Purpose of the Research Project
"Mid-latitude ocean-atmosphere interaction hotspots under the changing climate"

Frequency of extreme rainfalls and snowfalls has been increasing these years, and those events severely affect human lives and properties. It has been considered that tropical ocean and atmosphere variability such as El Niño, as well as the warming climate, remotely influences mid-latitude extreme weather/climate, while the mid-latitude ocean is passive to atmospheric variability. Current operational seasonal climate predictions are conducted based on this climate “assumption.” Recent high-resolution ocean/atmospheric data analyses, however, have revealed that mid-latitude ocean also influences atmospheric circulations and their variability. Rediscovering strong warm current (e.g., the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream) and associated strong ocean frontal zones as “climate hotspot”, we have elucidated mechanisms of ocean-atmosphere interactions and established a new paradigm of active roles of mid-latitude oceans in the climate system, replacing the conventional “assumption.” The research progress has prompted a new crucial task: application of such new knowledge to predictions of extreme rainfalls/snowfalls and climate variability. The purposes of the present project are then deepening of the previously established paradigm and showing its scientific and societal importance and validity.

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