WMO Space-Based Weather and Climate Extremes Monitoring Demonstration Project (SEMDP): First Outcomes of Regional Cooperation on Drought and Heavy Precipitation Monitoring for Australia and Southeast Asia

To improve monitoring of extreme weather and climate events from space, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) initiated the space-based weather and climate extremes monitoring demonstration project (SEMDP). Presently, SEMDP is focused on drought and heavy precipitation monitoring over Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Space-based data and derived products form critical part of meteorological services’ operations for weather monitoring; however, satellite products are still not fully utilized for climate applications. Using SEMDP satellite-derived precipitation products, it would be possible to monitor extreme precipitation events with uniform spatial coverage and over various time periods – pentad, weekly, 10 days, monthly and longer time-scales. In this chapter, SEMDP satellite-derived precipitation products over the Asia-Pacific region produced by the Earth Observation Research Center/Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (EORC/JAXA) and the Climate Prediction Center/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (CPC/NOAA) are introduced. Case studies for monitoring (i) drought in Australia in July-October 2007 and September 2018 and (ii) heavy precipitation over Australia in December 2010 and Thailand and the Peninsular Malaysia in November-December 2014 which caused widespread flooding are also presented. Satellite observations are compared with in situ data to demonstrate value of satellite-derived estimates of precipitation for drought and heavy rainfall monitoring

Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) for Papua New Guinea

Developing and least developed countries are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change and climate extremes, including drought. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), severe drought caused by the strong El Niño in 2015–2016 affected about 40% of the population, with almost half a million people impacted by food shortages. Recognizing the urgency of enhancing early warning systems to assist vulnerable countries with climate change adaptation, the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) international initiative has been established. In this chapter, the CREWS-PNG project is described. The CREWS-PNG project aims to develop an improved drought monitoring and early warning system, running operationally through a collaboration between PNG National Weather Services (NWS), the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the World Meteorological Organization that will enable better strategic decision-making for agriculture, water management, health and other climate-sensitive sectors. It is shown that current dynamical climate models can provide skillful predictions of regional rainfall at least 3 months in advance. Dynamical climate model-based forecast products are disseminated through a range of Web-based information tools. It is demonstrated that seasonal climate prediction is an effective solution to assist governments and local communities with informed decision-making in adaptation to climate variability and change

Identification and molecular variations of CAN-SINEs from the ZFY gene final intron of the Eurasian badgers (genus Meles)

The short interspersed nucleotide elements (SINEs) are specific to the taxa and thought to be one of powerful phylogenetic gene markers. Especially, the SINE sequences, which exist uniquely in genome of order Carnivora, are named CAN-SINEs. Among the Eurasian badgers (genus Meles), a member of the family Mustelidae in order Carnivora, the Japanese badger (M. anakuma) was previously reported to have an insertion of CAN-SINE in the final intron of the zinc finger protein gene on Y chromosome (ZFY). In the present study, we examined occurrence of the CAN-SINE of the ZFY final intron in the Eurasian badgers, and three continental and four Japanese haplotypes were identified from a total of 40 male badgers. Among the Eurasian badger CAN-SINEs, a 12-bp deletion specific to the Japanese haplotypes was found, whereas the 12-bp region (non-deletion) in the continental haplotypes consisted of one 6-bp direct repeat and 6-bp microsatellite-like sequences. Moreover, the continental haplotypes were phylogenetically divided into three lineages: eastern Eurasia, Caucasus and western Eurasia. These genetic differentiations supported the classification recently proposing that genus Meles are grouped into the European badger (M. meles), the Southwest Asian badger (M canescens), the Northwest & Central Asian badger (M. leucurus) and the Japanese badger (M. anakuna). In addition, the number of adenines in the poly A/T rich tails was polymorphic among all lineages of Eurasian badgers, and geographically variable within the Japanese badgers

Genetic diversity within the Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma), as revealed by microsatellite analysis

To further understand the population structures of the Japanese badgers (Meles anakuma) on the Japanese islands, we analyzed their bi-parentally inherited microsatellites. Based on genotypes of nine microsatellite loci, the badgers were divided into five discrete clusters: three clusters from the Honshu Island, one from Kyushu and one from Shikoku. We propose that this genetic differentiation among badgers from the Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu Islands is as a consequence of geographical isolation caused by the Seto Inland Sea. Furthermore, the cluster containing individuals from Shikoku was more differentiated from the other clusters, plausibly attributable to the earlier geological separation of the Shikoku Island from the Honshu and Kyushu Islands. The three clusters in Honshu, however, did not correspond precisely with geographical locations. As indicated in previous studies, based on mitochondrial DNA analysis, the genetic relationships within the Japanese badgers might reflect recent population expansion, occurring over a relatively short evolutionary time-scale. The findings preliminarily indicate that the Japanese badgers do not possess the high levels of philopatry seen in the European badger (Meles meles), a closely related species, although further analyses using balanced sample sizes from a wider range is required