NOTES FROM THE FOURTH FORMAL COORDINATED ENERGY AND WATER-CYCLEOBSERVATIONS PROJECT (CEOP) TELECONFERENCE SATELLITE DATA ISSUES HELD ON
18 FEBRUARY 2009
FINAL DRAFT, 2 May 20091.

INTRODUCTION

The Fourth CEOP Satellite Data Teleconference took place on Wednesday 18 February 2009 at
13:30 UTC. The issues that were brought up and discussed on the subject conference calls included:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)

GEWEX update, Legacy Document and CEOP accomplishments, and outcomes of the GEWEXSSG Meeting in Irvine, January 2009;rd
The 3 CEOP Annual Meeting in Melbourne, Australia, 19 – 21 August 2009;
Status of the CEOP satellite data archive and the CEOP Satellite Data Gateway;
Centralized Data Archive;
Satellite data providers’ reports.

Participants
The participants were:
Toshio Koike
Michael Teague
Gang Ye
Bruce Vollmer
Michael Theobald
Ed Kearns
Kazuo Umezawa
Einar-Arne Herland
Steve Williams
Petra Koudelova
Sam Benedict

Tokyo, Japan, CEOP Co-Chair & Satellite Data WG Chair
Maryland, USA, NASA MODIS Team
Maryland, USA, NASA MODIS Team
Maryland, USA, NASA AIRS data
Maryland, USA, NASA AIRS Team)
Washington DC, USA, NOAA NESDISTokyo, Japan, JAXA
Frascati, Italy, ESA Earth Science Division
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 NOAA NESDIS),
Satoko Miura (Representing JAXA), and Yoshiyuki Kudo (JAXA/RESTEC) were not available for this call.
2.

NEXT CONFERENCE CALLth

The next, 5 CEOP International Satellite Data Teleconference is proposed to take place on
Thursday 7 May 2009. Koudelova/Benedict have the action (A1) to inform the group of the details of thenext call nearer to the time of the call and to coordinate the origination of the call through the WebEx
service (action A1a).
3.

SATELLITE DATA GROUP GENERAL ISSUES

3.1 Opening
Benedict welcomed everyone on the call and introduced the call agenda. He reiterated that CEOP
Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) had been revised reflecting the comments received from the
GEWEX SSG. The latest version of the SIP document is dated on 1 December 2008 and is available
through the CEOP Home Page: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/implementationplan.html.
3.2 GEWEX Legacy Document and the SSG meeting outcomes(3.2a) Benedict advised the group that CEOP had submitted its contribution to the WCRP/GEWEXLegacy Document as requested that included (1) CEOP accomplishments and (2) the legacy for future
based on what has been done and what is felt to be important to be continued. The document covers all thend
CEOP components and is based on the material presented at the 2 CEOP Annual Meeting and the CEOP
element reports that were submitted by end of November 2008.

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Van Oevelen appreciated a wide scope of CEOP achievements that were presented in the CEOP
contribution to the Legacy Document and acknowledged the CEOP leaders for producing such valuable
document. At the same time, he mentioned that it would be desirable if CEOP also provides a briefsummary of a few main accomplishments contributing to the GEWEX objectives that would not exceed
several pages. Benedict and Koike took action (A2) to provide such document to the GEWEX Office inthe near future. Subsequently after the call, Van Oevelen provided an example of this brief GEWEX project
accomplishment document and suggested the WEBS, MAC, and ICTS outcomes to be highlighted in the
CEOP input. CEOP Co-chairs and Coordination Function followed up on this action and provided therequested input on WEBS, MAC, and ICTS to the GEWEX Office duly.
(3.2b) Van Oevelen, Koike, and Benedict further informed the group of the outcomes of the GEWEX
SSG meeting that was held in Irvine, USA, January 2009. They voiced that CEOP was well received,
especially the data component including satellite data and their application through CEOP and also Model
analyses and intercomparison studies. It was also pointed out that CEOP was a large project with wide
scope of activities and it was difficult to provide rather brief overview of its activities that would fit to the SSG
meeting format. At such events, CEOP should focus on major topics contributing to the overall objectives of
GEWEX and provide broader reports at the CEOP meetings and through annual reports.
(3.2c) Van Oevelen also mentioned that as it was agreed at the SSG meeting in 2008, the summer issue(August/September) of GEWEX News would be dedicated to and published by CEOP. Accordingly, CEOP
should begin to consider the contents of this year CEOP issue of GEWEX News. CEOP Co-Chairs andCoordination Function have action (A3) to prepare the Newsletter contents and inform the GEWEX Officein due course.
rd

3.3 The 3 CEOP Annual Meeting in Melbourne, Australia, 19 – 21 August 2009rd

(3.3a) Benedict reiterated that the next, 3 CEOP Annual Meeting would be held in Melbourne, Australia,
19 – 21 August 2009, i.e. the event would precede the GEWEX and iLEAPS science conferences. Becauseof the opportunity to present scientific and technical papers at the GEWEX and iLEAPS science
conferences, the CEOP meeting itself will be more programmatic oriented and will focus on strategicplanning inputs and discussions. Accordingly, participants were recommended to submit their scientificand technical achievement papers to the GEWEX/iLEAPS conferences (see the paragrapth 3.3b
below). The venue for the CEOP meeting will be the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and Drs. Lawrie Rikus,
Helen Cleugh, and Michael Manton have kindly accepted the role to serve as the local organizing
committee. Further details and the meeting website will be released in due course.
thnd(3.3b) The 6 International Scientific Conference on GEWEX and the 2 iLEAPS Science Conference will
be held in Melbourne, Australia, 24 – 28 August 2009. The conference website is available at:
http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf.html. Abstracts for all sessions can be submitted on-line
through the meeting website. The final extended deadline for abstract submission is 15 April 2009. As apart of the GEWEX conference, a special poster session on High Elevations is being organized by the
CEOP High Elevation group. The due date for abstract submission to this session is also 15 April 2009.
More information is available through the High Elevation element website at: http://www.ceop-he.org/cms/.
3.4 CEOP Special Issue
Koike advised the group that a second CEOP Special Issue of a peer reviewed scientific journal
was being planned by the CEOP Co-Chairs. Further details and call for papers will be announced in spring2009. The due date for paper submissions is considered in spring 2010. In addition, CEOP Co-Chairs, Drs.
Koike and Stewart, are preparing an article on CEOP for BAMS.
3.5 CEOP Satellite Data Gateway(3.5a) It was reiterated that the CEOP Satellite Data Gateway was opened in June 2008 and allowed theregistered users to download satellite data available in the CEOP Satellite Data Archive administered jointly
by the University of Tokyo and JAXA. The University of Tokyo IT team is responsible for the databasemanagement and making the data accessible through the Gateway. The Gateway is available at:
http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/satellite/ and the link has been added to the main CEOP DataManagement Page (http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/ceop/dm/).
(3.5b) 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. Taniguchi advised the2group that the system would include the data of all the CEOP 52 reference site when these are available
and also the data provided through the GEOSS Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI) that includes
streamflow information of a number of basins in Asian countries that participate in the AWCI acitvites.
These data will be fully available for the CEOP community and other users as agreed by the AWCI country
representatives.
3.6 Reference site data
Williams reported that three series of conference calls had been initiated that focused on Regional
Hydroclimate Projects and reference site data. The calls are organized separately for three regions of theworld, namely (i) Americas, (ii) Europe, NEESPI and Africa, and (iii) Asia-Pacific-Australia. As it was
expected, the calls have reactivated the reference site data submission and new data have been alreadyreceived at the NCAR archive. The updates can be reviewed and available data downloaded through theData Management website at: http://data.eol.ucar.edu/master_list/?project=CEOP/EOP-3/4.
3.7 JAXA CEOS/WGISS Test Facilities (WTF) for CEOP (Yoshiyuki Kudo – in writing)(3.7a) Kudo reported in writing that the system hardware had been replaced and since 29 January it wasback in full operation and running smoothly at the former URL: http://ceop.restec.or.jp/.
(3.7b) Kudo further pointed out that no new data or functionality was being added to the system due tobudget limitations for this fiscal year. He explained that in order to include further data on the system acertain steps had to be undertaken by the system administrators that were beyond the current budget. Itmeans that even though new data is submitted to the MPI (model output), NCAR (reference site
observations), and JAXA/UT (satellite data) these will not be accessible through the JAXA system until
specific menus and links are added to the system.
4.

THE SATELLITE DATA ARCHIVE STATUS AND AGENCY REPORTS

4.1 The CEOP Satellite Data Archive Status(4.1a) It was reiterated that the work on making new satellite datasets available through the CEOP
Satellite Data Gateway was progressing but it was demanding on human as well as financial resources andtherefore it was being undertaken gradually. As it was agreed, the priority would be on the CEOP Phase 1
EOP-4 data 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.
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.
(4.1b) It was reiterated 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 have ongoing action(A4) to prepare such document.
4.2 JAXA report (Kazuo Umezava)(4.2a) Umezawa reiterated that JAXA continued the generation of the 2008 JAXA’s products according to
the prioritized list provided by T. Koike. These include: Aqua/AMSR-E, TRMM/PR, TMI, DMSP/SSM-I resampled on three scales (52 reference sites, 5 monsoon areas and entire area of the Earth) and ALOS
products on the 12 prioritized areas including the CEOP sites and the Asian Water Cycle Initiative (AWCI)
river basins (http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/AWCI/).

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(4.2b) In addition, JAXA continues work on generation of Terra/MODIS products for CEOP Phase 1 (EOP4) in cooperation with the NASA MODIS team. Umezawa reported that all the data generated by the NASA
MODIS team so far had been successfully downloaded by JAXA, which represents 20% of the
Terra/MODIS data for CEOP Phase 1 EOP-4 period.
(4.2c) Umezawa further mentioned that JAXA had investigated the possibility of sending a physical disc to
the NASA MODIS team to expedite that data transfer process but unfortunately this option had to beabandoned due to several issues associated with actual shipping of the disc. Nevertheless, Umezawa
voiced that JAXA would be able to increase the data download and processing speed if the MODIS teamincreases data production speed (see section 4.3 below).
4.3 NASA MODIS team report (Michael Teague and Gang Ye)(4.3a) Teague acknowledged and emphasized the excellent work the JAXA team has accomplished in
preparation for the MODIS data transfer and processing into the CEOP format datasets. He confirmed thatthe actual transfer of data had begun but pointed out that with the current speed of data transfer, theTerra/MODIS EOP-4 data production/transfer/processing would take one year. Accordingly, he asked JAXA
and University of Tokyo to reconsider the possibility of a physical disc or try to increase the data download
rate. Koike took action (A5) to discuss this matter among UT and JAXA again.
(4.3b) Umezawa emphasized that the current data download rate was equal to the data production rate at
the NASA side and that JAXA would be able to increase the transfer as well as data processing rateconsiderably. Subsequently after the call, Umezawa provided further details on JAXA’s possibilities:
Until the end of February, JAXA downloaded 600 GBytes of the products, which were observed during theperiod from 01 Oct. 2003 to 06 Dec. 2003. The MODIS team generated the MODIS products about 4 to 8
GBytes per day during this period. Concerning JAXA’s capability of the data download, according to theircalculation, JAXA can download almost 100 GBytes per day, and thus it will take 62 days to download
6 TBytes of 15 months data which is all the EOP-4.
In addition, it will take about 47 days to process all the 15 months data to generate the CEOP datasets
for EOP-4. The process includes re-sampling and re-formatting. Thus, if the MODIS team can speed up the
products generation to almost the same as the download speed, JAXA can generate all the EOP-4 datasetsin 3 to 4 months by running all of the processes of download, re-sampling and re-formatting in parallel.
In this context, JAXA considers the option of using a physical disc for data transfer as unnecessary.
(4.3c) Further details including the Aqua/MODIS data generation schedule will be discussed at the time of
the next call. Koike took action (A5a) to clarify the priority of the data production considering JAXA’slimited budget by the end of May 2009.
4.4 NASA AIRS team report (Mike Theobald)(4.4a) Theobald reported that the AIRS team had completed generation of the level 1 products andsubmitted them to the CEOP satellite data srchive (UT) however, they had found an error in the data
generation code and thus the data would be corrected and resubmitted in the near future. Theobald took
action (A6) to provide more details of the data error to the group by via email. Moreover, Koike took action(A6a) to check whether these data have been dowloaded from the CEOP archive and if yes, then theinformation on the data issues should be sent ot those users.
(4.4b) Theobald further mentioned that the work on level 2 products was progressing and should becompleted in April 2009. Generation of the monsoon subsets was planned after completing the level 2
products task.
4.5 NOAA report (Ed Kearns)
Kearns reiterated that they were anticipating further specification of data requirements from CEOP
and thus they were not currently undertaking any steps in the CEOP data preparation. Nevertheless, theyplan to be involved in the process and participate in these calls.

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Koike voiced that he was aware of the need to review the NOAA data requirements and tocommunicate with the NOAA team possibilities of the NOAA data provision. Koike and the UT group will
undertake this action (A7) in the near future.

4.6 ESA report (Einar-Arne Herland)
Herland reiterated 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 a 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 (A8) to try to order the data and check the ESA tools according to the
instructions given in the said email.
In this context, Koike mentioned that a new expert on the SAR data had joined the UT group andhe would be responsible for the above action to download the required ENVISAT data from the ESA site assoon as possible.
5.

OTHER CEOP ISSUES

5.1 Meetingsrd(5.1a) The next 3 CEOP Annual Meeting will be held in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 through 21
August 2009 in conjunction with the GEWEX/iLEAPS science conferences that will take place in Melbourne,
24 – 28 August 2009 (http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf.html). Further details of the CEOP
meeting will be provided in due course.
nd(5.1b) The 2 Lund Regional-scale Climate Modeling Workshop will be held in Lund, Sweden from 4 – 8
May 2009 (see the GEWEX calendar page for more information).
(5.1c) The International Conference "Mountains: energy, water and food for life. The SHARE project:understanding the impacts of climate change" will be held in Milan, Italy, from 27 – 28 May 2009 (seethe CEOP website for further information: http://monsoon.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ceop2/meetings.html).
rd(5.1d) The 3 International AMMA Conference will be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 20 –24 July 2009 (conference webpage: http://www.amma-international.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=1).
thnd(5.1e) The 6 International Scientific Conference on GEWEX and the 2 iLEAPS Science Conference will
be held in Melbourne, Australia, 24 – 28 August 2009. The conference website is available at:
http://www.gewex.org/2009gewex_ileaps_conf.html. Abstracts for all sessions can be submitted on-line
through the meeting website. The final extended deadline for abstract submission is 15 April 2009.
6.

CLOSING

Koike acknowledged the participants for attending the calls and providing their valuable contributions,comments and suggestions. The call was adjourned at 14:50 UTC.

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