UH receives $3 million
from center in JapanThe funding supports research
into factors that affect climate
The Japan Marine Science and Technology Center recently awarded more than $3 million to the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
JAMSTEC has provided nearly $23 million for the center since IPRC began operations in 1997 with researchers from around the world. It is one of two Japanese agencies that have supported the center.
"The money will fund basic research to determine what causes climate to vary and to change," said IPRC Director Julian McCreary, noting that models used to predict climate and global warming "still have many uncertainties."
He said the center's focus is to better understand how ocean, land and atmospheric processes interact with each other to affect climate patterns.
Researchers are seeking to improve global climate models to more accurately predict sensitivity of climate to increased greenhouse gasses, he said.
Shang-Ping Xie, meteorology professor and IPRC co-leader of the Indo-Pacific Ocean Climate research team, said, "This part of the world is of great scientific significance for climate research, since the vast Pacific Ocean and Asian land mass influence world climate."
IPRC research is aimed at understanding the cause of El Nino and La Nina conditions in the Pacific, whether there are significant climate shifts over decades, and the cause and effects on marine life and fisheries.
