Energy balance processes play a vital role in characterizing the climate and in causing climate change. The traditional method for energy balance studies tended strongly toward computational methods, sacrificing to some extent the consideration of the observed values. High-quality observations of energy fluxes were also lacking, and their data were often not organized for scientific purposes. To overcome these problems, the author initiated two projects to obtain and organize instrumentally measured energy balance components. The Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA, World Climate Programme-Water A7) extracted all observed fluxes based on the information available in publications and existing data sources, such as national meteorological services. GEBA also maintains records of the oldest measured fluxes, such as solar global radiation of Stockholm going back to 1922. A specialty of GEBA is the inclusion of nonradiative fluxes, such as sensible heat and latent heat fluxes. As an example, the longest continuous data on evapotranspiration are those observed at Rietholzbach over the 45-year period from 1977 to 2023. The main problem of the GEBA data is the uncertainty of their accuracy, as the available data were all accepted with a rather broad error screening process. The accepted data were obtained by different organizations for different purposes. The Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN, WCRP/DEWEX project; GCOS network), on the other hand, is designed to monitor radiative fluxes with the highest accuracy currently possible. The instruments, observation methods, and calibration procedures are standardized. The calibration of the instruments is traceable to World Standard instruments at the World Radiation Centre in Davos, Switzerland. The project began in 1992 and continues to the present. The databank of BSRN, however, has only radiative components. These data sources contributed greatly to improving computational processes of the energy balance components in climate models. The work based on these data ultimately led to discoveries of missing absorption, global dimming and brightening of solar radiation, and missing emission of the atmospheric downwelling radiation. The errors corrected with observed irradiances are on the order of 20 W m⁻². The weight of the flux errors of this order is much more substantial in comparison with climatic change factors such as the radiative forcing held by all anthropogenic greenhouse gases, which is estimated at 2.3 W m⁻². The BSRN stations continue to play a role as radiation monitors. Recently discovered global increases in atmospheric counterradiation have a large acceleration, which necessitates the correction of the current radiative forcing. Long-term monitoring of radiative fluxes contributes to climate prediction by presenting changing irradiances that help steer the course of prediction toward the correct target.

In Japanese marine fish aquaculture, it is thought that the remaining small-scale management entities are sustaining their operations by increasing the value of output. The background of change in the value of output and their production and shipment activities was revealed by fishery economics and fishery geography. However, the relationship between the long-term change in the value of output and activities was not considered sufficiently, as they tended to be treated individually in some studies after the 2000s. Therefore, this study used coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) aquaculture in Miyagi prefecture, where small-scale management entities are thought to have increased the value of their output since the late 1990s, to reveal how they have increased their value of output, focusing on their production and shipment activities. To understand their activities and management conditions, interviews were conducted with 14 management entities and other actors engaging in coho salmon aquaculture and observing the operations of management entities.

The results of this study can be summarized as follows. In Miyagi prefecture, the fishing grounds for coho salmon aquaculture were already almost saturated, and competition with salmon produced in other countries was intense. In view of this, the selected 14 management entities established production systems enabling an increase in the quantity of salmon seeds released into fish tanks in order to raise the quantity of output. Specifically, they controlled the fish density in tanks, improved feeding efficiency, secured their labor force, introduced new technologies collectively, and relocated fish tanks. These activities were thought to produce positive results, as the quantity of output was estimated to increase. In addition, they improved the quality of salmon and chosen shipment forms. Improved quality of salmon prevented price reductions, but the choice of shipment form did not produce positive results. Therefore, it can be considered that management entities increased the value of output by increasing its quantity through production systems enabling a higher quantity of salmon seeds released into fish tanks, and by improving fish quality to prevent price reductions. Apart from the introduction of extruded pellets, which was confirmed by all management entities, the specific activities were differentiated, depending on the marine area where they were operating, the district or village where they were located, and their plans. The difference in activities is considered to be supported by the following background: since the superiority of any specific activity was not evident, each management entity could engage in production activities based on the conditions it faced. Therefore, it was concluded that in the absence of any superior specific activity, management entities increased the value of output by increasing the quantity of salmon seeds released into fish tanks and improving the quality of fish based on their specific conditions.

This study examined the development of multiethnic communities in northwestern Zambia and the roles of traditional chiefs in local administration since the colonial period. The study also provides basic information for considering challenges facing traditional chiefs and their potential and decentralization in sub-Saharan Africa. Northern Rhodesia was under the rule of the British South Africa Company and British Colonial Office during the colonial period. During the Protectorate, the government created the position of chief and ruled over rural areas indirectly via chiefs who participated in local administrative and judiciary matters. Chiefs ruling over the areas understood the local circumstances. In northwestern Zambia, the Kaonde chiefs accepted non-Kaonde immigrants, and multiethnic communities developed. This study demonstrates that the chiefs who understood the circumstances of their own territories well played important roles in local governance under decentralization. However, the prejudices of local chiefs may have also affected community development.