The Rangelands Atmosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere Interaction Study Experiment in northeastern Asia (RAISE) ......7

ADYASUREN Ts.

ASANUMA J.

AZZAYA D.

KIMURA F.

MARIKO S.

SUGITA M.

TSUJIMURA M.

Tsukuba Repository

Chapter I: Overview
著者 SUGITA M., ASANUMA J., TSUJIMURA M., MARIKO
S., KIMURA F., AZZAYA D., ADYASUREN Ts.
journal or
publication title
Bulletin of the Terrestrial Environment
Research Center, the University of Tsukuba,
Rangelands Atmosphere-Hydrosphere-Biosphere
Interaction Study Experiment in Northeastern
Asia : Highlights of the RAISE Project
volume 8
number 別冊
page range 73-74
year 2007-08
URL http://doi.org/10.15068/00147278
Chapter I  Overview 
 
 
 
Introduction 
 
   Rangelands are of vital importance for the 
production of live stock.  Also for the global 
climate, rangelands have a strong impact.  
Although there have been numerous attempts to 
study rangelands, most of them are limited 
within narrow traditional disciplines, and a full 
understanding of the complex nature of the 
rangeland environment and of the various 
interactions and feedbacks between the 
different processes are still lacking (Fig. 1).   
Also, the rangelands in northeastern Asia have 
not received attention they deserve in contrast 
to some of the others.  In this area, a climatic 
transition from humid conditions in the 
northern part to arid conditions in the southern 
part can be found over a relatively narrow zone. 
As a consequence, a distinct ecotone of 
forest-steppe-desert is formed.   An ecotone 
in general is sensitive and susceptible to 
environmental changes, and climatic changes 
were already reported. Moreover, the number of 
livestock has increased drastically in Mongolia 
as a result of the introduction of the so-called 
market oriented economy in 1990-91. In the 
light of the absence of interdisciplinary studies 
of rangelands, a project called RAISE project 
was implemented for the period of 2001-2006 
with more than 30 scientists of hydrology, 
meteorology, climatology, geomorphology, soil 
science, and plant ecology from Japan, 
Mongolia, China and Korea.  
 
Strategy 
 
   For the implementation of the project, 
observation/analysis and model construction 
were the two main approaches to study this 
region. The Khelren river basin located in 
eastern Mongolia (Fig. 2) was selected as the 
target area. Three flux stations and four 
automatic weather stations were set up for the 
purpose of obtaining continuous measurements 
within the experimental area. One flux station 
was established in a mildly hilly area near 
Mongenmoryt village in the upper river basin 
while two others were set up within an 
extensive steppe area in Kherlenbayan-Ulaan. 
Four 10-day intensive observations were 
carried out in 2003 to obtain detailed data set, 
and a long-term monitoring also took place in 
the following years of 2004-2006.   
 
Results 
 
   The results can be categorized in the 
following areas: (i) hydrologic cycle, (ii) 
hydrologic cycle and ecosystem, (iii) 
surface-atmosphere interaction, (iv) effect of 
grazing activities, and (iv) future prediction. 
These results have been published in scientific 
journals are introduced and reviewed in Sugita 
et al. (2007). 
 
Atmosphere
Hydrologic Processes 
Ecosystem
Human 
Activities 
The Rangelands 
Atmosphere– 
hydrosphere– 
biosphere Interaction 
Study Experiment in 
northeastern Asia 
(RAISE) 
Fig. 1 Complex nature of the environments 
73
 
References: 
(1) Sugita et al., 2007: J. Hydrol., 333, 3-20 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 2 A map of Mongolia and its surrounding areas.  The Kherlen river basin boundary is shown with white 
lines, with main observation points indicated by the the white circles.  The 3-letter names represent the relevant 
cities. UB: Ulaanbaatar, UDH: Underhaan, CHB: Choibalsan, BCM: Bayanchandmani, SHB: Sukhbaatar. 
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Chapter I: Overview

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