JMA's Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) assists National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in improving their climate services. The Center's two major activities in this regard involve providing basic climate data and products to NMHSs through its website and assisting with capacity development at NMHSs in the Asia and Pacific region. TCC holds annual training seminars as part of capacity development activities related to its role as an RCC in the WMO RA II area. In addition to running annual training seminars, it arranges expert visits to and hosts visitors from NMHSs to support exchanges of views on climate services and the effective transfer of technology.
In 2013, TCC held the Training Seminar on Seasonal Prediction Products from 11 to 15 November at JMA Headquarters in Tokyo. The event was attended by 16 experts from NMHSs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The seminar focused on familiarizing the participants with the outputs of JMA's numerical prediction model and improving their skills in generating seasonal prediction products using statistical downscaling methods. The teaching involved lectures and practical exercises using data, products and a web-based application tool available on the TCC website as well as in-situ observation data brought by participants. At the end of the seminar, all participants gave presentations on seasonal prediction in their own countries and engaged in fruitful discussions with lecturers and participants. The content of the lectures is available on the TCC website (http://www.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/library/library2013.html).
(11 November, 2013, Director-General's office)
