NOTES FROM THE FIRST AND SECOND FORMAL COORDINATED ENERGY AND WATER-CYCLEOBSERVATIONS PROJECT (CEOP) TELECONFERENCE SATELLITE DATA ISSUES HELD ON
23 JULY and 3 SEPTEMBER, respectively
FIRST DRAFT, 1 December 2008
1.

INTRODUCTION

The First and Second Coordinated Energy and Water-Cycle Observations Project (CEOP) Satellite
Data Teleconference took place on Wednesday 23 July 2008 at 13:00 UTC and on Wednesday 3September 2008, respectively.
The issues that were brought up and discussed on the subject conference calls included:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)CEOP Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) and related satellite data requirements;
Status of the CEOP satellite data archive and the CEOP Satellite Data Gateway;
Satellite data providers reports including JAXA, NASA, ESA and NOAA;The Second CEOP Annual Meeting in Geneva;
CEOP data and satellite data element coordination strategy

Participants
The participants of the First call on 23 July were:
Toshio Koike
Einar-Arne Herland
Michael Teague
Michael Theobald
Ed Kearns
Kazuo Umezawa
Steve Williams
Petra Koudelova
Sam Benedict

Tokyo, Japan, CEOP Co-Chair & Satellite Data WG Chair
Frascati, Italy, ESA Earth Sciences Division
Maryland, USA, NASA MODIS TeamMaryland, USA, NASA AIRS data
Washington DC, USA, NOAA NESDISTokyo, Japan, JAXA
Boulder, Colorado, USA, CEOP Data Management
Tokyo, Japan; CEOP International Coordination Function
San Diego, California, USA; CEOP International Coordination Function

Drs Christopher Lynnes (Representing NASA AIRS team), John Bates (Representing NOAANESDIS), and Satoko Miura (Representing JAXA) were not available for this call, however the NASA AIRS
team was represented by Dr. Michael Theobald, the NOAA NESDIS team was represented by Dr. EdKearns, and JAXA team was represented by Dr. Kazuo Umezawa.
The participants of the Second call on 3 September were:
Toshio Koike
Einar-Arne Herland
Michael Theobald
Christopher Lynnes
Kazuo Umezawa
Steve Williams
Katsunori Tamagawa
Petra Koudelova
Sam Benedict

Tokyo, Japan, CEOP Co-Chair & Satellite Data WG Chair
Frascati, Italy, ESA Earth Sciences Division
Maryland, USA, NASA/ AIRS data
Maryland, USA, NASA/ AIRS data
Tokyo, Japan, JAXA
Boulder, Colorado, USA, CEOP Data Management
Tokyo, Japan; University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan; CEOP International Coordination Function
San Diego, California, USA; CEOP International Coordination FunctionDrs Michael Teague (Representing NASA MODIS team), John Bates (Representing NOAA NESDIS), EdKearns (Representing NOAA NESDIS), and Satoko Miura (Representing JAXA) were not available for thiscall, however JAXA team was represented by Dr. Kazuo Umezawa.
2.

NEXT CONFERENCE CALL

The next, 3rd CEOP International Satellite Data Teleconference is proposed to take place on
Wednesday 3 December 2008. Koudelova/Benedict have the action (A1) to inform the group of thedetails of the next call nearer to the time of the call and to coordinate the origination of the call through theWebEx service (action A1a).

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3.

SATELLITE DATA GROUP GENERAL ISSUES

3.1 CEOP Satellite Data Calls
At the beginning of the first call, Benedict explained the participants that the CEOP leaders had
proposed a new series of formal calls that would be dedicated to CEOP Satellite Data issues in order toregularly update on the overall status of the satellite data element and assure appropriate coordination
among the members. Following the well-working scheme with similar calls focused on CEOP Model Outputissues, it was suggested the Satellite Data Calls be held on a regular basis every two or three months.
3.2 CEOP Strategic Implementation Plan
Koike gave a brief overview of the Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period (CEOP Phase 1)
commitments and achievements in terms of satellite data and explained expanded requirements for the
newly established Coordinated Energy and water cycle Observations Project (CEOP) that was formed bymerging former CEOP and GEWEX Hydrometeorology Panel in 2007. The background and rationale for themerger and the strategic approaches of the new CEOP Elements are described in the CEOP Strategic
Implementation Plan (SIP) that is available at (http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/ceop/dm/new/). The SIP
document is undergoing revision based on the comments from the GEWEX SSG and the pre-final draft is
expected prior to the 2nd CEOP Annual Meeting that will be held in Geneva 15 –17 September 2008 (seealso section 5.1).
As part of the initial discussion item Koike highlighted that agreement had been reached todesignate 1 January 2007 as the start date for the Coordinated Energy and water cycle Observation
Project (CEOP) data generation that includes in-situ, satellite and model output data. The five-year
period from 1 January 2007 to 31 January 2011 was the formal investigative element of the Project.
Backfilling for 2005-2006 data, which would assure continuity between CEOP Phase 1 and new CEOP, isdesirable if technical, financial and manpower resources of respective data providers allow executing of thisextension of the formal commitment.
3.3 Satellite Data requirements and commitments
The satellite data requirements are based on the CEOP data needs to achieve its scientific goalsand also on the opportunities given by various missions of the contributing space agencies including JAXA,NASA, ESA, and NOAA. All these agencies had committed to provide the required data per agreed to lists
that were developed for CEOP Phase 1. The same level of support is expected for the term of the newCEOP.
In addition to the data provision, JAXA had accepted the task to process and subset datasets fromNASA MODIS team and ESA to the desirable formats including (i) development and implementation of aproper metadata scheme, and (ii) subsetting to Monsoon region subsets covering five world monsoon areas(see Attachment 1) and Reference Site subsets covering square areas of 250km x 250km around theCEOP Reference Sites (see Attachment 2). Since the required amount of data is considerably large, theprocessing and subsetting process is a long-term task that JAXA is undertaking continuously and incooperation with other agencies.
The NASA AIRS team has agreed to make the maximum effort to provide the final products in therequested formats but if this task exceeds their human/financial capacities, JAXA will also assist with theNASA AIRS team data.
The details of data provision procedure by the NOAA team are now under discussion. Koike andthe UT group has action A2 to review the NOAA data requirements and to communicate with the NOAA
team possibilities of the NOAA data provision.
3.4 CEOP Satellite Data Gateway
The CEOP Satellite Data Gateway was opened in June 2008 and allows the registered users todownload satellite data available in the CEOP Satellite Data Archive administered jointly by the University ofTokyo and JAXA. The University of Tokyo IT team is responsible for the database management and making
the data accessible through the Gateway. The Gateway is available at: http://monsoon.t.utokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/satellite/ and the link has been added to the main CEOP Data Management Page
(http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/ceop/dm/).

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CEOP satellite as well as in-situ and model output data are also accessible through the CEOP
Centralized Data Integration System that offers multiple tools for data visualization and analysis. The
System is available at: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop-dc/ceop-dc_top.htm.
4.

THE SATELLITE DATA ARCHIVE STATUS AND AGENCY REPORTS

4.1 The CEOP Satellite Data Archive Status(4.1a) Data currently available through the CEOP Satellite Data Gateway in the three subsets (global,monsoon regions, and reference sites) include:
CEOP Phase 1 EOP-1 period (01/07/2001 – 30/09/2001): DMSP F13 – F15 SSM/I; TRMM PR, TRMM TMI,GMS-5 VISSR, NOAA AVHRR, TERRA MODIS
CEOP Phase 1 EOP-3, EOP-4 period (01/10/2002 – 31/12/2004): DMSP F13 – F15 SSM/I; TRMM PR,TRMM TMI, GMS-5 VISSR, GOES-9 VISSR, ADEOS-II AMSR, ADEOS-II GLI, Aqua AMSR-E
Detailed data overview is available at the mentioned Gateway site at:
http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/satellite/docs/eop1.pdf for the CEOP 1 EOP-1 datasets andhttp://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/satellite/docs/eop3-4.pdf for the CEOP 1 EOP-3, EOP-4 datasets.
Further data from other agencies will be added in the on-line accessible database in due course. As
mentioned above, this task is demanding on human as well as financial resources and therefore it is being
undertaken gradually. At the time of the call it was agreed that the priority would be on the EOP-4 data fromother agencies in order to achieve as much complete database as possible for the most recent period of
CEOP Phase 1 that is in connection to current CEOP. Data for EOP-3 will follow up and subsequently more
recent data for current CEOP phase will be added.
(4.1b) It was stressed out that it would be highly desirable to periodically prepare “data metrics” describing
the available data and also including statistics of usage. Koike and the UT group accepted this action(A3).
4.2 JAXA report (Kazuo Umezava)
Umezawa reported that JAXA continued the generation of the microwave sensors' products:
Aqua/AMSR-E, TRMM/PR, TMI, DMSP/SSM-I re-sampled on three scales: small scale (52 reference sites),large scale (five monsoon regions), and global scale (the entire area of the Earth) in 2008. JAXA also plansto generate ALOS products mosaiced on 12 sites (including CEOP reference sites and AWCI riverbasins). The 12 sites to be covered in 2008 will be selected by Koike (action A4). In addition, JAXA hasbegun generation of Terra/MODIS products for CEOP Phase 1 (EOP-4) in cooperation with NASA MODIS
Team. The products will be transferred from NASA site to DIAS server located in University of Tokyo to bearchived.
4.3 NASA MODIS team report (Michael Teague)
Teague mentioned that the NASA MODIS team was committed to provide whatever MODIS data
CEOP requires including both the Terra and Aqua MODIS sensors but a clear specification and eventuallyprioritization from the CEOP side is needed. He reported that they were working with the JAXA team on
actual data transfer and the work was advancing well.
Drs. Michael Teague and Gang Ye represented the NASA MODIS team at the 2nd CEOP Annual
Meeting in Geneva, 15 – 17 September 2008. They reported on the data provision to CEOP and otherrelated activities.
4.4 NASA AIRS team report (Michael Theobald and Christopher Lynnes)
Theobald informed the group that the AIRS global datasets were completed for the CEOP 1 EOP-3
period and the EOP-4 period would be finished soon. He also mentioned that samples of reference site
subset files were generated and the work on subsetting all datasets was undergoing. Regarding themonsoon region subset files, the AIRS team will communicate with JAXA to clarify the details of preparation
this kind of product (action A5a). In addition, the AIRS team needs to evaluate whether adequate
resources for this work will be available (action A5b). If preparing the monsoon region product is not viableby the AIRS team, JAXA will assist with this process.

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Theobald and Lynnes further mentioned that the AIRS science team meeting would be held soonand they would report on its outcomes at the time of the next telecon (action A5c).
4.5 NOAA report (Ed Kearns)
Kearns advised the group that the NOAA NESDIS offered a tool for subsetting historical NOAA
data and that this system could be used for preparing the CEOP data. Williams and the UT group
accepted action A6a to investigate possibilities of this system and will communicate with the NOAA teamthe needed details.
4.6 ESA report (Einar-Arne Herland)
Herland reported that the CEOP requirements submitted to ESA had been approved andprocessed into the required formats and the data was available for competent person(s) to order andreceive them. The detailed information on where and how to order the data has already been sent to Toshio
Koike. ESA also provides number of tools for further processing the data and the UT/JAXA group should
contact the ESA data “helpdesk” about the capabilities of these tools regarding the metadata generation.
UT group and Koike has action A7 to try to order the data and check the ESA tools according to theinstructions given in the said email.
5.

OTHER CEOP ISSUES

5.1 The 2nd CEOP Annual Meeting
At the time of the first call in July, the participants were advised that the CEOP Annual Meeting
would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 15 – 17 September 2008 and were asked to consider theirparticipation in this event. Invitation letter and logistics page were subsequently sent to the call participants.
The format, latest version of the agenda, and logistics of the meeting was briefly introduced at the time ofthe second call and the links to further information were given: http://monsoon.t.utokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/meetings.html; http://gewex.org/2008_ceop_mtg.html. Participants advised the group of
their intended attendance of this event. Representatives of agencies, namely JAXA, NASA, and ESA, who
would participate in the meeting, were asked to give a short opening remark on the first day of the meeting.
This request was kindly accepted.
5.2 CEOP Special Issue of GEWEX NewsKoudelova advised the group that the CEOP special issue of GEWEX News had been publishedand its PDF version was available through the CEOP Home Page at: http://monsoon.t.utokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/publications.html.
The contents of the Newsletter include:
6.

Leading article by Director WCRP, Ghassem Asrar
In Memoriam note of John Roads
Multimodel Analysis for CEOP, Mike Bosilovich and David Mocko
ICTS progress, Burkhardt Rockel and Beate Geyer
African Drought Monitor, Eric Wood et al.
Report on the High-Elevation Study Kick Off Meeting in Padua, April 2008, Gianni Tartari
Report on the Extremes Workshop in Vancouver, May 2008, Ron Stewart
Announcements of the GEWEX science conference in 2009 and the GLASS meeting, IGPOJAXA statement on major update of the Distributed Data Integration System, Satoko Miura
Satellite Data Gateway, Toshio Koike
CLOSING

Koike acknowledged the participants for attending the calls and providing their valuable contributions,comments and suggestions.

4ATTACHMENT 1

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ATTACHMENT 2Map and list of CEOP 51 reference sites

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