NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#22 NOVEMBER 2011

ISSUE # 22
NOVEMBER 2011

CONTENTS
AHA! OF THE MONTH 1A­Series­:­Ground-based­Obsrvation­Sites­for­"IBUKI"'s­Validation­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­"Lauder­Atmospheric­Research­Station­-­New­Zealand"­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

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ACTIVITIESReport­:­SPIE­Remote­Sensing­­­­­­­­­­­­

02

AHA! OF THE MONTH 2

いぶきIBUKINIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER
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.

A­Series­:­How­to­Use­GUIG­Tool­"SWIR­L2­Global­Distribution­Map"­-­3­-­­­03
DATA PRODUCT UPDATE
Data­Processing­Status­Update­from­GOSAT­Project­Office­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­04
IMAGES OF THE MONTH
Floodings­in­Thailand­and­Cambodia­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­05
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PUBLISHED PAPERS etc.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­CALENDAR­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­05

http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/
AHA! OF THE MONTH 1

A Series: Ground-based Observation Sites for "IBUKI"'s Validation"Lauder Atmospheric Research Station - New Zealand"― Dr. Tomohiro Nagai
Senior Researcher, Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Japan Meteorological Agency

Photo 1. The exterior view of the Lauder Atmospheric Research Station of National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Photo by NIWA.

The Lauder Atmospheric Research Station of National Institute of Water and AtmosphericResearch (NIWA) in New Zealand is located in the middle of the South Island at 45 degrees south
latitude. Since the clear atmospheric environment of Lauder was suitable for optical observations,the station was built for the optical observation of the aurora in 1961. In the late 1970's, the firstatmospheric observation, measurement of nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
was started. Since then, measurement of ozone (O3) and ultraviolet
LAUDER

radiation as well as other atmospheric trace gases associatedwith ozone depletion and global warming have been carried outcontinuously.

Ground-based observations are conducted at different locations across the world forvalidation of "IBUKI"'s data products. At a ground-based observation site, the solar radiation
spectra are observed using a high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS), aerosols by
Skyradiometer, and vertical profiles of aerosols and cirrus clouds by LIDAR for the purpose ofvalidating the concentrations of CO2 and CH4 measured by FTS installed on "IBUKI." At Lauder,as one of the validation sites, observation has been carried out using a high-resolution FTS by
NIWA, a Skyradiometer by the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and a LIDAR by
Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of Japan and NIES.
In November 1992, following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Philippines, MRI started
1­­

Photo­2.­Improved­LIDAR­instrument.­
Photo­by­Tomohiro­Nagai.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#22 NOVEMBER 2011

the LIDAR observation of stratospheric few hundred meters above the groundaerosols. Its aim was to understand the and the stratosphere is now possible
variation of aerosols produced from because of these improvements.
the volcanic ashes and gases emitted In October 2011, a Skyradiometer
into the atmosphere by the eruption. was installed by NIES and the Japan
The purpose of this LIDAR observation Aerospace Exploration Agency, andwas to capture the variation of aerosols observation using the Skyradiometer
mainly in the stratosphere, and the was started (Photo 3). Observation
LIDAR was not suitable for observation using FTS has been continued byof thin clouds and aerosols in the NIWA for long time (Photo 4).
Photo­3.­A­Skyradiometer­installed­on­the­rooftop­of­the­Optics­
Laboratory­of­the­Lauder­Atmospheric­Research­Station.

troposphere. However, the validation

Such observations are conductedo f " I B U K I " ' s d a t a p r o d u c t s a n d mainly during the time when "IBUKI"

Photo­by­Tomohiro­Nagai.

improvement of its algorithms require flies over the area. The observations
precise measurements of thin clouds are to understand the vertical profiles
and aerosols in the troposphere. of aerosols, thin cirrus clouds, opticalFor this reason, improvements on thickness of aerosols, and the CO2
LIDAR receiver were made to enable and CH4 concentrations. If continued,observations of the troposphere in these obser vation contributes toFebruary 2009, and to improve the the validation of "IBUKI"'s data andreceived data quality by replacing improvement of their quality.
the laser transmitters for a less noisym o d el in O c tob er 20 0 9. Pre cis ePhoto­ 4.­ A­ high-resolution­ FTS­ installed­ in­ the­ Optics­
Laboratory­of­the­Lauder­Atmospheric­Research­Station.­measurements of aerosols and cirrus
clouds in the atmosphere between aPhoto­by­Tomohiro­Nagai

ACTIVITIESShimoda of Tokai University. The discussion- Hiroshi Watanabe
NIES GOSAT Project Office Managerand GOSAT, as well as near-future satellites andReport: SPIE Remote Sensing topics included current status of ASTER, ALOS

sensors from Japan. Among all, the presentations
from the GOSAT Project were the following three:

I attended the last year's SPIE Remote"On-orbit status of TANSO onboard GOSAT" bySensing, held in Toulouse, France. This year

Masakatsu Nakajima GOSAT Mission Manager ofagain, I attended SPIE Remote Sensing 2011, heldthe Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),

from September 19 to September 22, 2011 in"Update of the GOSAT higher level product statusPrague, Czech Republic. SPIE is the abbreviation

2.5 years after the launch" by Hiroshi Watanabeof its original organization, the Societ y ofof the National Institute for Environmental

Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers, andStudies, and "Airborne flight campaign for GOSAT

it is a place for discussions mainly on opticalvalidation" by Daisuke Sakaizawa of JAXA.

The Brevnov Monastery where the banquet for
SPIE Remote Sensing 2011 was held in Prague,Czech Republic. Photo by Hiroshi Watanabe.

data products.

instruments. The themes addressed at theMy presentation introduced the latest"remote sensing" meeting include the satellite

versions of FTS L2 SWIR (column amounts)

While there were many sessions on

remote sensing. One of its conferences thatupgraded in summer 2010 and the spatial andapplications of each sensor, I received anI participated, "Sensors, Systems, and Next-

temporal variations of XCO2 and XCH4 revealed byimpression that there were more sessions on

Generation Satellites," included presentations

those data, as well as CAI L3 global radiance andsensors' calibration. With the ASTER and MODISon ongoing and future satellite remote sensing

global reflectance distribution that were publicly

sensors onboard Terra and Aqua that have been

projects by the United States, Europe, and Japan,

released after fall 2010. The presentation also

operating for more than 10 years, it was shownand attracted a great number of attendees.

dealt with the current status of FTS L2 TIR (verticalthat the careful calibration needed for long-term

In general, there are a large number ofprofiles), CAI L3 NDVI, L4A (global CO2 flux), andoperation has been carried out.

presentations on the U.S. and European satellite

L4B (three-dimensional global CO2 distribution)

The city of Prague still retains the atmospheremissions that attract a large audience. This year,that were released to the selected researchers ofof ancient capital of the Middle Ages. While thethere was one session on American satellite

the GOSAT research announcement (RA). I also

city is known for its Astronomical Clock andmission, two sessions on European mission, andtalked about the upcoming version upgrades

other attractions in the old town, the banquet on

three sessions on Japanese mission. The sessionsof L1 and L2 data products as a response to thethe first night was held at the Brevnov Monasteryon Japanese mission was chaired by Chairperson

chairperson of the European satellite session,

located outside the city. I had a fun experienceo f G O S AT R A S e l e c t i o n a n d E v a l u a t i o n

Roland Meynart of European Space Agency (ESA),

taking a trip out of the usual tourist attractions.

Committee (RA Committee), Prof. Haruhisa

the prospects of bias reduction of FTS L2 SWIR2­­NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#22 NOVEMBER 2011

AHA! OF THE MONTH 2A Series: How to Use GUIG Tool "SWIR L2 Global Distribution Map" - 3 -­Kenji­Hayashi,­NIES­GOSAT­Project­Office

(J)
(L)
(G)

(N)

(M)

A­screenshot­of­the­Tool­with­a­search­result­of­the­area­specified­with­a­polygon­(near­Australia)­
after­searching­for­XCO2­only­for­the­land­between­January­1,­2011­and­August­31,­2011.

In this series of articles, I will take you step by step through thetransformed.

process of using the "SWIR L2 Global Distribution Map" tool (hereafterTo free-transform a search area, use "Polygon" in the "Area" (J)referred to as the Tool) on the GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG).

section in the bottom left. Select "Polygon" and "New," and click where

The main functions of the Tool are as follows.

you would like the first corner of the polygon to be on the map. Then,

1) Search/display concentration data: you can search and display theeach following click will create another corner of polygon. Double-latest version of SWIR Level 2 column-averaged mixing ratios (XCO2,clicking on the map connects the corners and creates a polygon. TheXCH4) of the points that were observed by "IBUKI."

latitude and longitude of each corner selected is listed in the table (L)2) Save displayed data: you can download the displayed data as CSV

in the middle of screen. By checking the "Del." box, you can delete thefile format or KML file format (for Google Earth).

corner in case you clicked on a wrong spot. By selecting "Edit" in the3) Display CAI data as background: you can display CAI Level 3"Area" (J), you can make adjustments to the polygon on the map insatellite images (global radiance distribution (3 days' composite) , orfollowing manners. 1) Click on a corner to re-enter new latitude andglobal reflectance distribution (30 days' composite) as a backgroundlongitude information. 2) Click and drag a corner to move to a desiredof the map. The CAI images are from the same observation periods as position. 3) Click on a line connecting two corners to create a corner
the displayed SWIR Level 2 data.

that breaks the line.

This month, I would like to demonstrate the main functions ofIf you click and drag a cursor when you make the first corner, you

the Tool as the part three regarding 1) Search/display concentration

can create a pseudo circle (drawn with 24 points) as a search area. Thedata (for requirements and how to start the Tool, please refer to thelist of information on selected corners of polygon can be saved as atwo previous issues (August 2011, September 2011)). 2) and 3) will be

Shape file or CSV file by clicking "Save" button (M). You can load thedemonstrated in the coming issues. For more detailed instructions on

saved information on the map by clicking "Load" button (N).
Finally, clicking on "List >" button (G) will plot the data only

how to use the Tool, please also refer to the "Help" in the right bottomof the Tool page.

inside the specified polygon as a search result on the map. The

1) Search/display concentration data (part 3)

corresponding values will be also displayed in the table in the bottom

In the August 2011 issue, we introduced how to search and displayright.

the concentration data products for a specific time period, and then(The image is a screenshot of the Tool with a search result of the areain September 2011, how to search under even narrower conditions, orspecified with a polygon (near Australia) after searching for XCO2 data

for a specific area defined by a rectangle. This rectangle can be freely only for the land between January 1, 2011 to August 31, 2011.)

3­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#22 NOVEMBER 2011

DATA PRODUCT UPDATE

Data Processing status uPDate from gosat Project office- Fumie Kawazoe, Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project Office

As of November 14, 2011

Observation Period and Versions of Publicly Released Data

Versions and Approx. Numbersof Released Data

FTS L1B data

●050050●080080●100100●110110●128128●130130

FTS L2 CO2 column amount (SWIR)FTS L2 CH4 column amount (SWIR)FTS L3 CO2 distribution (SWIR)FTS L3 CH4 distribution (SWIR)CAI L1B data%#($● 00.50● 00.80● 00.90● 01.10● 01.20● 01.30● 01.40● 01.5032500 scans
16700 scans
38600 scans
26000 scans
14800 scans
46900 scans
28300 scans
29300 scans●00.50●00.80●00.90●01.10●01.20●01.30●01.40%#'$●01.5035200 scans
23700 scans
43300 scans
24300 scans
13400 scans
44200 scans
27700 scans
27800 scans●01.10●01.20●01.30●01.31●01.40●01.50●01.10●01.20●01.30●01.31●01.40●01.508 months
3 months
7 months
1 month
5 months
5 months
8 months
3 months
7 months
1 month
5 months
5 months●00.50●00.80●00.90●00.91●00.92117200 frames
16300 frames
114000 frames
66500 frames
92200 frames●00.50●00.80●00.90●00.91●00.9244800 frames
16300 frames
114000 frames
66000 frames
87700 frames●00.10●00.80●00.90!%#&$●00.91●00.92117200 frames
16300 frames
114000 frames
66500 frames
91300 frames●00.50●00.80●00.90●00.91●00.9299 recurrences
36 recurrences
253 recurrences
144 recurrences
158 recurrences●00.91●00.92

49 months
68 months!%#"$

CAI L1B+ data

CAI L2 cloud ﬂag

CAI L3 global radiance distribution

CAI L3 global reﬂectance distribution (clear-sky)

143700 scenes
80200 scenes
210500 scenes
125700 scenes
168700 scenes
177600 scenes!"#"$

2009/4

2009/6

2009/8

2009/10

2009/122010/2

2010/4

2010/6

2010/8

2010/102010/122011/2

2011/4

2011/6

2011/8

2011/10

2011/122012/2Month and Year of Observation

ANNOUNCEMENT Correction and Apology

Here we report an update on data processing status forlate September, October and early November.
Continued from last month, we are processing and releasing
the V128.128 and V130.130 for FTS L1B data product, V00.92 for
CAI L1B, L1B+, L2 cloud flag, L3 global radiance distribution andL3 global reflectance distribution data products, and V01.50 for
FTS L2 CO2/CH4 column amounts (SWIR). We have newly releasedthe FTS L2 CO2/CH4 column amounts, and FTS L3 global CO2/CH4 distribution for the months of July, August, and September.
The FTS L2 CO2/CH4 column amounts are produced from theV128.128 of FTS L1B data products.
The number of registered users is 1143 as of November 10,2011.

In the article "Data Processing Status Update fromGOSAT Project Office" of July, August, and September issues(Issue#19, #20, and #21) of NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER,
we reported the wrong version numbers for the latest CAI L3global radiance distribution and CAI L3 global reflectance inthe table section. The correct number is "00.92" while it waslisted as "00.91." Also, in September issue, the latest version ofFTS L3 CO2/CH4 data product (for the months of May and June)
was reported wrong. It was reported as "V01.40," however; thecorrect version number is "V01.50." We apologize to the readers
for any inconvenience caused by this article. The issues online
were revised on November 28 and 29, 2011.

4­­NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#22 NOVEMBER 2011

flooDings in thailanD anD camboDia

IMAGES OF THE MONTHThe­images­are­made­from­CAI­data­acquired­by­"IBUKI"­when­it­flew­over­Thailand­and­Cambodia­on­November­04,­2011­06:10­(UTC)­(left) and­on­November­27,­2010­06:08­(UTC)(right).­The­water­is­shown­in­blue,­terrestrial­vegetation­in­red,­and­clouds­in­white.­The­white­line­is­the­contour­line­of­mean­sea­level.­Blue­=­Band1,­Green­=­Band­2,­Red­=­Band­3.

The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT, "IBUKI") captured the floodings in Thailand and Cambodia. The Cloud and Aerosol
Imager (CAI) on "IBUKI" acquired the above images on November 4, 2011 (left) and on November 21, 2010 (right). From these two images, it ispossible to see that the larger area is colored blue (indicating water) this year. On November 04, 2011, in Bangkok's vicinity at the lower reach of
the Chao Phraya river, the red areas (indicating vegetation) are barely visible, and the large area is colored blue in the Ayutthaya province locatedaround 70 km north of Bangkok city. In the 2011 image, not only in Thailand, but also in Cambodia, the blue area spreads wide along the margin of
the lake Tonle Sap located north west of Phnom Penh, and in the lower reach of Mekong River that drains out from Phnom Penh southeastward.

PUBLISHED PAPERS etc.
Field of Research: carbon balance estimation, atmospheric transport models
Name of Journal : Scientific Online Letters on the Atmosphere (SOLA)(Volume 7, pages 161-164)

Title: On the Benefit of GOSAT Observations to the Estimation of Regional
CO2 Fluxes

Author: H. Takagi, T. Saeki, T. Oda, M. Saito, V. Vinu, D. Belikov, R. Saito,・・・

Y. Yoshida, I. Morino, O. Uchino, R.J. Andres, T. Yokota, and S. Maksyutov

Field of Research: data application

Name of Journal: Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology(Volume 50, Issue 7, pages 1571-1586)

Title: Investigation of GOSAT TANSO-CAI Cloud Screening Ability
through an Intersatellite Comparison

Field of Research: validation

Name of Journal: Journal of the Remote Sensing Society of Japan(Volume 31, No. 4, pages 435-445) (in Japanese)

Title: Development of a mobile LIDAR for GOSAT product validation

Author: O. Uchino, T. Sakai, T. Nagai, M. Nakazato, I. Morino, T. Yokota,・・・

T. Matsunaga, N. Sugimoto, K. Arai, and H. Okumura

Field of Research: other (tutorial paper)

Name of Journal: Journal of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers(Volume 50, Number 10, pages 832-839) (in Japanese)

Title: Satellite measurement of atmospheric greenhouse gases in Japan
Author: T. Yokota

Author: H. Ishida, T. Y. Nakajima, T. Yokota, N. Kikuchi, and H. Watanabe

CALENDAR 2011/12/5 - 9

Participation­at­the­American­Geophysical­Union­(AGU)­2011­Fall­Meeting­held­in­San­Francisco,­USA.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTERISSUE #22 NOVEMBER 2011

Issued­on­:­2011.11.30

edited and published by : NIES GOSAT Project Oﬃce
You can download this newsletter here:
URL : http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/eng/newsletter/top.htm

email : gosat̲newsletter@nies.go.jp

いぶきIBUKINIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

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

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please send us an email with your name, email address,

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gosat̲newsletter@nies.go.jpCenter for Global Environmental Research
National Institute for Environmental Studies

5­­

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