JMA's Tokyo Climate Center (TCC) has been assisting National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in improving their climate services since 2008. The Center's two major activities in this regard involve providing basic climate data, products and tools to NMHSs through its website and assisting with capacity development at NMHSs in the Asia-Pacific region. TCC holds annual training seminars as part of capacity development activities in its role as an RCC in the WMO RA II area. In addition to running annual training seminars, TCC arranges expert visits to NMHSs to promote the effective transfer of technology and discuss possible support for climate services.

This time, TCC held the Training Seminar on Climate Analysis Information on Extreme Climate Events from 25 to 29 November 2019 at JMA Headquarters in Tokyo. The seminar was attended by 15 experts from NMHSs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The seminar focused on improving knowledge about climatological phenomena and enhancing skills in generating climate analysis information on climate extremes. The course included lectures and practical exercises using data, products and a web-based application tool available on the TCC website, namely the Interactive Tool for Analysis of the Climate System (iTacs). At the end of the seminar, all participants gave presentations on analysis results of the climate extremes occurred in their own country and engaged in fruitful discussions with lecturers and others present.

The content of the lectures is available on the TCC website at https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/tcc/tcc/library/library2019.html.