arth EORC’s Earth Science Challenge bservation and Addressing Social Issues esearch enter Daichi (ALOS) Series Shikisai (GCOM-C) The Advanced Land-Observing Satellite 2 (Daichi-2/ The Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) ALOS-2) extends the technologies and results of the observes climate change worldwide over extended earlier Advanced Land-Observing Satellite periods. Shikisai (GCOM-C), one of the family of (Daichi/ALOS) to deliver more rapid acquisition of GCOM satellites, is equipped with the Second observation data across a wide area, with improved Generation Global Imager (SGLI), which observes resolution. The data obtained from ALOS-2 find clouds, aerosols, ocean color, vegetation, and snow applications in a wide range of fields, including and ice by multiband imaging from near-ultraviolet disaster assessment, national land management, to thermal infrared wavelengths. agriculture, forestry and oceanography. Shizuku (GCOM-W) Another satellite of the GCOM family, Shizuku (GCOM-W) is carrying the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2). AMSR2 can observe the Earth's surface through clouds to measure global changes in a variety of water-related parameters, including water vapor and rain in the Toward better understanding atmosphere, sea surface temperature and wind GPM Core Satellite speed, sea ice, soil moisture at the land surface, and snow depth. Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international joint mission to measure worldwide of Earth’s diversity precipitation. A core satellite incorporating Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), a radar technology developed in Japan, with multiple constellation satellites, works in sync to measure worldwide precipitation once every 3 hours. The accurate estimates of global precipitation provided through GPM support analysis of water circulation on the Earth. Ibuki (GOSAT) Series Ibuki, The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT/Ibuki), which is the world’s first satellite designed for greenhouse-gase monitoring form EarthCARE space, measures global distribution of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) with more than The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer 10,000 spectral cahnnes. In cooperation with (EarthCARE) is a satellite developed jointly by Japan Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies and the European Union (EU). Its four sensors and Ministry of the Environment, EORC processes elucidate the movement of clouds and actions of data and provides the analytical results to the aerosols, improving the accuracy of climate-change general public. forecasting. Note : In addition to data from the satellites listed above, EORC processes and publishes data from other countries’ satellites and data from Himawari, a synchronous (geostationary) meteorological satellite operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency Assessing Behavior of Monitoring Ocean Environment Catching Land Changes the Atmosphere, Rain and Clouds Predicting the Future with Models EarthCARE GCOM-C GPM GCOM-W Monitoring of Aerosols EarthCARE GCOM-C GOSAT Himawari Ocean Environment Monitoring GPM GCOM-W GCOM-C Himawari Monitoring the Forests ALOS Atmospheric and Aerosol Models GOSAT Himawari Ocean Modeling GCOM-C Himawari Aerosols including yellow dust, anthropogenic pollutants such The oceans play an enormously important role in global The synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) Aerosol Monitoring Research Group works with other Ocean observation by satellites has both benefits and as PM2.5, volcanic ash, and smoke from forest fires have climate change in terms of energy and water cycle, including mounted on the Advanced Land organizations builds systems to assimilate satellite data to drawbacks. Major advantage is their capability to observe significant influence on living environments. They can reflect atmospheric circulation. It is also pointed out that the global Observing Satellite (ALOS/Daichi) and aerosol transport models and open both the satellite data global area homogeneously. However, satellites cannot capture or absorb sunlight or reduce visibility. They may settle on warming significantly affects the ocean environment ALOS-2 (Daichi-2) can observe the Earth’s and the model results online. information from below the ocean surface, so they cannot track vehicles, buildings and crops, causing damage to health. changes. Since the oceans cover some 70% of the Earth’s surface even through cloud and rain cover. URL▶https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ptree/aerosol_model/index_j.html daily changing positions of ocean currents, such as the Kuroshio Combining JAXA data with other satellite data from Japan and surface, they deeply connect to our lives through fishing This capability enables ALOS and ALOS-2 current that flows past Japan. To address this issue, EORC is ▲PALSAR global mosaic, 2009 ▲PALSAR forest/non-forest map, 2009 around the world, JAXA estimates the quantities and types of industry, marine transport, and/or marine resource to observe forests worldwide, including collaborating with the ocean model community to assimilate aerosols and provides data and images to both researchers and management. Therefore, ocean observations by satellites are those in the frequently cloudy tropics. satellite sea surface temperature (SST), obtained from GCOM-W the general public. In collaboration with other organizations, widely used not only in climate change researches but also in JAXA joins up the images captured by SAR and Himawari, into ocean model with 3-km spatial resolution. JAXA is also developing data assimilation systems for other fields, including meteorology and fishery. EORC utilizes to create a single, seamless mosaic. It then In this way, we are able to produce accurate ocean analysis and combining satellite data with aerosol transport models. The satellite data from both microwave radiometers, which can uses this mosaic to form a global forecast data without gaps via internet in operational-basis. ▲Aerosols in and around the US state of California on November 10, 2018, aim of this effort is to create a common environmental observe the ocean surface even through clouds, and infrared ▲SST anomalies from climatology at during El Niño (upper: 5-day forest/non-forest map, distinguishing URL https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/ptree/ocean_model/index.html as observed by Shikisai Using RGB images composed from red, green and ▶ averaged SST from Nov. 16 to 20, 2015 observed by GCOM-W/AMSR2) information about when, from where, which type, how much near-ultraviolet channels, the aerosols generated by fires can be identified radiometers, which can observe even the coastal area with forested from non-forested areas of and La Niña (lower: same as upper but in 2007 observed by aerosols are coming. by their yellowish-brown color as they spread from land to the ocean. fine spatial resolution, to produce and distribute information the world. JAXA publishes the mosaics Aqua/AMSR-E). Since microwave radiometers are able to observe status ▲PALSAR global mosaic, 2015 ▲PALSAR forest/non-forest map, 2015 related to ocean environment, including sea surface of ocean surface through clouds, it is suitable for frequent monitoring together with conventional maps. temperature (SST) and wind speeds. of the ocean environment over broad areas. Observing Greenhouse Gases GOSAT ALOS GOSAT launched in January 2009 has been providing global carbon dioxide Sea Ice Monitoring ALOS GCOM-W GCOM-C Crustal Deformation Monitoring (CO2) density from space. A decade-long global GOSAT data show annual ▲Aerosol optical thickness, 02:00 UTC, April 5, 2019. Upper left and ▲Observation of SST by Himawari at 9:00AM, May 5, 2019 JST (left); increase of CO2 density that exceeded 400 ppm. Larger seasonal variations in The Synthetic Array Radar (SAR) mounted on the Sea ice covering the North and South Poles provides a useful index for measuring the upper right panels show the aerosol optical thickness estimated by Forecast of SST by model with satellite data assimilation (center); Forecast the northern hemisphere indicate larger CO2 emission and larger uptake by ALOS and ALOS-2 can render visible in their entirety Himawari-8 observation data and aerosol transport model, respectively. of water temperature at depth of 100m by model (right). By coordinating pace of global warming. In the Arctic Ocean, the sea ice cover has shrunk in recent Crustal deformation from the Lower left and lower right panels are contribution of the dust aerosol satellite observations with ocean models, it is possible to estimate and plant photosynthesis in summer. In addition to global grid measurement, deformations in the Earth’s surface caused by ▶ years. This trend reduces the time and cost required to transport goods by ship, raising 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes, and the sulfuric-acid aerosol to the total optical thickness estimated by forecast ocean information of underwater and regions where satellites GOSAT can target local emission-sources by using its agile pointing earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides and other the attraction of the Arctic as a shipping channel. EORC uses microwave sensors whose strongest temblor reached a the model, respectively. cannot observe. mechanism. GOSAT carries the world’s highest resolution spectrometer with geological phenomena, with centimeter-level magnitude of 7.0. This image was (The model results are provided by the Meteorological Research Institute.) (Images produced by: JAXA/JAMSTEC) (GCOM-W), which are little affected by differences in weather, and optical sensors more than 10-thousand channels. It can measure