R&D Project

KOTSUKI Shunji PM Photo

Goal 8 R&D Projects (Selected in FY2023)Artificial generation of upstream maritime heavy rains to govern intense-rain-induced disasters over land

Project manager (PM)KOTSUKI ShunjiProfessor, Institute for Advanced Academic Research / Center for Environmental Remote Sensing, Chiba University

Summary of the project

This project aims to develop a weather control technology that mitigates heavy-rainfall-induced economic damages by artificially generating heavy rain over the upstream ocean. Given the limitations of directly altering the atmosphere, we explore a weather control method for intentional generation of heavy rains with optimization of manipulations. We will also promote social science research on legal issues and environmental risk assessments in order to accelerate the practical application of our results. By 2050, we aim to establish a weather control technology that society can accept.

Figure

Figure. A conceptual image of the strategy to mitigate heavy-rain-induced disasters. This project aims at generating heavy rains over upstream ocean artificially with optimally combining manipulations, leading to weakened rains over land.

Milestone by year 2032

  • We establish a flamework to identify cost-effectiveness of weather control implementations.
  • We conduct legislative and institutionalization proposals for getting national-international social consensus.
  • We develop weather control equipments, verifying their effectiveness by small-scale experiments.

Milestone by year 2027

  • We develop a method to optimize manipulations for weather control, and evaluate the method for mitigating rainfall over land with computational simulations.
  • We identify feasible weather control candidate(s) and show their prospects for solving ELSI.
  • We complete to develop a flood damage estimation model for entire Japan.

R&D theme progress reports

Performers

Theme [1] OHTSUKA Toshiyuki Kyoto University
Theme [1] OGURA Masaki Hiroshima University
Theme [2] MATSUOKA Daisuke Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Theme [2] KERA Hiroshi Chiba University
Theme [3] TOKUDA Keita Juntendo University
Theme [3] SUSUKI Yoshihiko Kyoto University
Theme [3] IMOTO Yusuke Kyoto University
Theme [4] OKAZAKI Atsushi Chiba University
Theme [4] KOTSUKI Shunji Chiba University
Theme [4] KANEMARU Kaya National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
Theme [5] YASUNAGA Kazuaki University of Toyama
Theme [5] HAMADA Atsushi University of Toyama
Theme [5] HIRAGA Yusuke Tohoku University
Theme [6] MASUNAGA Hirohiko Nagoya University
Theme [7] SHIGEMOTO Tatsuya Doshisha University
Theme [7] KONDO Takuya The University of Kitakyushu
Theme [7] FUKUSHIGE Satoko Okayama University
Theme [7] KAMURA Yuji Shimane University
Theme [7] HORI Tomoharu Kyoto University
Theme [8] YAMADA Masafumi Kyoto University
Theme [8] YAMADA Shinji Sompo Risk Management Inc.
Theme [8] KAZAMA So Tohoku University
Theme [9] TACHIBANA Koji Chiba University
Theme [9] IKKATAI Yuko Kanazawa University
Theme [9] KITAZAKI Masako Musashino Art University
Theme [10] FUNATOMI Takuya Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Theme [10] KUBO Hiroyuki Chiba University

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