CEOP Tsukuba Reference Site

Intensive meteorological observations have been conducted on the grounds of the Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba Japan, since November 2002 in order to provide long-term monitoring of the meteorological elements in the Tsukuba area. This is a typical suburban area, located on the Kanto plains. The observation field is covered by grass, which is cut several times a year. Terrestrial Environment Research Center (TERC) started its long-term measurement of the surface heat and water balance at its surface heat and water balance field in 1981, and is continuing the observation. The field is circle in shape and has a 30-meter tower at its center. On the tower, profiles of air temperature, humidity and turbulence fluxes are measured and while, on the ground of the field, various measurements relevant to the surface heat and water budget are also being made. These include radiation components, ground water levels, soil temperature and soil heat flux. The measured data averaged over various time scale (30min., 1hour, 1day) are available on the web page (http://www.suiri.tsukuba.ac.jp). Some of the can be dated back to 1980’s. Among the measurements, basic meteorological and hydrological parameters are provided for CEOP2.