UK and Japanese scientists have joined forces at the British Embassy in Tokyo to formalize a unique and powerful collaboration that will significantly advance the science of predicting climate change for the 21st century. The aim of this five-year partnership is to combine the brainpower of top UK and Japanese climate science experts with cutting-edge supercomputing technology in Japan.

The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, opened the seminar during his bilateral visit to Japan on 19 January. Mr Straw outlined UK plans and aims for climate change during its G8 presidency, including highlighting the importance Japan plays as a partner both on climate change and science.

Six scientists from the NCAS Center for Global Atmospheric Modeling (CGAM) and the Met Office's Hadley Center will be based in Japan where they will be given substantial access to the Japanese Earth Simulator supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful machines. Here, they will run the UK's state-of-the- art climate models with the most complex science incorporated to date and at the highest resolution ever. Not only will the physical effects of the atmosphere, ocean and land on the Earth's climate be considered, but the interactions of plants and marine life with the climate will also be studied.

These advances will allow climate change scenarios to be produced for the coming decades with unprecedented detail and with improved estimates of key societal and economical vulnerabilities. They will enable UK and Japanese scientists to explore the direct impacts of climate change on the environment, such as the production of foodstuff and timber, water and energy resources, and air quality.

CGAM Director, Professor Julia Slingo said: “International collaboration on this scale has never been more timely. Together, we are looking forward to making significant progress in our understanding of how weather and climate systems work right across the globe and how climate change will affect the environment. For example, we hope to be able to assess with more confidence the likely changes in hazardous weather events, enabling governments and policy makers to plan ahead and set in place contingency measures. This should ultimately help to save money and lives.”

The impacts of extreme weather have increasingly significant financial and human consequences. 2004 has been the most expensive year ever for the insurance industry in payouts for damage due to hurricanes and typhoons across the globe – the US has estimated $90 billion of damage caused by natural disasters in 2004, and Japan has experienced the highest number of tropical storms on record. The human cost has also been phenomenal – the Caribbean island of Haiti alone, experienced 3,000 deaths caused by Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004.