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Regional Hydroclimate Project:

CEOP_AP

Reference Site Name:

Tsukuba

Station Name:

JMA-AO (Japan Meteorological Agency - Aerological Observatory)

Other Stations at Reference Site:

JMA-AO
MRI
NIAES-MASE
NIED
NIES
UT-TERC
UT-Mt Tsukuba

Reference Site Representative:

Name: Kenichi UENO
Affiliation:
Associate Prof., University of Tsukuba
Address:
Tenno-dai, 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, JAPAN
E-mail: Kenueno@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-29-853-4399
Fax: +81-29-853-8679

Data Management Contact:

Name: Nozomu OKAWARA
Affiliation:
Aerological Observatory / JMA
Address:
E-mail: ohkawara@met.kishou.go.jp
Telephone:
Fax:

Associated Web Sites:

• Tsukuba Web Site
• MAHASRI Home Page

Station Location, Maps and Google Earth Files:

Latitude : 36.0567 N
Longitude : 140.125 E
Elevation : 25.2 m

JMA-AO Local Station Map (click for full resolution):



Tsukuba Local Region Map (click for full resolution):



Tsukuba Map

Tsukuba Regional Station Map (click for full resolution):



Google Earth:

Google Earth .kmz file of CEOP-Asia Tsukuba Reference Site stations

Station Description:

General Description:

To promote science and technology and to become the center of advanced research and higher education based on its national institutes and university, a new science city (Tsukuba Science City) was established approximately 60 km northeast of Tokyo, in the 1970s (http://www.info-tsukuba.org/). The CEOP Tsukuba Reference Site (CTRS) project started in 2007 with the support of grants-in-aid for scientific research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (CEOP Tsukuba DB, No. 198052). The aim of this project is the archiving of the hydrometeorological data observed by the multiple institutes and university in Tsukuba Science City, and to link them to the domestic and international science community with a standard format within the framework of the CEOP project (http://www.ceop.net/). The following institutes and university are members of the CTRS project at present : Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Terrestrial Environment Research Center (TERC) and Mt. Tsukuba Station (MtTSUKUBA) of the University of Tsukuba (UT). National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), and National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES).

Station Description:

The Aerological Observatory (AO) was established at Tsukuba in 1920 specializing in upper air meteorology. The Observatory, currently one of the auxiliary organs of the Japan Meteorological Agency, is in charge of upper atmosphere, radiation and the ozone layer with instruments on the ground or sondes reaching up to about 30 km. Relevant researches here contributes to operational weather forecasts, monitoring of climate change and the global environment. The aerological data and radiation data are provided from AO to the GEWEX Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) project, where the CEOP Tsukuba project is achiving both of types of data.



Station Operator:

Aerological Observatory / JMA

Vegetation and Land Use:

Tsukuba Reference Site is situated on the Joso Plateau (20-30 m a.s.l.) consisting northeastern parts of Kanto plain. Land cover of the site is mainly consisted of two parts, one is the urbanized zone stretching north-south directions used for public facilities, residential areas, and commercial and business areas (so-called Tsukuba Science city), and the other parts are rural areas used for paddy field, dry field and orchard.

In August, 2005, the Tsukuba Express Railway started its business, and Tsukuba Science city is rapidly urbanizing. Two rivers are running in the north-east and south-west of the site, named Sakura-gawa and Kokai-gawa, and the paddy fields are mainly distributing along those rivers. Mt. Tsukuba (876 m a.s.l.) locates about 7 km north of the city center, mostly forested by beech, tall evergreen oak, and Japanese red pine tree. In the calm winter days, development of nighttime inversion layer over the Kanto plain causes thermal belt along the mountain slope, and it is utilized for local habitat and fruits plantation.Therefore, CEOP-Tsukuba reference site covers various of land-use with faster growing populated city representing land cover in the Kanto plain, central Japan.



Dominant land cover at the measurement location: No information.

Canopy height: No information.

Land cover within 50 m of site: No information.

Land cover within 500 m of site: No information.

Land cover within 12 km of site: No information.

Seasonal land cover changes: No information.

Major changes in land cover at site from October 2002 to December 2004: No information.

Slope at the site: No information.

Other notes: No information.

Soil Type and Characterization:

Surface soil type: No information.

Soil type in deeper layers: Underlying the surface soil are a loam layer (1.5-20 m; the Kanto Loam), a clay layer (2.5-9 m; the Joso clay), a sand layer (9-30 m), a fine sand layer (30-47.5 m), and a sand & gravel layer (47.3-55m) in descending order. Basement rocks in the area consist of granitic and metamorphic rocks, forming the Mt.Tsukuba. The water table is generally observed within the Kanto loam or the Joso clay.

Surface soil porosity: No information.

Soil porosity in deeper layers: No information.

Soil infiltration rate: No information.

Bulk Dry Density: No information.

Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity: No information.

The Soil Reference Group(s) (from World Reference Base for Soil Resources): No information.

Climate:

No information.

CEOP Parameters Measured and Instrumentation:

SURFACE METEOROLOGY AND RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
• Station pressure measured; no instrumentation information
• Air Temperature measure; no instrumentation information
• Dew point - presumably derived
• Relative humidity measured; no instrumentation information
• Specific humidity measured; no instrumentation information
• Wind speed Not measured
• Wind direction Not measured
• U wind component Not measured
• V wind component Not measured
• Precipitation - Not measured
• Snow depth - Not measured.
• Incoming shortwave radiation - measured; no instrumentation information
• Outgoing shortwave radiation - measured; no instrumentation information
• Incoming longwave radiation - measured; no instrumentation information
• Outgoing longwave radiation - measured; no instrumentation information
• Net radiation presumably derived
• Skin temperature - not measured
• Incoming Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) - not measured
• Outgoing Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) - not measured

METEOROLOGICAL TOWER INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:

No tower data available.

FLUX INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:

No flux data available.

SOIL INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:

No soil data available.

RADIOSONDE INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:

There are radiosonde data available. No location or instrumentation information.

OTHER INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:

• Other intensive radiation observation (BSRN site)

Site References

Web:
• Tsukuba Web Site

Literature:

Ueno et al. (2008); Establishment of CEOP Tsukuba Reference site, Tsukuba Geoenvironmental Sciences, vol. 4, 17-20..

Presentations:

September 2007 - Bali, Indonesia

• Tsuskuba
   March 2007 - Washington, DC, USA
• Tsukuba Poster

Data Sets and Documentation:

• CEOP Reference Site Data Gateway
• Surface Meteorological Data: Current Status and Browse Plots
• Soil Temperature and Moisture Data: Current Status and Browse Plots
• Flux Data: Current Status and Browse Plots
• Meteorological Tower Data: Current Status and Browse Plots