資料3.1.3(1) Executive Summary
International Meeting on Promoting the Oceanographic Observations for Climate Prediction
(5 October 2000, Tokyo)
The International Meeting on Promoting the Oceanographic Observations for Climate Prediction was held in Tokyo on 5 October 2000, attended by participants form two international organizations: the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), and four countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, the United States and Japan. During the Meeting, the participants reaffirmed the importance of climate prediction in the Pacific region and discussed measures for promoting the oceanographic observations, including the "Argo program", to facilitate more accurate climate prediction. The meeting adopted the Tokyo Argo Statement, attached as Annex I to this Summary, which outlines the consensus of understanding of all participants.
The participants recalled that:
- Numerous extreme weather events typified by heat waves, droughts, tropical cyclones and heavy rains that occurred during the 1997/98 El Nino event, have caused major weather-related disasters in many countries and regions around the world.
- In order to prevent and mitigate such disasters, it is becoming increasingly important to provide accurate and reliable climatic prediction information to all stakeholders, including governments and the general public, which ensures sufficient time to formulate and implement preventive measures.
- The major prerequisite for improved and accurate prediction of climate is the availability of high quality and up-to-date meteorological and oceanographic data.
- The success of making accurate climate prediction depends on international partnership and cooperative involvement of all interested countries.
The participants recognized that:
- The vast Pacific Ocean is a critical area for oceanographic observations in making accurate climate prediction because highly correlated signals of atmospheric and oceanographic interactions occur here. Accordingly, international observation projects such as GOOS and the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) are currently being promoted in the Pacific. There is, however, insufficient data concerning the upper layers of the ocean, although such data is critical for preparations of seasonal to inter-annual climate prediction as well as understanding longer-term climate phenomenon like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO).
- The implementation of the Argo program, under which a total of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats will be deployed in the world's oceans to measure the temperature and salinity of the upper 2,000 meters, has already commenced with the current participation of the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Commission, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Japan. The promotion of the Argo program is also strongly endorsed by the decision made by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in May 1999, the resolutions adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in July 1999 and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC)/IOC sponsored Pacific Islands GOOS Workshop in August 2000.
