Dr. Narendra Saxena (USA): Chair

Prof. Mitsuo Takezawa (Japan): Co-Chair

Dr. H. T. Huh (Korea)

Prof. Susumu Ishii (Japan)

Dr. J. T. Juang (Taiwan)

Dr. Young C. Kim (USA)

Prof. H. D. Knauth (Germany)

Prof. Kouichi Masuda (Japan)

Dr. Koji Mitsuhashi (Japan)

Prof. Takamasa Miyazaki (Japan)

Prof. Hitoshi Murakami (Japan)

Prof. Makoto Nakamura (Japan)

Prof. Takuji Sakai (Japan)

Prof. Toshitsugu Sakou (Japan)

Prof. Toshihiko Teramoto (Japan)

Prof. Ying Wang (China)

Prof. Koichiro Yoshida (Japan)

　

　

W.F. Baird and Associates Coastal Engineers Ltd.

Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA

tmurty@baird.com

　

Even though climate change and global warming appear to be synonymous this is not the case. Climate change occurs due to natural processes of the earth's land, atmosphere and ocean components and their interactions and astronomical factors. Climate change has been occurring continuously since the atmosphere has evolved in its present form some hundreds of millions years ago, and will continue to occur for the next several billion years. If there is any human enhanced green house warming, it will simply be a part of the over all climate change phenomenon. There is a general perception that natural hazards and extreme weather events are increasing in a monotonic manner, due to human induced green house effect. There is no observational evidence to support this contention, except to suggest that global marine hazards and extreme weather events appear to increase and decrease at various times in semi-periodic and irregular cycles. The economic impact of natural disasters has increased substantially in recent times, due to increasing population, movement of people closer to the world's coast lines, increased coastal infra structure and to inflation.

　

In the popular media, climate change is always presented in terms of a global temperature increase by a degree or two in one hundred years and also followed by a millimeter or so increase in the global mean sea level per year. Indeed, climate change is very much broader than this ultra-simplistic picture and the implications of climate change from a practical engineering point of view are discussed.

　

　

Japan Marine Science and Technology Center

Yokosuka, Kanagawa, JAPAN

hottat@jamstec.go.jp

Ocean bottom moves steady and slowly by the circulation of energy and material inside of the earth, and it causes natural hazards such as earthquake, eruption of volcanoes, tsunami. The movement of the ocean plates and its driving mechanism are very important to understand the structure and dynamic of the earth, and to predict such phenomena. However, it has not been conducted at all. In order to simulate such natural phenomena for the prediction, we should promote following activities.

　

Since the seawater is the large reservoir of the thermal energy and the currents and circulations transport it, the balance of global environment and climate has been kept. So, for the understanding, elucidating and prediction of the global environmental change, we need to know precise and accurate, 3-dimensional time-series data on the structure and structure and movement of seawater all over the world. The trial to conquer this goal has just started. Furthermore, we need to promote following effort hereafter, because the opportunities for ocean observation and monitoring are still quite few.

　

Even human beings love to eat many kinds of marine bio resources from ancient period, its kinds, volume and its altemate behavior quantitatively are not elucidated yet at all. In order to prepare to against to "population explosion", we should promote following efforts.

　

Department of Civil Engineering

California State University, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California, USA

ykim@calstatela.edu

　

The term "coastal engineering" was first used in print in October 1950, at the Institute of Coastal Engineering, held in Long Beach, California, planned by Morrough P. O' Brien and Joe W. Johnson, and organized by the University of California Extension program. The development and evolution of coastal engineering in the U.S. was explained and summarized.

　

The worldwide development of coastal engineering in the last fifty years was categorized in the following three areas:

　

Examples of major coastal engineering projects, such as the Delta Project in the Netherlands and Kansai Offshore Airport in Japan, were highlighted. Other topics include the improved design, construction, and maintenance of breakwaters as well as the recent development of coastal structures. Shore response to coastal structure, sand bypassing at the Santa Barbara Harbor, and beach nourishment projects were identified. A few eminent international coastal engineers were cited and the development of coastal engineering laboratories in U.S.A., Europe, and Asia were discussed.

　

Future challenges of coastal engineering are in the areas of coastal disasters from coastal storms, seismic events, climate change, and shoreline change. Ocean energy extraction and conversion from the coastal water will be the predominant focus of the 21^st Century. Finally, coastal zone management; balancing economic, social, and technical interests; and hazard mitigation planning and implementation, are explored.

　

　

NOAA Office of Global Programs

Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Sidney.Thurston@noaa.gov

　

Central to describing, understanding, and predicting the earth's climate system is observation. The mission of the observational element of NOAA's climate services is to build and sustain a global climate observing system that will respond to the long-term requirements of the operational forecast centers, international research programs, and major scientific assessments. NOAA's climate observation program is built on the recognition that national and international partnerships are essential to success. A global observing system by definition crosses international boundaries and the potential exists for both benefits and burdens to be shared by many nations.

　

The climate observation program supports both ocean and atmospheric components, but the ocean has received the most attention to date because climate research has left ocean observing system legacies that must be transitioned to an operational framework. Today NOAA laboratories, university partners, and volunteer observing ships operate about 60% of the fledgling in-situ ocean observing system for climate. This international effort is about 25% of what will be needed over the long term.

　

Now NOAA is embarking on a comprehensive implementation plan to work with national and international partners to complete the needed global system. It will take ten years. The plan is based on the concept of extending the building blocks that have been put in place by the research programs, and on the international plan drafted by over 300 scientists from 26 nations that met in Saint Raphael, France, October 1999, at the OCEANOBS 99 Conference.

　

Recognizing that the climate observing system will evolve as knowledge increases, NOAA has defined an initial set of objectives and milestones to guide a phased implementation over the next ten years. The system is a composite of complementary networks, both in-situ and space-based, all internationally coordinated. Each network brings its unique strengths and limitations; together they build the whole. The initial milestones provide realistic targets while at the same time providing flexibility for evolution of the design as technology improves and the patterns of climate variability become clearer.