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

R&D theme structure of the project

R&D theme structure of the project

Leader's institution

Chiba University

R&D institutions

Kyoto University, The University of Osaka, JAMSTEC, Chiba University, Juntendo University, NICT, University of Toyama, Tohoku University, Nagoya University, Osaka Metropolitan University, The University of Kitakyushu, Okayama University, Shimane University, Sompo Risk Management Inc., Nara Institute of Science and Technology

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