• 1.Center building
  Administration and research building with offices, data acquisition room, documentation room, laboratory for basic analysis, dark room, and study room.
• 2.Heat and water balance experimental field
  This system consists of a grass field (160 m in diameter), with a 30 m high meteorological observation tower and measuring sensors.
• 3.Large flume
  Enclosed large-scale current flume with water/sediment recirculating systems for fluvial process researches.
• 4.Hydraulic laboratory
  Experimental laboratory containing a tilting flume and a wave flume.
• 5.Large-scale shear test laboratory
  Laboratory for hydraulic experiment with a wave flume, two dimensional oscillatory bed.
• 6.Workshop
  Wood and metal workshop.

• 7.Meteorological Storage
  Storage for spare parts, sensors and recorders for the field observations.

Facilities for Hydraulic Experiments

We have three current flumes including the largest flume in Japan. The largest flume (length: 160 m; width: 4 m; depth: 2 m; and gradient: 1/100) in TERC was built in 1977, and has been used in fluvial researches for over 30 years. The flume has recirculating system of water and sediment; it enables long-duration experiments of fluvial geomorphology. The others are tilting flumes for educational use: one is 14 m long with 0.5 m of width and depth, and the other is 8 m long with 0.2 m of width and 0.3 m of depth.

The facilities for experiments of coastal/nearshore processes are in the hydraulic laboratory of TERC: a wave flume, a two-dimensional oscillatory bed, and a wave-current flume. The wave flume (20 m of length, 0.5 m of width, and 0.6 m of depth) is equipped with a piston-type automated wave maker/wave absorption system, and is capable of random wave generation. The two-dimensional oscillatory bed (1.8 m in diameter) enables simulation of complex oscillatory flows under interference waves.

Heat and Water Balance Measurement System

This system consists of a measurement field, measuring equipment, and data acquisition facilities. Its main purpose is to acquire long-term basic data for the heat and water balance of grassland. The measurement field is located at 36°06’35″N, 140°06’00″E at 27.0 m above sea level. This grass-covered circular experimental field with a diameter of 160 m (more than 20,000 m2) has a 30 m high meteorological observation tower at its center. The field is covered with many types of weeds and is managed by mowing once every summer and winter. Wells are arranged on the measurement field to measure the groundwater level, and several meteorological sensors are set on the field as well. The measured data are transfered by wireless LAN to the data recording room and recorded in quasi-real time.

Data from supersonic anemometer-thermometers are used to obtain heat and momentum fluxes by the eddy correlation method. These observation data are open to public and freely available through our website. See “Current Readings of Meteorological and Hydrological Variables at TERC”(renewed every minute).