Past Projects
SCOSTEP/PRESTO
PRESTO（Predictability of the variable Solar-Terrestrial Coupling) is the international scientific program from 2019 operated by the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP).
IASC
The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), which was established in 1990, is a non-governmental organization. IASC is one of the organizations constituting the International Science Council (ISC). The aim of the IASC is to initiate, develop, and coordinate scientific activities focusing on the environmental changes in the Arctic region. The scientific foci are not only on the natural environmental changes such as climate warming, sea ice retrieve, and permafrost thaw, but also on the human dimension relating to the impacts of climate warming on the hydrological systems, landscape changes, and the corresponding societal challenges in the Arctic circum-polar regions. One of the faculty staff of the CICR (Prof. Tetsuya Hiyama) is a member of the TWG (Terrestrial Working Group) of IASC. Prof. Hiyama is serving to promote scientific activities internationally on the Arctic circum-polar hydrological systems and the human-nature perspectives in the Arctic region.
ArCS II：Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II
ArCS II (Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II) is the Japanese national flagship project funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, and launched in June 2020. The CICR will contribute to the strategic goal 1 (Advanced Observation of Arctic Environmental Change) of the ArCS II, through observing greenhouse gas fluxes and continuous monitoring the permafrost at boreal forests in eastern Siberia.
PAWCs: Pan-Arctic Water-Carbon Cycles
Recent global warming accelerates Arctic sea ice retreat, which derives significant changes in atmospheric-terrestrial water cycle in the Arctic and pan-Arctic regions. Because spatiotemporal variations in emission (or absorption) of greenhouse gases are largely dependent on surface water and vegetation conditions over the terrestrial land surfaces, for better understanding and for better future projection of water-carbon cycles in the pan-Arctic region, it is necessary to conduct an integrated study on atmospheric- terrestrial water-carbon cycles in the region. The purpose of the PAWCs project is to integrate atmospheric- terrestrial water and carbon cycles in the pan-Arctic region. We firstly integrate atmospheric- and terrestrial-water cycle models which can calculate spatiotemporal variations in the atmospheric moisture transport, moisture flux convergence, precipitation, vegetation condition, permafrost degradation, and river discharge over the Arctic and pan-Arctic regions, with important boundary conditions of the Arctic sea ice extent. We finally produce spatiotemporal maps of water-covered area, vegetation condition, and fluxes of greenhouse gases. We mainly focus on Northern Eurasia because there are very limited data on the fluxes of greenhouse gases in the region.
HYdrology, PErmafrost and resilience in Eastern Russian Arctic and Subarctic (HYPE-ERAS)
The main motivations for the project is to synthesize environmental and societal knowledge to answer the needs of federal, republic, and local stakeholders and enhance resilience of infrastructure, human, social and cultural capital in changing conditions of Eastern Russian Arctic and subarctic region – Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) through collaboration of natural and social scientists from Japan, Russian Federation and Sweden. The project aims to improve understanding of the interrelationships among the impacts of climate warming on hydrological regimes, river ice conditions, permafrost thawing, related landscape changes and the corresponding societal challenges of flood hazard, river ice road infrastructure, and loss of agricultural land by ground subsidence. The ultimate goal is to contribute to increased resilience by developing both improved transdisciplinary understandings of the on-going changes as well as guiding documents for sustainable land and water resources management and quantitative models for forecasting and future scenarios, taking into account the knowledge, needs and capacity of stakeholders from local communities and regional authorities. Specifically, a flood and river ice forecasting system will be developed based on improved hydrological modelling taking advantage of the recent increase in availability of climate services and satellite remote sensing data of river conditions.
ICCON Project
Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH) is a radio interferometer specially designed to observe the full disk of the Sun at 17 and 34 GHz. From the fiscal year 2015, ISEE is operating NoRH as a representative of the International Consortium for the Continued Operation of Nobeyama Raidoheliograph (ICCON).
PSTEP Project
Although solar activity may significantly impact the global environment as well as socio-economic systems, the mechanisms for solar eruptions and the subsequent processes have not yet been fully understood. Thus, modern society, which is supported by advanced information systems, is at a risk from severe space weather disturbances. Project for Solar-Terrestrial Environment Prediction (PSTEP) was launched in order to improve this situation through synergy between the basic science research and the forecast operation.
SCOSTEP/VarSITI Program
VarSITI (Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact) is the international scientific program from 2014 to 2018 operated by the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP).
Rice-Mahangu
Many areas of southern Africa suffer from food shortages as a result of flooding and drought. The instability of seasonal wetlands that is formed during the rainy season is forcing the desert nation of Namibia to redesign its agriculture to ensure sufficient food supplies. The aim of this project is to develop new agricultural techniques that supply a constant yield even in years of flooding and drought. Specifically, rice, a newly introduced crop, is being grown with pearl millet, the local staple, to assess water requirements and economic feasibility, and develop a new cultivation model. We are investigating appropriate mixed cropping combinations and arrangements to ensure economic water use. By investigating wetland water quantity and the degree of dependence of crop growth on flooding, we aim to establish and introduce a new sustainable cultivation model in southern Africa that both protects the aquatic environment and makes maximum use of seasonal wetlands to help raise the living standards of subsistence farmers.
GEWEX/MAHASRI
MAHASRI (Monsoon Asian Hydro-Atmosphere Scientific Research and Prediction Initiative) has been conducted as one of the Regional Hydroclimatology Projects (RHPs) of the GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project) Hydroclimatology Panel (GHP) under the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).