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River and Watershed Engineering Lab
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The lab addresses climate change and water-related disasters through the study of river flow and the water cycle in river basins.
AboutAbout the lab
From river flow to the global water cycle.
The River and Watershed Engineering Lab studies river flow, the water cycle in river basins, and the water-related disasters connected with them.
Its research fields range from river engineering and hydraulic engineering to hydrometeorology and the global water cycle.
The lab also conducts research on predicting how climate change will alter the risks of heavy rain and floods, and on linking that information to disaster-prevention actions.
It also carries out fieldwork in Hokkaido, such as observations at the Kushiro Wetland and snow observations in eastern Hokkaido (Doto).
Key terms
- Hydrometeorology
- A field that studies how rain and snow fall and how that water flows through rivers and the ground, in connection with weather
- Ensemble
- A method of lining up many projections made with slightly varied conditions to grasp the range of possible outcomes
- Flood inundation analysis
- A method of calculating where in a town, and to what depth, water that has overflowed from a river will spread
NewsLab news
A doctoral student received the River Technology Paper Award
Professor Yamada and colleagues received the Hydraulic Engineering Paper Award
A lab member received the Outstanding Presentation Award at the Annual Conference of the Society for Risk Analysis, Japan
A student was selected as an Outstanding Presenter at the Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers
Professor Yamada received the Horiuchi Award from the Meteorological Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies river flow and the water cycle in river basins from the perspectives of hydraulics, hydrology, and meteorology. It also works on producing risk information that residents and local governments can use for disaster-prevention actions, by examining how climate change affects heavy rain and floods.
*Illustrative imageClimate Change and Extreme Heavy Rainfall
As a member of a climate change projection program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), the lab makes detailed projections of climate change around Japan and examines how the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as heavy rain will change in each river basin. Using ensemble climate data that combine many projections, it aims to clarify the mechanisms by which extreme events occur and their relationship to global warming.
*Illustrative imageTechnology for Communicating Flood Risk
As a member of a Cabinet Office disaster-prevention program (SIP), the lab develops technology that combines climate projections with flood inundation analysis models to evaluate inundation depth and damage costs at scales from entire river basins to individual city blocks. The lab also examines how to present and communicate this information in real time so that residents, local governments, and companies can turn it into disaster-prevention action.
MembersFaculty
The members of the River and Watershed Engineering Lab consist of faculty, visiting professors, postdoctoral researchers, academic researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, research students, and administrative assistants.As of 2026
- ProfessorNorihiro Izumi
- ProfessorTomohito Yamada
- Assistant ProfessorMaki Miyamoto
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Takikawa view from glider” Soica2001 (talk) / Public domain (cropped)
- Climate Change and Extreme Heavy Rainfall: “Bluish rain shaft coming from the base of a thunderstorm viewed from Old Ox Road in the Dulles section of Sterling, Loudoun County, Virginia” Famartin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Technology for Communicating Flood Risk: “Flooded Tamagawa in aftermath of Typhoon Talas 2011” Kazuhiro Keino / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hydrosphere Disaster Prevention and Environment Lab): “Satsunai River” Ozizo / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Coastal and Ocean Engineering Lab): “Plunging breaker (Sand Beach, Mt. Desert Island, Maine, USA) 15” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Geoenvironmental Analysis Lab): “Frost heaves on Bragg Hill Road in Norwich Vermont in March 2012--A” Stephen N. Flanders / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Environmental Geology Lab): “AMD Joggins” Michael C. Rygel / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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