Weather Agency Publishes Marine Health Report on Web

The Japan Meteorological Agency started publishing its Marine Diagnosis Report on its website in October 25, 2005; this report provides comprehensive information on present and projected marine conditions that could affect the global environment. The website address is: http://www.data.kishou.go.jp/kaiyou/shindan/ (in Japanese only).

The ocean helps mitigate global warming by storing heat and absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the greenhouse gases. In addition, changes in marine conditions are closely linked to weather phenomena, such as the occurrence and development of typhoons and extreme weather conditions. For these reasons, an understanding of the marine environment that is as exact as possible is needed in order to deal with global environmental issues. The website offers lucid explanations of comprehensive analyses of the marine phenomena associated with Earth's environment.

The report found on the site contains basic marine knowledge, comparative data between the sea's present and normal conditions, and explanations of marine forecasts and of the causes and effects of these changes, and is based on four kinds of data:
1) Changes over the long term (about 10 to 100 years) in marine conditions probably linked to global warming, such as sea surface temperatures, sea levels, and the rate of air-sea CO2 exchange;
2) Changes that develop over a relatively long term (several months to 10 years) in marine conditions that have an effect on weather and climate, such as the El Nino phenomenon and long-term variations in the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents;
3) Changes over the short term (about a week to a month) in the surface temperature of the sea, the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents, tide levels and sea ice; and
4) The volume of contaminants floating on the sea surface and concentrations of heavy metals in seawater.

In addition to this periodical report on the latest marine conditions, the agency plans to provide integrated information based on detailed research results, as well as emergency information that the agency publishes when it recognizes a marine phenomenon that could have a large impact on society, such as abnormal sea levels or a large-scale meandering of the Kuroshio Current.

http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html

Posted: 2006/02/02 10:50:22 AM
Japanese version