mountain range as deer have eaten them up. The damage has not spread to the Northern Alps, yet. We are trying to find out how far the habitat of deer is expanding. We have installed sensor cameras in the Northern Alps to monitor the movement of deer. We are also carrying out joint research with Shinshu University. We capture deer, attach a transmitter and track their movement. For the conservation of rare plants, we put up electric fences in part of Mount Kirigamine to protect broad dwarf day lilies from feeding damage by deer. On the one hand, broad dwarf day lilies escape feeding damage and thus they bloom, thanks to the fences. On the other hand, the fences are not very good idea for the tourism. The fences will be in the way when tourists take pictures of the flowers. The prefecture keeps a record of the wildlife populations and capture more than 20,000 deer. The damage by deer still cannot be reduced. I think it is our urgent task to find out the route deer takes to expand their habitat and provide data to enable pre-emptive action. It is becoming evident from recent research findings that the expansion of deer habitat has something to do with climate change. It is important to identify climate change impacts exerted on the behavior of deer also for the protection of alpines from climate change impacts.
General citizens won’t visit mountainous areas very often. In Nagano Prefecture, the areas are gradually being affected. There are many meteorological observation points in the mountains and other areas of the prefecture. How many are there including those of the AMeDAS?
In Nagano Prefecture, there are 45 rainfall observation points of the AMeDAS. Among them, 29 points are also used for temperature and wind observation. At eight points, snowfall is also measured. The monitoring network is acquiring meteorological data (mainly three elements: air temperature, rainfall and snowfall) measured by the national government and the prefecture other than the AMeDAS. The number of such observation points is nine times that of the AMeDAS at the largest (Figure). The observation density is high enough to identify the complicated climate characteristics of the prefecture. If we can acquire weather information from municipalities and private organization, we will be able to build up a high-density database. We are also observing air temperatures using temperature gauges installed in the instrument shelters seven years ago at 44 elementary schools in Nagano City. We visit the schools every three months to collect data.
You have a very large number of observation points. Does the Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change manage the data from all those observation points?
The monitoring network consists of 50 organizations, such as national and prefectural agencies, Shinshu University, National Institute for Environmental Studies and other research institutes. The monitoring network is aimed at collecting meteorological data and information on climate change impacts from those member organizations and analyzing them in detail. At the moment, no private entities are participating in the network. Some businesses are carrying out weather observation in mountains. For instance, a power electric company is doing it for dam operation. It will be difficult to obtain such data free of charge. If, however, the network can offer information useful to businesses, we may approach them. There are municipalities doing weather observation in the prefecture. We are considering asking them to participate in the network in the future. At the moment, we are focusing on the establishment of a system to enhance the work efficiency and the development of a standard analysis method. The more we collect data, the more we will need labor to organize and analyze the data. The current staffing won’t be enough to handle them.
Promotion of adaptation in cooperation with citizens, public bodies and university research institute
Nagano Prefecture has conducted citizen-participation monitoring, inviting ordinary citizens. Why did you think of involving citizens?
Whereas many Nagano citizens, including new citizens coming from other prefectures, love the scenery and wildlife of Nagano Prefecture, a certain number of citizens are not very interested. We wanted those citizens to take an interest, if only a little, in changes in the local natural environment. That was why we started the citizen-participation monitoring program. The key to success is whether the monitoring looks fun. Data collected by citizens may not be always accurate but that may not be a big problem if there are over a certain number of participants. If there are quite many participants, it will be also easier to give them feedback, which will help keep them motivated. We hope the monitoring will serve as a tool for collecting data for a long time and identifying changes in the natural environment. Although the citizen-participation monitoring program “Shinshu Global Warming Watchers” once had around 200 participants, it has not worked out as we had expected at first. There are many problems including aging of participants and difficulty of maintaining their motivation. In some regions in the US and Europe, citizen-participation monitoring is active. Learning from those examples, we will need to improve the way to run the program.
The Shinshu Monitoring Network for Climate Change issued the 2015 Shinshu Climate Change Monitoring Report in 2017. What are the features of the report?
The 2015 monitoring report mainly provides the AMeDAS data with changes in temperature, rainfall and snowfall in Nagano Prefecture from the past to 2015 in detail. The report also includes the characteristics of weather in Nagano Prefecture in 2015. We are now preparing 2016 and 2017 reports. To tell the truth, it require strenuous effort to compile a report similar to the 2015 report every year. The 2016 and 2017 reports will be providing at-a-glance descriptions of weather of the year in Nagano Prefecture with noteworthy items and topics.
In writing the reports, we are given full cooperation by the Nagano Local Meteorological Office. Through that office, we also have the reports checked by specialists in global warming at the Tokyo Regional Headquarters, JMA. Their cooperation is enormously helpful in preparing the reports. I believe it is quite rare for a local government and a meteorological office to work together to compile information on climate change in a region.
To promote adaptation measures, we should provide more information on climate change. I hope our monitoring reports, as a source of climate change information provided by the region, will be utilized through various media and offer the chance of leaning about the current situation of the region.
In December 2018, the Climate Change Adaptation Act came into force. What activities is your institute planning?
We haven’t considering any specific plan, yet. This is my personal opinion. I hope the regions are grouped into blocks and local governments in each block conduct joint research on a common subject just as Regional Adaptation Consortium Project by the Ministry of the Environment and Regional Councils specified in the Climate Change Adaptation Act. If we consider a river basin a unit, not separating areas with prefectural borders, Nagano Prefecture will need to work with Gifu, Shizuoka and other adjacent prefectures located downstream of its rivers. It will be interesting if we can do joint research among relevant local governments and eventually plan climate change adaptation measures in the basins together. This may be common to all the fields; Not all impacts are caused by climate change alone. We need to combine measures of different fields, such as the environment, land use and community development. I hope we can cover that topic as well. Among climate change strategies, there is a trade-off between some mitigation and adaptation measures. Assessment for a trade-off is one of the important subjects to implement well-balanced policies.
You are getting collaboration with neighboring local governments and other relevant organizations into perspective not a prefecture alone. In closing, what is your motivation for dealing with climate change adaptation as a researcher.
In our institute, one researcher engages in each research field. Human resources and a budget are not large. It is difficult for one researcher to cover all the studies on climate change. As to research equipment, we cannot make predictions using the state-of-the-art technology as carried out in a national project like the SI-CAT. However, the participation in national research projects S-8 and SI-CAT helped establish a joint research system to implement the future predictions of climate change and impact assessment by field. That increases my motivation of challenging climate change research. Close bonds have been also created between researchers at regional research institutes. I am often inspired from Saitama and other advanced local governments and that helps drive adaptation in our prefecture. I would like to promote climate change adaptation in the region, working with people at many other research institutes while fulfilling my role in continuing the weather observation in the region.
(Posted on March 13, 2019)
Related sites (Update:Octorber 10 2022)
