Japan Meteorological Agency

History

Overview

The JMA is responsible not only for gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Japan, but also for observation and warning of earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons and volcanic eruptions.

The agency has six regional administrative offices (including five DMOs and Okinawa Meteorological Observatory), four Marine Observatories, five auxiliary facilities, four Aviation Weather Service Centers and 47 local offices composed of the LMOs. These are also used to gather data, supplemented by weather satellites such as Himawari, and other research institutes.

In 1968, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) designated the JMA as a Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for Asia. In June 1988, the WMO also assigned the JMA as a RSMC for the Northwestern Pacific under its Tropical Cyclone programme. In July 1989, the RSMC Tokyo – Typhoon Center was established within the headquarters office, which dealt with the forecasting and dissemination of active tropical cyclones, as well as preparing a summary of each year's cyclone activity.

Weather

Land weather

Each DMO and LMO issues weather forecasts and warnings or advisories to the general public live in its own area. Weather data used to these forecasts are acquired from the Surface Observation (represented by the AMeDAS), the Radar Observation, the Upper-air Observation and the Satellite Observation mainly using the Himawari series.

Marine weather

The Marine Observatories are seated in Hakodate, Maizuru, Kobe and Nagasaki. These stations observe ocean waves, tide levels, sea surface temperature and ocean current etc. in the Northwestern Pacific basin, as well as the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk basin, and provide marine meteorological forecasts resulted from them, in cooperation with the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department, Japan Coast Guard.

Aviation weather

In 2005, in accordance with the ICAO's new CNS/ATM system, the Civil Aviation Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism set up the Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) in Fukuoka, where the FIR is fixed. Along with this establishment, JMA placed the Air Traffic Meteorology Center (ATMetC) inside the ATMC.

The agency forecasts SIGMET for aircraft in flight within the Fukuoka FIR airspace, while VOLMET is broadcast by each Aviation Weather Service Centers at the airports of Haneda, Narita, Centrair and Kansai. Additionally, Aviation Weather Stations (beside the airports of New Chitose, Sendai, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Naha) deal with the similar tasks as these.

Tropical cyclones

In the Northwestern Pacific area, the typhoon season ordinarily comes almost from May to November. The JMA forecasts and warns or advises on tropical cyclones to the public in Japan and its surrounding countries as well because it also works as the RSMC Tokyo – Typhoon Center.

Earthquakes

The JMA has its own 624 observation stations across the country that set up at intervals of 20 km approximately in order to measure seismic intensity of earthquakes precisely. The agency also utilize about 2,900 more seismographs owned by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) and local governments. A 24-hour office has been housed within the JMA headquarters in Tokyo, for monitoring and tracking seismic events in the vicinity of Japan to collect and process their data, which issues observed earthquake's information on its hypocenter, magnitude, seismic intensity and possibility of tsunami occurrence after quakes quickly to the public through the Earthquake Phenomena Observation System (EPOS). The Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system began to work fully for the general public on October 1, 2007.

The agency is one of the representatives of the national Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.

Tsunamis

It is essential to provide coastal regions for tsunami information so that its catastrophic damages can be reduced and mitigated there. In case of there is a possibility of tsunami after an earthquake, JMA issues Tsunami Warning or Advisory for each region in Japan with information of estimated tsunami heights and arrival times within 2 to 3 minutes of the quake.

Volcanos

The agency set up four Volcanic Observations and Information Centers within DMOs in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo and Fukuoka. They are monitoring volcanic events on 110 active volcanos in Japan and 47 of these volcanos selected by the Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruption are under the 24-hour observation with seismographs, accelerometers, GPS, air-shock recorders, fixed point observation cameras and other equipment. If it is predicted that a volcanic eruption will affect inhabited areas or are around a crater, Volcanic Warnings are issued and supplemented by Volcanic Alert Levels.

Headquarters

Local offices

Auxiliary organs

Chief Executives of Central Meteorological Observatory

1. Arai Ikunosuke (荒井 郁之助): 1890–1891
2. Kobayashi Kazutomo (小林 一知): 1891–1895
3. Nakamura Kiyoo (中村 精男): 1895–1923
4. Okada Takematsu (岡田 武松): 1923–1941
5. Fujiwhara Sakuhei (藤原 咲平): 1941–1947
6. Wadachi Kiyoo (和達 清夫): 1947–1956

Director-Generals of JMA

1. Wadachi Kiyoo (和達 清夫): 1956–1963
2. Hatakeyama Hisanao (畠山 久尚): 1963–1965
3. Shibata Yoshiji (柴田 淑次): 1965–1969
4. Yoshitake Motoji (吉武 素二): 1969–1971
5. Takahashi Koūchirō (高橋 浩一郎): 1971–1974
6. Mouri Keitarō (毛利 圭太郎): 1974–1976
7. Arizumi Naosuke (有住 直介): 1976–1978
8. Kubota Masaya (窪田 正八): 1978–1980
9. Masuzawa Jōtarō (増澤 譲太郎): 1980–1983
10. Suehiro Shigeji (末廣 重二): 1983–1985
11. Uchida Eiji (内田 英治): 1985–1987
12. Kikuchi Yukio (菊地 幸雄): 1987–1990
13. Tatehira Ryōzō (立平 良三): 1990–1992
14. Nitta Takashi (新田 尚): 1992–1993
15. Ninomiya Kōzō (二宮 洸三): 1993–1996
16. Ono Toshiyuki (小野 俊行): 1996–1998
17. Takigawa Yūsō (瀧川 雄壮): 1998–2000
18. Yamamoto Kōji (山本 孝二): 2000–2003
19. Kitade Takeo (北出 武夫): 2003–2004
20. Nagasaka Kōichi (長坂 昴一): 2004–2006
21. Hiraki Satoshi (平木 哲): 2006–2009
22. Sakurai Kunio (櫻井 邦雄): 2009–2011
23. Hatori Mitsuhiko (羽鳥 光彦): 2011–2016
24. Toshihiko Hashida (橋田 俊彦): 2016–present