• Name: Masahiro Watanabe
• Present affiliation:
  Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute,
  University of Tokyo
• e-mail: hiro (at) aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp
• phone: 81-4-7136-4387
• fax: 81-4-7136-4375

• Fields of Interest

  • Climate dynamics
  • Climate change and variability
  • Climate modeling
  • Atmosphere-ocean interaction
  • Extreme weather

• Education

  • March 1995: B.Sc. in Geography, Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Thesis title: "Long-term variability of Asian summer monsoon rainfall".
  • March 1997: M.Sc. in Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences, Department of Earth and Planetary Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo. Advisor: Prof. Tsuyoshi Nitta (Center for Climate System Research, Univ. of Tokyo). Thesis title: "Abrupt shifts in the atmospheric circulation and associated decadal climate variations in the Northern Hemisphere winter".
  • March 2000: D.Sc. in Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences, Department of Earth and Planetary Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo. Advisor: Prof. Masahide Kimoto (Center for Climate System Research, Univ. of Tokyo). Dissertation title: "A study on mechanisms of the decadal climate variability in the midlatitude atmosphere-ocean system".

• Research Experience

  • April 1997-March 2000: Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo.
  • April 2000-March 2001: Visiting Researcher of the Japan Science and Technology Corporation
  • April 2001-May 2001: Postdoctral Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo.
  • June 2001-March 2002: Visiting Assistent Researcher, Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii.
  • April 2002-November 2007: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University.
  • December 2007-March 2010: Associate Professor, Center for Climate System Research, University of Tokyo.
  • April 2010-November 2016: Associate Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo. (reorganized)
  • December 2016 onward: Professor, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo.

• Professional services

  • Editor, JMSJ, September 2004-.
  • Editor, Tenki, December 2002-2007.
  • WG chair, JMA Extreme weather diagnosis council, September 2007-2017.
  • Steering committee member, WCRP Grand Challenges on "Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity", April 2013-.
  • Council member, JMA Extreme weather diagnosis council, June 2013-.
  • Steering committee member, CFMIP, June 2013- (Co-chair since September 2017).
  • Editor, APJAS, December 2013-March 2019.
  • Executive board member, Meteorological Society of Japan, June 2016-.
  • Steering committee member, WCRP Working Group on Couped Modeling (WGCM), January 2018-.

• Awards

  • Yamamoto-Shono medal, Meteorological Society of Japan, October 2001.
  • Society medal, Meteorological Society of Japan, May 2012.
  • Nishida medal, Japan Geoscience Union, May 2015.
  • Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023.
  • MEXT Scientists Award, 2024.

• Membership

  • Japan Meteorological Society
  • Oceanographic Society of Japan
  • Japan Geoscience Union
  • American Meteorological Society
  • American Geophysical Union
  • European Geosciences Union
  • Asia Oceania Geosciences Society

• Referee

  • Journal of Climate
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Science
  • Climate Dynamics
  • Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan
  • Journal of Physical Oceanography
  • Journal of Geophysical Research
  • Atmosphere-Ocean
  • Geophysical Research Letters
  • Tellus
  • Nature
  • Nature Climate Change
  • Nature Geoscience
  • Scientific Reports
  • Science
  • JAMES
  • BAMS

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