Agreement of Promotion of Collaboration and Coperation between the Program for The Advanced Studies of Climate Change Projection (SENTAN) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

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An Agreement of Promotion of Collaboration and Cooperation was concluded on 22 March 2022 for the implementation of the “Program for The Advanced Studies of Climate Change Projection (SENTAN)”, a project funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The representing organizations are:

  • National University Corporation, The University of Tokyo Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute Climate System Research Division
  • Center for Environmental Change Prediction, Global Environment Division, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
  • Office of Research Promotion Division 1, Research Promotion Department, Japan Meteorological Service Support Center
  • Division of Meteorology and Water Hazard Research, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University
  • Earth Observation Research Center, National Aerospace Laboratory, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

The purpose of this agreement is to promote cross-sectoral collaboration and cooperation within SENTAN by actively utilizing satellite data owned by JAXA and its analysis technology.

The agreement is effective as of 22 March 2023.

Significance of Cooperation

The use of satellite data in numerical models is indispensable for contributing to the solving global environmental issues, and JAXA has made significant progress in the field of short-term forecasting in recent years.

The use of satellite data in climate models for long-term prediction, such as climate change research, has been conducted on a one-off basis but has lacked cross-mission collaboration and cooperation.

SENTAN includes major Japanese climate modeling institutes participating in international climate model comparison projects cited by the IPCC and other organizations, and it is expected that the utilization of satellite data in SENTAN under this agreement will further contribute to the IPCC.

The use of satellite data in SENTAN is expected to further contribute to the IPCC by improving the understanding and modeling of cloud precipitation processes, improving fire processes (background environment, combustion processes, material emissions, etc.) related to material circulation and radiation balance in climate prediction models, and improving disaster prediction based on land surface prediction models using output from climate prediction models as input.

This Agreement will promote collaboration between SENTAN and JAXA on a variety of research issues that utilize satellite data.

Example of collaboration between SENTAN and JAXA using satellite data