NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010NIES

GOSJ ATPRO ECT
NEWSL ETTER

Independent Administrative Institution
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)
A newsletter on the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite(GOSAT, “IBUKI” ) project from the NIES GOSAT Project Oﬃce.

ISSUE #6
JUN. 2010

CONTENTS
Greetings - Looking Back on My Term as "IBUKI"'s Officer
NEWS
New Mobile LIDAR for GOSAT Data Products Validation Installed
NVIDIA Chief Scientist Dr. Bill Dally Visits GOSAT RCF
CAI L1B+ Browse Images Now Released
Report: The 48th Meeting of the Remote Sensing Society of Japan
INTERVIEW
Dr. Hartmut Bösch
NEWSSWIR Carbon Observation Retrieval Model Intercomparison Project
DATA PRODUCTS UPDATECALENDARINFORMATION

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http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/
Greetings -Looking Back on
My Term as "IBUKI"'s Officer- Mr. Toru Hashimoto
Section Chief, Administration Division, Global Environment and Marine
Department, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)

From April 2008 to March 2010, I was concerned with
the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT, “IBUKI”)
during my term at Office of Research and Information, Global
Environment Bureau at the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).
While I was there, I had a pleasure of being involved in a
number of big events such as the launch and the first publicdata release.
“IBUKI” is a cooperative project among three parties, Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), National Institutefor Environmental Studies (NIES), and MOE, in other words,
a collaboration among three institutions different in their

At JAXA Tanegashima Space Center. Photographed together with the former
JAXA GOSAT Project Manager Takashi Hamazaki (right) and NIES GOSAT Project
Office Validation Manager Osamu Uchino (left) on December 9, 2009, during“IBUKI”’s press preview event. (Photo: courtesy of Toru Hashimoto)character, a space agency, a research institution, and agovernment institution. For this reason, the representatives
from each institution, including I, had to put in various
efforts for coordination among them. I remember that I was
responsible for responding to various inquiries and organizing
counsels for the officials from many different fields. This was
because “IBUKI” is the first and only satellite in the world thatis dedicated to observe greenhouse gases, and the fact that
there is a range of vigorous discussions going on regarding
global warming nowadays attracts great attention from thestandpoint of public administration.
Fortunately enough, I had a background in data processing
for the weather satellites at JMA before I moved to thisposition at Office of Research and Information. So, I found it
interesting to sit in on heated debates among the scientists
at the meetings of “IBUKI”’s scientific advisory board, GOSAT
Science Team. In fact, there were some occasions when thedebates among the prominent scientists went out of ourcontrol, but I feel that it shows how much was expected out of“IBUKI” from the science side.
“IBUKI”’s launch was also an event that drew attention ofvarious sectors since it was the first satellite launch since theenactment of the Basic Space Law in Japan in August 2008,
and also because several other piggyback satellites werelaunched along. I had the fortune to be present at the sceneof launch, which was an incredible experience. It was also agreat experience even just as an officer, to have sat at the postlaunch press conference and shared the joy of success withrepresentatives from JAXA and NIES.
Since April 2010, I am back at JMA where I am originallyfrom, and continue working on climate and environment
related affairs. My relationship with “IBUKI” has become just“an user” from “an officer” but I still cannot take my eyes off ofgreat success of “IBUKI.” I am looking forward to seeing “IBUKI”
contribute to the accumulation of scientific knowledge suchas on carbon cycle, thus to the climate change prediction withhigher accuracy.
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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

NEWS

New Mobile LIDAR for GOSAT Data Products Validation Installed- Osamu Uchino, Validation Manager, NIES GOSAT Project Office

GOSAT data products such as
the column amounts of carbon dioxide(CO2) and methane (CH4) are estimatedfrom the observational data of “IBUKI,”
but these column amounts are affectedby aerosols such as yellow sand andcirrus clouds. In order to understandthese effects and improve the accuracyof GOSAT data products, it is vital toobserve the vertical profile of aerosols
and clouds as well as their opticalproperties during “IBUKI”’s observation.
For this purpose, a mobile LIght
Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) was
installed at NIES in the early 2010
(Image 1). This LIDAR consists of a lasertransmitter (Image 2), telescope (Image3), spectrometer/detection unit (Image4), signal/data-processing unit (Image5), and they are all packaged inside
a container. On the roof top of thecontainer, there are two observation

Image 2. Laser transmitter unitNEWSwindows that protect the equipmentfrom unexpected rains and prevent sunheat from impinging on the optical axis
alignment of the laser transmitter andthe receiving telescope.
The observation flow is as follows: A
laser emits light into the atmosphere,
the telescope receives the scattered lightfrom the atmospheric molecules (mainly
nitrogen and oxygen)/aerosols/ cirrus
clouds, the spectrometer/detection
unit separates the light into respective
wavelengths then converts it into electric
signals, then save it as a raw data insignal/data-processing unit. By analyzing
the saved data, it is possible to acquire
the information on vertical distribution
and optical characteristics of aerosols
and clouds at a high range resolution.
We are currently conducting the finetuning to optimize the LIDAR equipment.
As soon as the tuning is finished, weImage 3. Telescope

Photos: Osamu Uchino

are going to start the observation insynch with “IBUKI” over-passing as wellas the ground-based Fourier Transform
Spectrometer here at NIES that observes
the column amount of CO2 and CH4 ata high accuracy. We are planning tocompare these observational results
carefully with the GOSAT data products
and to apply the results to improve theiraccuracy.

Image 4. Spectrometer/detection unit

Image 1. Exterior view of the LIDAR container.

Image 5. Signal/data-processing unit

NVIDIA Chief Scientist
Dr. Bill Dally Visits GOSAT RCF

Dr. Bill Dally, the chief scientist of NVIDIA Corporation visited GOSAT
Research Computation Facility (GOSAT RCF) on June 3, 2010. NVIDIA Corporation
developed the General Purpose
computing on Graphics Processing
Units (GPGPU), a core part of GOSAT
RCF featured in April issue. After the Dr. Bill Dally, the Chief Scientist of NVIDIA Corporation.
slide presentation by NIES Fellow during the discussion.
Kaduo Hiraki of the Office for Global
Environmental Database at CGER, NIES, Dr. Dally toured GOSAT RCF, and discussed thepossibility of further refinements.
Dr. Dally commented, “I am very impressed with the GPU cluster built to process
GOSAT data. While small, it is completely state of the art. We expect this cluster to be(from left) Dr. Bill Dally of NVIDIA Corporation and NIES
one of the greenest high-performance computing installations and to lead the way in
Fellow Kaduo Hiraki of Office of Global Environmental
environmental computational science on GPUs.”
Database, CGER NIES inside GOSAT RCF.
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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

NEWS

CAI L1B+ Browse Images Now Released – How to Search and Display Images- Nobuyuki Kikuchi, Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project Office

The website, GOSAT User Interface Gateway, where you can download “IBUKI”’’s data products, now offers a new
function, “CAI L1B+ Browse Image Search.” With this function, anyone can quickly search for and find the images acquiredby Cloud and Aerosol Imager (CAI) onboard “IBUKI.”
Here are step by step guides to search for CAI L1B+ browse images acquired on May 18, 2010, and to search for the images
acquired over the central part of Japan.
<How to Access the Website>(1) Click on “Observation data distribution and Observation request service are here” or ”GOSAT User Interface Gateway” logo on
the top left corner of NIES GOSAT website (http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/index_e.html).
(2) Click on “Gallery” under “Menu,” then click on “CAI L1B+ browse”<Search Images from a Specific Date>(3) Specify the date to search images from a periodof one day of May 18, 2010. Under the “Specify an
Observation Period (UTC)” set the Start Date to
2010/05/18 and End Date to 2010/05/18. Leave Start
Time 00:00:00 and End Time 23:59:59 as they are. (Image
1)(4) Click on “Search” and then the page changes to “CAI
L1B+ Browse Image Search Result.”(5) There are 465 results, and 10 images are displayed ineach page. If you move to the eighth page among the
47 pages in total, you can find an image that shows theTokyo metropolitan area, numbered as 75.
If you click on the “Detail,” a larger image will open in
a new window. In Windows Internet Explorer, you canright click on the image to save it by choosing “Save
Picture As.” With Mac OS X Safari, you can control-click
the image to save it by choosing “Save to Download
Image 1. Specifying search conditions. An example of setting the
Folder” etc.
date as May 18, 2010.
(7)Now, we are going to continue with other search
conditions. Click on “Back to Search Condition”<Search Images from a Specific Location>(8) Click on “Yes” button under “Specify Area.” A new
window, “Map Search CAI” will open.
(9) Click on “Clear” at the “Ope:” in the middle of window.
(10) Select the central part of Japan; place the mousepointer over the top left side of the area, then click anddrag towards bottom right to create a rectangle of redline. The area is set when you release the mouse button.
You can redo this process by clicking on “Clear.”(11) If you click on “List>,” paths and frames in which
GOSAT observed the selected area appear on the map
and in the table. If you check on “Off,” this path andframe are removed from the search. Here, we are going
to leave the path 5, frame 25, and check on “Off” for therest.
(12) Click on “OK” and close the “Map Search CAI”
window. Then, go back to the “CAI L1B+ Browse Image
Image 2. Specifying areas using a map. An example of selecting
Search” window. Path 5, Frame 25 that was selected in
the central part of Japan.
the map is shown in a table.
(13) In order to expand the observation period, modify

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

Image 3. Displaying a search result. An example of search results
for the central part of Japan.

Image 4. An example of a large image of the central part of Japan
from June 11, 2010.

the Start Date to 2010/05/17, and End Date to 2010/06/14.
(14) A search result will appear if you click on “Search.” Only the images of the central part of Japan will be displayed in the result.
(15) If you click on “Detail,” a larger image will open in a new window. (Image 4)(16) If you are finished, click on the “Close” in the top right and the window will close.
<CAI L1B+ Browse Image Usage Reminder>(1) The browse images for the observation period after May 17, 2010 are available for search.
(2) Observation period need to be specified in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). 9am in Japanese Standard Time is midnight inUTC.
(3) As many as 500 images can be displayed in one search. Search within a period of one day will not return more than 500 images.
If you get a message, “over the limit,’ either shorten the observation period or specify the search area and select paths and frames.
(4) The browse images can be used solely for academic research or educational purposes. If you wish to use the images forcommercial and other purposes, please contact GOSAT Project Office.
(5) Please specify the citation clearly such as “Images courtesy of JAXA/NIES/MOE” if you publish the results using the browse
images.
(6) It is prohibited to distribute or to give away any browse images to a third party. If asked, please refer to NIES GOSAT Project
Office website.

NEWS

Report : The 48th Meeting of theRemote Sensing Society of JapanThe 48th (2010 Spring) Meeting of theRemote Sensing Society of Japan was held during
May 27 -28, 2010 at National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Tsukuba
Center, in Tsukuba, Japan. NIES GOSAT Project
spoke at a lecture named “GOSAT data processing
and distribution status” and reported the current
status of the project. Other than this lecture, NIESGOSAT Project hosted an exhibition booth during
the two days of meeting to display examplesof data products on a poster and monitor, andto answer researchers’ questions on “IBUKI”’sobservation. Some people stopped by at the booth
to look at the CAI images of Iceland from April,
2010, and others listened to the explanation on theseasonal results of global distribution of CH4 andCO2 concentrations of “IBUKI’s FTS Level 2 data andasked about "IBUKI"'s observational points.

NIES GOSAT Project Office staff explains about the project.
The NIES GOSAT Project booth at the 48th Meeting of the Remote Sensing Society of Japan.

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

INTERVIEWDR.

HARTMUTBÖSCH
Research Fellow,
Earth Observation Science group,
Space Research Centre,
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Leicester, United Kingdom

Dr. Hartmut Bösch of Earth
Observation Science group, Space
Research Centre, Department of Physics
and Astronomy at the University ofLeicester in United Kingdom sat down
for an interview to talk about how hebecame involved in the greenhouse gas
measurement and his impression on
current GOSAT project. The interview
was conducted in Kyoto, Japan after
Sixth International Workshop on
Greenhouse Gas Measurement fromSpace (IWGGMS-6).(Interviewer : NIESGOSAT Project Leader Tatsuya Yokota.
Jan. 28, 2010.)

Yokota: Thank you for coming
here today. First of all, I would like to ask
you your personal history and how you
were involved in the carbon cycle orgreenhouse gas measurement.
Bösch: Ok. I received my doctoral
degree from the Institute of theEnvironmental Physics at Heidelberg
University in Germany. My supervisor
was Professor Ulrich Platt. He is oneof the pioneers of differential opticalabsorption spec troscopy (DOAS)
technique. My doctoral study wason stratospheric chemistr y using
balloon borne instruments. It is not
related to greenhouse gases at all, but
it gives you a very good backgroundin instrumentation and retrieval
techniques.
Y: What was the target gas species?
B: Mos t sp e cies were relate d toozone chemistry, so the targets were
halogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide, andozone (O3).
Y: When was this?
B: This was in early 2000. We launchedmultiple s tratospheric balloons,
which went up to 40 km altitude fromhigh latitude locations like Kiruna innorthern Sweden.
Y: S o yo u h ave b e e n to K i r u n a ,Esrange1?
B: Yes, that’s correct. Actually, I havebeen involved in the validation study
for the ILAS2 instrument.
Y: Oh, really?
B: I am a co-author on the validation
paper3 on O3.
Y: You were one of the co-authors?
B: Yes, well it was a very long list of
1 Esrange Space Center: built by European
Space Agency now owned by Swedish Space
Corporation. Reference: http://www.ssc.se/esrange
2 The Improved Limb AtmosphericSpectrometer (ILAS), the first ozone layer
monitoring sensor of Japan. The interviewer
Yokota was a part of the project. It was launchedaboard Advanced Earth Observing Satellite(ADEOS, “MIDORI”) in August 1996.
3 Sugita, T., T. Yokota, H. Nakajima, H. Kanzawa,
H. Nakane, H. Gernandt, V. Yushkov, K. Shibasaki,
T. Deshler, Y. Kondo, S. Godin, F. Goutail, J.P. Pommereau, C. Camy-Peyret, S. Payan, P.
Jeseck, J.-B. Renard, H. Bösch, R. Fitzenberger,
K. Pfeilsticker, M. von König, H. Bremer, H.
KÃŒllmann, H. Schlager, J.J. Margitan, B. Stachnik,
G.C. Toon, K. Jucks, W.A. Traub, D.G. Johnson, I.
Murata, H. Fukunishi, and Y. Sasano, Validation ofozone measurements from the Improved Limb
Atmospheric Spectrometer (ILAS), J. Geophys.
Res., 107, D7, 10.1029/2001JD000602, 2002.

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authors. We have contributed ourozone profile measurements.
B: Then, after my PhD, I went from
Heidelberg Universit y to the Jet
Propulsion Laborator y (JPL) 4 as ap os td o c to r al res earch er for th e
Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)
5
project. This was together with Dr.
Geoffrey Toon. At this stage, OCO
projec t was ver y small and ver ystrongly focused on building the
instrument.
Y: Geoffrey Toon was operating theMark IV instrument6.
B: Yes, he was, but he was also incharge of the retrieval algorithm
development. My job was to develop
the retrieval algorithm for the OCO
instrument, or it was more to develop
a research algorithm that can be used
to test the basic features and test
your approach, and optimize yourapproach to carry out the simulations
and characterize the quality of theretrieval. Then, after two and a halfyears, I became a permanent staff
scientist at JPL.
Y: So you were promoted?
B: Yes, I was promoted, but thenI d e c i d e d to l e ave J PL to g o to
University of Leicester as a research
fellow. Right now, I have a five-year
research fellowship. My focus is stillon greenhouse gas retrievals. Andof course, I continue working for
the OCO projec t, which became
Atmospheric Carbon Observations
7
from Space (ACOS) project after the
failure of the launch. It’s a fantastic
4 JPL is a federally funded research anddevelopment facility managed by
the California Institute of Technology for NASA.
5 The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) wasa NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Project(ESSP) mission designed to make precise, timedependent global measurements of atmosphericcarbon dioxide (CO2) from an Earth orbiting
satellite. On February 24, 2009, OCO failed toreach orbit.
6 JPL MkIV Balloon Interferometer: The MkIV
interferometer is a high resolution (0.01 cm-1)
Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer,
built at JPL in 1984 to remotely sense theatmospheric composition. Reference: http://
cloud1.arc.nasa.gov/solve/balloon/mkiv.html
7 ACOS is a group formed around the OCO
Science Team, including the
research members from NASA’s JPL, Caltech,and Colorado State University. Using “IBUKI”’
s data, ACOS team has collaborated with the
GOSAT project to develop and enhance the CO2
retrieval algorithm for both GOSAT and OCO-2
projects.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

opportunity that there were actuallyt wo projec ts, OCO and GOSAT at
the same time. Now there is only
GOSAT, but I still think that it is a great
advantage that we can apply all thetools we developed for OCO to study
the GOSAT instrument. So, this is how
I became involved in greenhousegases, through being hired as a post
doc at JPL. Since then, I continue
doing the related work.

oppor tunities. The combinationof the Cloud and Aerosol Imager
Y: What is your impression on the of GOSAT that of fers high spatial
resolution, with the high spectral
present GOSAT data?
B: I think this is the first kind that resolution has quite opportunities assuch a measurement has been made. well.
This means that there is always avery large challenge to really fully Y: Do you have some recommendation,
understand the data before it can be comment, suggestion, or expectation
used for science. I think current results to our GOSAT team?
B: First of all, I think the way thelook very promising.
GOSAT team operates currently is
Y: Promising, I see.
Y: W hi c h f i e l d a r e yo u
fantastic, by including a large
i nte r e s te d i n? A r e yo u
communit y of researcher sinterested in climate change,from dif ferent areas andcarbon cycle, or just retrieval ofcontinuously organizing
the radiative transfer?
international meetings. My
B: My major interes t is on
suggestions would be tomore of the retrieval side. I
continue doing that and
am interested in how well weto collaborate with various
can retrieve the data and how
researchers. We have
we have to treat the different
done this in the pas t ver yaspec ts like aerosols andsuccessfully but I hope thatclouds. However, at the end,
we can continue doing that by
I am also quite interested in
exchanging researchers, forapplying these data to study
example. This would be one“The way the GOSAT team operates curthe carbon cycle. We have tosuggestion, but I think you are
rently is fantastic by including a large
carry on carbon cycle studies
already doing that.
community of researchers from differtogether with modeling
B: A key issue will b e thatent areas and continuously organizing
groups since we do noteverybody who works with theinternational
meetings.”
operate any models ourselves.
data has to understand what
So, we will collaborate withthe potential problems are,
University of Edinburgh on carbon B: I think, as expected, there are how they can be fixed, and what has
cycle studies.
various problems that can be fixed to be taken into account when using
hopefully. As with any data set, it the data. I think this information has
Y: I r e m e m b e r yo u o r g a n i ze d a takes years until you finally reach the to be provided very clearly to theretrieval code comparison group two accuracy and goals that you have set users; otherwise there is a large risk ofyears ago at the Fourth International yourself. It is a big community effort, misused data or maybe that people
Wo r k s h o p o n G r e e n h o u s e G a s and I am very optimistic that we can draw very wrong conclusion because
M e a s u r e m e n t s f r o m S p a c e reach the goal a bit earlier because they used the data wrongly.
(IWGGMS-4) in France.
we already have very very optimistic
B : Ye s , t h e r e w a s a b r e a k o u t results and we are actually getting Y: Do you have any requests to us?
s e s si o n o n r e t r i e v a l a l g o r i t h ms closer very quickly to the targets.
B: I currently do not have specificand comparison. We still continue
requests, but I am actually looking
doing these activities. We have a Y: What is your plans on using the forward to make requests in order toposter at this IWGGMS-6 on retrieval GOSAT data in the near future?
make observation requests to GOSAT.
comparisons, and the PhD student B: I think GOSAT offers a large number (*RA users can make such requests)
from University of Leicester, Austin of possibilities even beside CO2. The I think it is fantastic that GOSAT
Cogan will be at NIES next week, and fact that it measures thermal infrared offers this possibility to track cities orand short wavelength infrared offers volcanoes, which I think will be very
we hope to continue this work.
unique possibilities. As I am more of interesting.
Y: Yes, it is very interesting.
B: It is a very interesting and very a retrieval person, I am actually veryi m p o r t a nt wo r k . I h o p e we c a n interested in exploring these new Y: Thank you for your time today, andactually do it more vigorously than possibilities. I would like to explore we would like to collaborate with you
we have done in the past. I hope we the p olariz ation and combining for mutual success.
can really understand the differences the thermal and short wavelength B: Thank you very much.
between the different approaches inf rare d. I am also interes te d into charac terize the uncer tainties trying to explore additional gases,
introduced by dif ferent retrieval w i t h w h i c h I t h i n k G O S AT h a s
methods.

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010

NEWS

Swir Carbon Observation REtrieval
Model Intercomparison Project (SCORE-MIP)
Several researchers incluing Dr. Hartmut Bösch, as featured in this issue’s interview, have beenworking on comparative studies on the retrieval methods of atmospheric CO2 column concentrations

from satellite observations. Based on this research activity, a project named “SWIR Carbon Observation
Retrieval Model Intercomparison Project” (SCORE-MIP) was initiated at the Sixth International Workshop
on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space (IWGGMS-6). This is a report from the project.
- Dr. Hartmut Bösch (Hartmut.boesch@le.ac.uk)
Research Fellow, Earth Observation Science group, Space Research Centre,
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, United Kingdom- Dr. André Butz (a.butz@sron.nl)
Research Scientist, Earth and Planetary Science,
Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), the Netherlands- Yukio Yoshida (yoshida.yukio@nies.go.jp),
NIES Special Researcher, Satellite Remote Sensing Research Section,
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan

Retrieving carbon dioxide (CO2) from space-based shortwave infraredobservations is a difficult task due to the complex interaction of sunlight with the
Figure: Comparison of radiative transfer
atmosphere and surface. Retrieval methods need to take into account subtle effects
codes for nadir geometry. The bars
such as scattering of light by atmospheric particles and polarization of radiation. The
give the range of the root-mean square(RMS) deviation from the mean of theretrieved CO2 column concentrations will – to some extent - depend on the applied
calculated spectra by all five groups for 27
method and the respective assumptions and approximations. Such retrieval-specificgeophysical scenarios and three spectral
differences, if not removed or taken into account, can eventually lead to ambiguous
ranges in the shortwave infrared region.
estimates for CO2 surface fluxes and thus, to ambiguous conclusions on regional
carbon budgets.
The shown results are from:ULeic - University of Leicester (H. Bösch)At IWGGMS-6 in Kyoto, it had been recognized that there is an urgent need for a
SRON - Netherlands Institute for Space
detailed characterization of the retrieval algorithms applied to GOSAT shortwave
Research (A. Butz)
infrared (SWIR) spectra and the SWIR Carbon Obser vation Retrieval Model
CSU - Colorado State University (C. O’Dell)
Intercomparison Project (SCORE-MIP) had been created. The main objectives of
IUP - University of Bremen (M. Reuter)
SCORE-MIP are to intercompare retrieval methods and to diagnose their differences, to
NIES - National Institute for Environmetal
Studies (Y. Yoshida).
provide guidance for algorithm improvement, and finally to estimate the uncertainty
going along with algorithm-specific implementations and approximations.
The first step of the SCORE-MIP directly aims at evaluating the performance of the radiative transfer codes embedded into
the various retrieval schemes for a number of well defined scenarios. This will be followed by a comparison of CO2 retrievals
for a range of synthetic observations and finally by a retrieval comparison for a selection of GOSAT observations over groundbased validation sites.
The radiative transfer comparisons are currently carried out within SCORE-MIP and five groups have submitted their results
so far. To specifically address the needs of the GOSAT and OCO-2 missions for fast and polarized radiative transfer schemes, weconsider vector radiative transfer codes and approximate methods in our intercomparison. The results of this intercomparison
have been discussed during a first progress meeting at the European Geoscience Union (EGU) conference in Vienna in May
2010. The radiative transfer codes have been compared for nadir observation geometry for 27 different geophysical scenarios.
In general, the results agree very well (see figure) implying that the use of different radiative transfer codes does not result insignificant differences in retrieved CO2. The comparisons for ocean sunglint conditions and for approximate methods are stillon-going.
SCORE-MIP is open to all researchers who are interested in SWIR retrievals of greenhouse gases. Please contact the authors if
you want to join the project. More details on SCORE-MIP can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/scoremip.
SMALL AHA! OF THE MONTH- Yukio Yoshida
NIES Special Researcher,
Satellite Remote Sensing Research Section, CGER, NIES

What is a radiative transfer code?
It is a software that calculates the state of light (radiation) observed under the specified conditions
from the geophysical scenario input such as the concentration of gases, vertical profiles of clouds
and aerosol and the conditions of land surface. The software that calculates only the intensity oflight is classified as a scalar radiative transfer code, while the other software that calculates thestate of polarization in addition to the intensity of light is classified as vector radiative transfer
code. If the condition of atmosphere is specified in detail or the status of polarization is solved for,approximation methods are applied for reducing computational complexity (to the extent that thecalculation is still accurate enough).

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#6 JUN. 2010DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE

Data Processing Status Update from GOSAT Project Office- Fumie Kawazoe, Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project Office

Here we report an update
on data processing status for themonth of May, 2010. Continued
from April, FTS L1B data were
processed as V100100; and CAI
L1B, L1B+, and L2 cloud flag were
processed as V00.90. FTS L2 SWIR
CO2 and CH4 column amounts forthe month of March will be released
shortly. The release is being delayed
because we have been working toclarify the quality check points, andare getting ready to start attaching“Important Notice” to the products.
The notice will include issues
that need special attention. As it
is reported in this issue, browse
images for the CAI L1B+ data products obtained after May 17, 2010 are being processed and released to the public. Please visit
the GOSAT Users Interface Gateway webpage, and you can view the browse images by accessing “Gallery” section under “Menu.”
Also, if you log in and search for CAI L1B+ data products, the corresponding browse images are available for view. The number ofregistered users reached 804 as of June 11, 2010.

INFORMATION

LectureINFORMATION

Title: Measurement of greenhosue gases using Fourier Transform

NIES SUMMER OPEN HOUSE

Spectrometer onboard GOSAT and validation of GOSAT data.

Speaker: Isamu Morino, Senior Researcher, Satellite Remote Sensing
Research Section, CGER, NIES

National Institute for Environmental Studies is hosting theannual NIES Summer Open House on July 24, 2010, Sat, 9:30-16:00(reception closes at 15:00). We are opening up our research facilities
to the public to introduce the front line of environmental research.
NIES GOSAT Project is going to host an exhibition booth as a part ofthis open house. We are looking forward to seeing you all!

Date and Time: 2010/07/09 14:00-15:00

Location : Third Lecture Room, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of
Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, JapanFor more information please contact: gosat_newsletter@nies.go.jp.

INFORMATION

Symposium

CALENDAR

Other Future Events

Earth’s Breathing Seen from Space!
“On Observational Research Using Greenhouse Gases Observing
Satellite ”IBUKI” (GOSAT)”
Location : Exchange Meeting Room, Climate Change Research Hall,NIES.
The exhibition is to introduce “IBUKI” and the current status of researchon global warming based on its observation. Researchers will directly
explaina about the project at the booth using one sixteenth scale modelof “IBUKI,” a spherical screen display of “IBUKI” data and simulation results,
and a observation instrument similar to the sensor onboard “IBUKI.”GOSAT Project is hosting a symposium this summer.
Title : A Symposium on Greenhouse Gases Measurement from Space- A Role of the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite, "IBUKI" (GOSAT) Date/Location: August 25, 2010 (Wed)13:00~ Kokuyo Hall, Tokyo, JapanThe content is suited for highschool students or older.
More details will be posted in the next issue.

2010/07/05-09
Participation at the 7th Annual Meeting and Geosciences World Community
Exhibition(AOGS 2010) held in Hyderabad, India.
2010/07/18-25
Participation at the 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly held in Bremen,
Germany.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

Further details on "NIES Summer Open House" can be found on
NIES website. (in Japanese)
http://www.nies.go.jp/event/kokai/2010/

ISSUE #6 JUN. 2010

Issued On : 2010.07.02
Reviseded On : 2010.12.27

edited and published by : NIES GOSAT Project Oﬃce

NIES

GOSJ ATPRO ECT
NEWSL ETTER

You can download this newsletter here:
URL : http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/eng/newsletter/top.htm

email : gosat̲newsletter@nies.go.jp
website : http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/eng/newsletter/top.htm

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Center for Global Environmental Research
National Institute for Environmental Studies

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