Regional Hydroclimate Project: Reference Site Name:
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Tsukuba
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NIES (National Institute for Environmental Studies)
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Name: Kenichi UENO
Affiliation:
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Associate Prof., University of Tsukuba
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Tenno-dai, 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, JAPAN
Telephone: +81-29-853-4399
Fax: +81-29-853-8679
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Name: Atsushi SHIMIZU
Affiliation:
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Senior Researcher
Asian Atmosphere Section, Asian Environment Research Group.National Institute for Environmental Studies
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16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 Japan
Telephone: +81 29 850 2489
Fax: +81 29 850 2579
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Latitude : 36.051 N
Longitude : 140.120 E
Elevation : 27.0 m
NIES Local Station Map (click for full resolution):
![](../images/nies_mri_jma300.png)
Tsukuba Local Region Map (click for full resolution):
![](../images/tsukuba_local300.png)
Tsukuba Regional Station Map (click for full resolution):
![](../images/tsukuba_regional300.png)
Google Earth:
Google Earth .kmz file of CEOP_AP Tsukuba Reference Site stations
Station Description:
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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 National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) has developed an automated-dual-wavelength-polarization lider network in the East Asian region. As of August 2007, 15 lidars are operated continuously in Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, and Thailand. All observation results are transferred to NIES, and quicklook figures are drawn up within 1 hour of each observation. Such figures are available in lidar group's web site (http:www-lider.nies.go.jp). A lidar in Tsukuba is the oldest one in the network, and has been operated since 1996. It can detect all aerosol layers in the lower/middle troposphere, and clouds up to the tropopause. Data can be utilized in the studies of radiation budget, climatologies of cloud/aerosol, detection of outflow from continents and so on.
![](images/nies.png)
Station Operator:
National Institute for Environmental Studies
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.
![](../images/LUandSite03052.jpg)
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.
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SURFACE METEOROLOGY AND RADIATION INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
- Mie scattering LIDAR
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No surface met data available.
METEOROLOGICAL TOWER INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
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No tower data available.
FLUX INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
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No flux data available.
SOIL INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
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No soil data available.
RADIOSONDE INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
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No radiosonde data available.
OTHER INSTRUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTION:
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Web:
Literature:
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Ueno et al. (2008); Establishment of CEOP Tsukuba Reference site, Tsukuba Geoenvironmental Sciences, vol. 4, 17-20..
September 2007 - Bali, Indonesia
March 2007 - Washington, DC, USA