A Climatological Study of the Japanese

Archipalago
By
Steven Braund
GEOG 510:Final Paper
12/4/15

Abstract.
Japan experiences two rainy seasons, one during the transition
from summer to winter and the other during the transition from winter
to summer. The aim of this study is to analyze monthly precipitation
data between 1979 and 2015 in order to identify the existence of these
two rainy seasons. I will also visualize and analyze global precipitation
activity for the year of 2012 at a monthly scale, paying particular
attention to the region over the Japanese Archipelago in order to
observe these two seasons.
Introduction.
Japan is known to have four seasons; a summer, a winter and
two rainy seasons in-between known respectively as Bai-u (spring,
early summer) and Shurin (autumn) (Yazawa, 1980). The Bai-u occurs
in all regions of Japan except at the most northern island, Hokkaido.
The southern region of Japan experiences the Bai-u season a month
earlier than the northern region (Kurihara, 1995). The shurin season
begins in late August and lasts through October. (Smith, 2001)
The blocking or splitting of the westerly winds causes a strong
front characteristic of both the Bai-u and Shurin rainy seasons.
(Matsumoto, 88). These two seasons are caused by different circulation
patterns than the circulation patterns that cause the tropical

monsoons, making them distinctly different than a tropical monsoon.

(Takio, 2010)
The Shurin coincides with the Japanese tropical typhoon season.
Typhoons are characterized by torrential rainfall over large distances
along with sustained winds ranging from one hundred miles per hour
up to one hundred and eighty miles per hour. The typhoon season lasts
from May through October, though most hurricanes have been
reported between July and September (Japan.UsEmbassy.) Typhoons
are responsible for flooding and landslides, both of which cause
property damage and death.
My research will use remote sensing technology and archived
precipitation data to observe the duel rainy seasons over the span of
1979 and 2015. I will also analyze global precipitation data for the year
of 2012 at a monthly scale, paying particular attention to the region
over the Japanese Archipelago in order to identify the Bai-u and Shurin
season.
Data and Methodology.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
through the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) has
released a monthly precipitation dataset spanning from 1979 to
present day combining observations and satellite precipitation data
into a global grid
(http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.gpcp.html). I used IDL

to specify coordinates to create a square grid encompassing all of the

Japanese Archipelago and calculated a precipitation time series of this
region from 1979 to present. I then used the mean precipitation of
each month to create a climatological map (Wang, 2015).
The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services
Center (GesDisc) provides Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis (MERRA)
monthly precipitation data (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daacbin/FTPSubset.pl?LOOKUPID_List=MAT1NXLND). I retrieved global data
for each month of 2002. I used IDL again to create plots for each
month showing global precipitation changes by month in 2012 (Wang,
2015).
Results.
The first product I created was an annual precipitation graph
from 1979 to 2015. We see that Japan does experience high and low
peaks suggesting some seasonality coinciding with when rainfall
occurs. However, we do not see as steady of a trend for precipitation
as we see in say a monsoon climate.
When analyzing climatological maps, we can see two distinct
peak rain seasons for Japan, as described by Yazawa. The first peak, or
the Bai-u season occurs in April, which is the wettest month.
Precipitation decreases heading into June, and then peeks for the
autumn rainy season beginning in July. Japan experiences a dry winter
from November through January.

When looking at global monthly averages of precipitation we see

that there are regularly large amounts of precipitation happening in the
East Pacific. In January and February we see precipitation occurring,
but rainfall in the winter (northern hemisphere) occurs closer to the
equator, below Japan. As we get later into the year we see the global
precipitation pattern travel further north of the equator, increasing
precipitation over Japan. We see much heavier rainfall occurring over
Japan starting in May and running through October. July and August
have the largest amount of precipitation over these periods. This
coincides with Shurin and the cyclone season.

Conclusions and Discussion.

There are clearly two rainy seasons that occur over the Japanese
archipelago. Observing global weather patterns and observing how the
average rainfall rises and falls in longitude explains why the Baiu
season occurs in the southern portion of Japan earlier than the
northern region of Japan. It is also evident that the Shurin season
coincides with the typhoon season.

When analyzing my annual precipitation graph between 1979

and present day I noticed a lull in spikes between 2000 and 2005.

Given more time I would like to investigate why this has occurred to
verify there is not missing information in my data.

References.
Embassy of the United States. Tokyo, Japan.
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-typhoon.html Retrieved Dec. 1,
2015.
Kurihara, Koichi. (2015) Baiu: the Rainy Season in Japan. Japan
Meteorological Agency, Climate Prediction Division. Retrieved from
http://weather.ou.edu/~spark/AMON/v1_n2/Kurihara.html
Matsumoto, Jun. (1988) Large-Scale Features Associated with the
Frontal Zone over East Asia from Late Summer to Autumn. Dept. of
Geogrphy, University of Tokyo. Retrieved from
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jmsj1965/66/4/66_4_565/_pdf on
Dec. 1 2015.
NASA. MERRA Dataset http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daacbin/FTPSubset.pl?LOOKUPID_List=MAT1NXLND Retrieved Nov. 22, 2015.
NOAA. GPCP Monthly Mean Precipitation Data
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.gpcp.html Retrieved
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Smith, Jacqueline. (2001) The Facts on File Dictionary of Weather and
Climate. Infobase Publishing.
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https://sites.google.com/site/metscience/AtmosphericScience/metbranc
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LECTURE SERIES 1. Presented Oct. 5, 2015.
Wang, Tao. (2015) Precipitation Products from GPCP. CSULA LECTURE
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Presented Oct. 12, 2015.
Yazawa, Taiji. (1980) The Course of the Seasons in Japan from the Point
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