CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012
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CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 Prepared by JAXA Agenda Item: C.1 or C.2 Discussed in Plenary JAXA REPORT ON THE STATUS OF CURRENT AND FUTURE SATELLITE SYSTEMS JAXA currently operates GOSAT, Ibuki and GCOM-W1, Shizuku. GOSAT was launched on January 23, 2009, and has been operating properly since then. The data products are distributed through the GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG). GCOM-W1 was launched on May 18, 2012 and entered into the A-train orbit on June 29, then has moved to the regular observation operation on August 10 as scheduled after completion of the initial functional verification. The initial calibration and checkout are being performed, and the observation results are being released through JAXA press releases and its website. The developments of ALOS-2, GPM/DPR, EarthCARE/CPR and GCOM-C1 are under way. Both ALOS-2 and GPM core satellite will be launched in JFY2013. EarthCARE will be launched in JFY2015. GCOM-C1 will be launched in JFY2015 or later. The specifications of current and planned data products are described in this Working Paper. CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 JAXA Report on the status of current and future satellite systems 1. Status of Current R&D Satellite Systems Satellite Space Equator Launch Access Instrumen Status, s Agency Crossing date to data ts applications Time or and other + product information Altitude s (Links) TRMM NASA/ non-sun- 28/11/97 PMM - PR Measures JAXA synchrono data (Precipitati tropical us access on Radar) rainfall/precipitat (35° incl) page - TMI ion and 402 km TRMM (TRMM radiation data MW energy product Imager) Precipitation s - CERES Radar (PR) - VIRS provided by - LIS JAXA (Lightning Satellite bus Imaging and other Sensor) instruments provided by NASA CERES no longer functional GOSAT JAXA & 13:00 (D) 23/01/20 TANSO/FT Greenhouse (IBUKI) Japan's 666km 09 S, Gases Ministry of TANSO/C Observing Environme AI Satellite nt monitoring the distribution of the density of carbon dioxide GCOM- JAXA 13:30 (A) 18/05/20 AMSR-2 Global water W1 700 km 12 and energy "SHIZUK circulation. U" Joining the A- train. Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 1.1 GOSAT (Ibuki) The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite "IBUKI" (GOSAT) is the world's first spacecraft to measure the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane, the two major greenhouse gases, from space. The spacecraft was launched successfully on January 23, 2009, and has been operating properly since then. GOSAT observes infrared light reflected and emitted from the earth's surface and the atmosphere. Column abundances of CO2 and CH4 are calculated from the observational data. The column abundance of a gas species is expressed as the number of the gas molecules in a column above a unit surface area. GOSAT flies at an altitude of approximately 666 km and completes one revolution in about 100 minutes. The satellite returns to the same point in space in three days. The observation instrument onboard the satellite is the Thermal And Near-infrared Sensor for carbon Observation (TANSO). TANSO is composed of two subunits: the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) and the Cloud and Aerosol Imager (CAI). Specifications of FTS Specifications of CAI All types of the GOSAT data products are to be provided for general users. Data users can search and order the Level 1 data (FTS Level 1B, CAI Level 1B, and CAI Level 1B+ data) and the higher level data products (FTS Level 2, CAI Level 2, FTS Level 3, CAI Level 3, Level 4A, and Level 4B data products). Among these, only the Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 Level 1 data and some of the Level 2 data products whose uncertainties have been evaluated in the instrument calibration and data validation activities are open to the general users so far. Other data products are still under preparation. The GOSAT data products are distributed through the GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG*), a website for GOSAT data distribution. Prior user registration is required for accessing the data products and can be done on "user authentication" page reached from "product & service" page on GUIG. GUID*:https://data.gosat.nies.go.jp/GosatUserInterfaceGateway/guig/GuigPage/open.do;jsessioni d=0F6497855D3B130F97D71E3D2BEC9323?lang=en GOSAT Data Products References http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/eng/gosat/info.htm Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 1.2 GCOM-W1 (Shizuku) The Global Change Observation Mission 1st - Water "SHIZUKU" (GCOM-W1) mission aims to establish the global and long-term observation system to collect data, which is needed to understand mechanisms of climate and water cycle variations, and demonstrate its utilization. Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) onboard the GCOM-W1 satellite will continue Aqua/AMSR-E observations of water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, SST, sea surface wind speed, sea ice concentration, snow depth, and soil moisture. GCOM-W1 was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center at 1:39 am on May 18, 2012 (Japan Standard Time) and entered into the A-train orbit on June 29. The A- Train satellite constellation cross the equator within a few minutes of one another at around 1:30 pm local time, and GCOM-W1 is flying in front of the Aqua satellite, thus it takes the most front position in the A-Train until another NASA satellite, OCO-2 joins the constellation. GCOM-W1 has started the initial observations since July 3, after increasing the antenna rotation of the onboard AMSR2 to 40 rpm, then has moved to the regular observation operation on August 10 as scheduled after completion of the initial functional verification AMSR2 onboard the GCOM-W1 satellite is a remote sensing instrument for measuring weak microwave emission from the surface and the atmosphere of the Earth. From about 700 km above the Earth, AMSR2 will provide us highly accurate measurements of the intensity of microwave emission and scattering. The antenna of AMSR2 rotates once per 1.5 seconds and obtains data over a 1450 km swath. This conical scan mechanism enables AMSR2 to acquire a set of daytime and night-time data with more than 99% coverage of the Earth every 2 days. The initial calibration and checkout are being performed, during which acquired data will be compared with observation data on the ground for confirming data accuracy and make some data correction. The observation results are being released through press releases and website (https://gcom-w1.jaxa.jp/auth.html). Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 Frequency Channels and Resolutions of AMSR2 (Orbit altitude of 700 km and main-reflector size of 2.0m are assumed) Beam width Center Band Sampling Polarizatio [deg.] frequency width interval n (Ground [GHz] [MHz] [km] resolution [km]) V and H 1.8 10 6.925 / 7.3 350 (35 x 62) 1.2 10.65 100 (24 x 42) 0.65 18.7 200 (14 x 22) 0.75 23.8 400 (15 x 26) 0.35 36.5 1000 (7 x 12) 0.15 89.0 3000 5 (3 x 5) GCOM-W1 Standard Products Product Range Comments Brightness temperatures Brightness temperatures 2.7-340K Global, 6 frequency with dual polarizations Geophysical parameters Integrated water vapour 0 - 70kg/m2 Over global ocean*, columnar integrated value Integrated cloud liquid 0 - 1.0kg/m2 Over global ocean*, columnar integrated value water Global (except over ice and snow), surface Precipitation 0 - 20mm/h rain rate Sea surface temperature -2 - 35℃ Global ocean* Sea surface wind speed 0 - 30m/s Global ocean* Sea ice concentration 0 - 100% High latitude ocean areas Snow depth 0 - 100cm Land surface (except dense forest regions) Land surface (except ice sheet and dense Soil moisture 0 - 40% forest regions) * Except sea ice and precipitating areas References http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gcom/index_e.html http://suzaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GCOM/index.html Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 2. Status of Future R&D Satellite Systems Satellites Space Equator Planne Planned Planned Status, Agenc Crossing d access Instrumen application y Time Launch to data ts s + Date or and other Altitude product information s (Links) ALOS-2 JAXA 12:00 Japan PALSAR-2 628km Fiscal Year 2013 GPM NASA / 407 km Feb Data Global (Core JAXA Non sun- 2014 access Precipitation Observator synchronou Measureme y) s nt core (65° incl) spacecraft, follow-on and improvemen t of TRMM Dual- frequency (Ka/Ku) Precipitation Radar (DPR), GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) EarthCARE ESA- 10:30 (D) 11/2015 ATLID, JAXA 450 km BBR, CPR, MSI, Cloud, radiation and aerosol interaction processes GCOM-C1 JAXA 10:30 (D) Japan Carbon 798 km Fiscal cycle and Year radiation 2015 or budget later (Atmospher e, Ocean, Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 Land and Cryosphere) Page 3 of 19 CGMS-40 JAXA-WP-01 1 November 2012 2.1 ALOS-2 The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) is a follow-on mission from the ALOS “Daichi”. ALOS had contributed to cartography, regional observation, disaster monitoring, and resource surveys, until May 2011. ALOS-2 will succeed to this mission with enhanced capabilities. Specifically, JAXA is conducting research and development activities to improve wide and high-resolution observation technologies developed for ALOS in order to further fulfil social needs. These social needs include: 1) Disaster monitoring of damage areas, both in considerable detail, and when these areas may be large 2) Continuous updating of data archives related to national land and infrastructure information 3) Effective monitoring of cultivated areas 4) Global monitoring of tropical rain forests to identify carbon sinks.