NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

ISSUE # 14
FEB. 2011

いぶき
IBUKI

NIES 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.

http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/

NIES GOSAT Project Leader Tatsuya Yokota and Office
Manager Hiroshi Watanebe in the GOSAT Project Office on
March 22, 2011. The members of the NIES GOSAT Project are all
well and safe.

ANNOUNCEMENT
This issue of NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER was delayed partly

due to the earthquake occurred in the offshore area of Tohoku region(North-Eastern part of Main Island of Japan) on March 11, 2011.

While the GOSAT Project homepage (http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/)

is accessible, the GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG), where you cansearch and download GOSAT data, is currently not in service. Since theearthquake, the NIES GOSAT Data Handling Facility (GOSAT DHF) has
been stopped (as of March 22, 2011).

We are also experiencing difficulty responding to all of yourquestions at the moment, and would like to apologize for any
inconvenience caused by this trouble. We will keep you informed of thelatest status by the GOSAT Project homepage. Based on the informationfrom Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the operation of thespacecraft and sensors are operating nominally.

March 22, 2011

- NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

1­­NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

ISSUE # 14
FEB. 2011

CONTENTS
NEWS

18 Proposals Adopted - the 3rd GOSAT Research Announcement

01

Minister of the Environment Ryu Matsumoto Visits NIES

02

"IBUKI" Captures the Eruption of Kirishima in Japan

02

AHA! OF THE MONTH
Column Amount and Column Averaged Mixing Ratio

いぶき
IBUKI

NIES 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.

http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/

03

SPECIAL FEATURE
2010 through the Eyes of "IBUKI"

03

GOSAT PEOPLE
People of "IBUKI" - Akihiko Kuze

06

DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE

07

IMAGES OF THE MONTHDrift Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk - Japan08

CALENDAR

08

ANNOUNCEMENTS

08

NEWS

18 Proposals Adopted -The 3rd GOSAT Research Announcement-

Principal Investigator

Research Organization

Research Theme
Validation
Li Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)(China)
The validation of GOSAT CO2 flux product over the grasslands
Data Processing Algorithms
Hirofumi Oyama
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency（Japan） Observation of air pollutants from GOSAT thermal infrared spectra
Retrieval of CH4 from GOSAT-FTS measurements using a full physics approach
SRON-Netherlands Institute for Space
Otto HaseKamp
based on accurate radiative transfer and an approach using the CO2 column as a
Research（Netherlands）
light path proxy
Carbon Balance Estimation, Atmospheric Transport Models
Peter Rayner
University of Melbourne (Australia)
Assimilating GOSAT CO2 into a combined weather/climate model
Estimation of CO2 and its fluxes by joint assimilation of GOSAT data and insitu
Ray Nassar
Environment Canada (Canada)measurements
Estimation and attribution of global CO2 surface fluxes using satellite observations of
Dylan Bryce A. Jones
University of Toronto (Canada)
CO2 and CO from TES, GOSAT, and MOPITT
Data Application
Carbon balance of selected agricultural soils in southern Finland estimated using
Kristiina Regina
MTT Agrifood Research Finland（Finland）
GOSAT / FTS satellite sensory data - effect of soil type and management practices
on CO2 and CH4 vertical flux estimates
Biomass burning research, satellite remote sensing of fires and relating to GOSAT
Krishna Prasad Vadrevu University of Maryland（U.S.A.）
CO2 retrievals
Transport Processes over the Mediterranean Basin as Diagnosed from the Evolution
Philippe Ricaud
CNRS/Universite Paul Sabatier (France)of Long-lived Species: Spaceborne Measurements and Modeling Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara
Validation of satellite-derived methane budgets from fugitive fossil fuel industrial
Ira Leifer(UCSB) (U.S.A)
emissionsJordi Isern-Fontanet
Institut Catala de Ciencies del Clima (Spain)
The role of oceanic mesoscale structures in the air-sea fluxes
Spatial and temporal dynamics detection of the greenhouse gas emissions from the
WU Bingfang
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (China)
Three Gorges region of China
Agency for the Assessment and Application
REDD plus and estimation of land-atmosphere carbon exchange using ground-based
Muhammad Evriof Technology (BPPT) (Indonesia)
and GOSAT data in Industrial plantation forest: Paser-East Kalimantan and Jambi
Comparing path radiances estimated using GOSAT CAI images and Formosat II
Ke-Sheng CHENG
National Taiwan University (Taiwan)
imagesIndian Institute of Space Science andEstimation of tropical forest biophysical parameters using near UV and NIR
Rama Rao Nidamanuri
Technology (IIST), Government of India (India) reflectance from GOSAT TANSO - CAI sensor
Data Application ／ Validation
Integrated mapping and modeling of water and carbon footprints of Australian
Mohsin Hafeez
Charles Sturt University (Australia)
irrigated agricultural systems
Assessment and monitoring of CO2 and CH4 in wildfire and healthy boreal forest,
Yongwon Kim
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) (U.S.A)
Interior Alaska
Data Application ／ Carbon Balance Estimation, Atmospheric Transport Models

Chang-Keun SongNational Institute of Environmental Research(South Korea)

Evaluation of long-range transport of greenhouse gases (hereinafter refer to as"GHGs")(CO2 and CH4) and estimation of GHGs emission sources using GOSAT data
and atmospheric chemistry model for the better understanding of carbon cycle

The countries and numbers of adopted proposals: the United States 3; Canada, Australia, and China 2; France, Netherlands, Spain, Finland, India, Indonesia, Taiwan,
1­­South Korea, and Japan 1.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

continued from the previous page

18 Research Proposals Adopted - 'The 3rd GOSAT Research Announcement'- Fumiho Takahashi, GOSAT Project Office, NIESThe Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT, "IBUKI")

As a result, through this RA, proposals covering the research

was launched as the world's first satellite specialized for global
greenhouse gas observation on January 23, 2009, and it has been
making observation for two years without any major problems
since then. With an aim to make an efficient use of the researchoutcomes of the satellite, the promoters of the GOSAT Project, theJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Institutefor Environmental Studies (NIES) and the Ministry of the Environment(MOE) (hereinafter referred to as the 'Three Parties') solicited research
proposals from August 2010 to November 2010 for the third time(the third Research Announcement (RA)), reflecting the fact that the
GOSAT Project has accumulated two years' worth of data sets in thistime when the role of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide andmethane in global warming is widely recognized., the Three Parties
solicited proposals from universities and research institutes in andout of Japan on the following areas: the data processing algorithms,
calibration, validation, carbon balance estimation/atmospherictransport models, and data application.

areas above were submitted from all over the world. The topics
were, for example, building atmospheric transport models basedon the 'annual variation,' 'seasonal variation,' and 'regional variation,'
as well as studies on carbon cycle and development of dataprocessing algorithms, and also studies on validation using various
measurements, evaluation methods and comparative studies withother satellite data for producing more accurate data.
The Three Parties adopted 18 proposals according to thedecision made at the eighteenth GOSAT RA Selection and Evaluation
Committee held on January 21, 2011. 106 proposals in total havebeen adopted through the three RAs. The successful applicants ofthe third RA are expected to work on the advanced and innovative
research following the footsteps of researchers of the first RA (53proposals) and the second RA (36 proposals). We sincerely hope they
can achieve the proposed goals, and that as a result contribute to
the efficient use of GOSAT data products and further inspirations forresearchers and opportunities for extensive research.

At NIES, the minister was firstgiven presentations from the institutes'
ongoing biodiversity and invasive species
research program, 'the Japan Environment
and Children's Study' project, and the global
warming research program. From the GOSAT
Projec t, Projec t Leader Tatsuya Yokota

NEWS

Minister of the Environment
Ryu Matsumoto Visits NIES

explained about the summary and current
status of the project (photos on top row). Afterthe presentation session, the minister visited
the Research Laboratory of Material Cycles andWaste Management, and the Environmental
Specimen Time Capsule Building where thegenes of endangered species etc. are being
stored. In the end of the visit, a Q&A session
was organized for opinion exchange. (photos
on bottom row). Photo: taken on January 19,
2011 at NIES by Yuki Tanaka.

NEWS"IBUKI" Captures
Eruption of Kirishima in Japan

Nobuyuki Kikuchi Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project Office"IBUKI" captured the volcanic plume of Mt. Shinmoedake in the
Kirishima mountain range in Japan. The image was acquired when "IBUKI"
passed over the Kyushu District at 1:26 pm on January 26, 2011 (JST). The
image shows that a volcanic plume is spreading southeastward, comingfrom the Kirishima mountain range (a red triangle in the image) located on
the border of Miyazaki Prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture. Miyakonojo
City of Miyazaki Prefecture is right on the path of plume. According to theJapan Meteorological Agency, the volcanic activity of Mt. Shinmoedake has
increased considerably after 3:00 pm. What "IBUKI" captured is the volcano
before the increase of activity. The image is a false color image produced
from the data acquired by the Cloud and Aerosol Imager (CAI) installed on"IBUKI." (Red = Band 2, Green = Band 3, Blue = Band 1.)

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

AHA! OF THE MONTH"IBUKI" measures an amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane(CH4) in the form of column amount or as column-averaged mixing ratio. This
'Column Amount' andarticle explains about the column amount and column-averaged mixing ratio.
'Column-Averaged Mixing Ratio'"IBUKI" measures the light that reaches the satellite from the ground- Nobuyuki Kikuchi
Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project Officesurface as reflection of sunlight. By examining the light as spectra to know how
much light was lost in the atmosphere due to the absorption by CO2 or CH4,
it is possible to measure the amount of CO2 or CH4. For this reason, "IBUKI"'smeasurement of CO2 and CH4 come out as a total amount of CO2 or CH4 fromthe ground surface to the top of atmosphere. A column amount is a total
amount of gas in a column of a unit area with a height from the ground to the
top of atmosphere.
A column amount varies as the elevation of the ground surface or the airpressure change. In order to know the variations of CO2 or CH4, it is necessary to
remove the interference of air pressure by calculating a column average mixing
ratio. A column average mixing ratio is the ratio of a column amount of CO2 or
CH4 to a column amount of dry air. The dry air is the air minus vapor that makes
up about 0.5% of air at average, and consists of 78.1% nitrogen, 20.9% oxygen,
0.9% argon, and 0.04% carbon dioxide, and 0.003% others. The column amountof dry air can be calculated on the ground by measuring the air pressure, but it
cannot be measured directly from space. Instead, the column amount of dry air
is calculated by measuring a column amount of oxygen using its characteristicthat its ratio to the dry air is almost always consistent. "IBUKI" calculates thecolumn amount of oxygen by measuring the attenuation of light due to theabsorption by oxygen.

SPECIAL FEATURE

T hrough theEyes of "IBUKI"

2010

Dr. Nawo Eguchi,
Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies
Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University(A member of CGER, NIES until December 2010)

The December issue of NIES GOSAT PROJECTNE WSLE T TER introduced to you the natural
phenomena observed by "IBUKI"'s Cloud and Aerosol
Imager. This issue is going to explain about the current
global greenhouse gases amount and distribution
observed by "IBUKI"'s Fourier Transform Spectrometer
during the year 2010.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) TANSO-FTS SWIR Level 3 data products.
reported that "most of the observed increase in global averaged

Figure 2 shows the time series of XCO2 and XCH4 monthly

temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to theaverage calculated using the TANSO-FTS SWIR Level 2 data products.

observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentration, 1" The XCO2 and XCH4 values retrieved from "IBUKI"'s observational data
and various mitigation scenarios are being discussed. However, are lower (by 2~3% for XCO2, by 1% for XCH4) than the validation data3.
the details on variation of greenhouse gases on a global scale is

For making the Figure 2, the retrieved values of XCO2 were multiplied

yet to be made clear because there have not been sufficient global by 1.025 and the values of XCH4 were multiplied by 1.01.
observations. Under such circumstance, "IBUKI"'s global greenhousegas observation from space was initiated in April 2009.
This article shows the global distributions of CO2 and CH4 andtheir seasonal variations using "IBUKI"'s data products.

The colors in the Figures 1 and 3 indicate the amounts of XCO2
and XCH4. The areas in white indicate that the column-averaged mixing
ratio for those areas could not be retrieved due to the interference byclouds and aerosols (tiny particles in the atmosphere). Over the ocean,Figures 1 and 3 show the global distributions of CO2 and CH4

the retrieved XCO2 and XCH4 are restricted around the sunglint region

monthly column-averaged mixing ratios2 (XCO2 and XCH4) of January,

where the relatively high reflection of sunlight is observed by "IBUKI".

April, July, and October of 2010. The figures were plotted using theLatitudinal bands in colors over the ocean march along with the

1 IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: The PhysicalScience Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin,
M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)].
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY,USA.
2 Please refer to this issue’s article, “AHA OF THE MONTH – Column Amounts
and Column Average Mixing Ratio.”seasonal change of the solar altitude.
The global distributions and seasonal variations of XCO2 and3 For further information, please refer to the “Results of Validation” in theDocument section of the GOSAT User Interface Gateway website (requires guest
user log in).
https://data.gosat.nies.go.jp/GosatWebDds/productorder/distribution/user/
V01XX_ResultInitialValidation_gu_en.pdf

3­­NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

Monthly mean of XCO2 over Land

Northern
Hemisphere

XCO2 [ppmv]

392

Jan. 2010

390

388

Southern
Hemisphere
NH
SH

386
Apr

Jun

Aug

Oct

Dec Feb Apr Jun
Month in 2009-2010

Aug

Oct

Dec

Monthly mean of XCH4 over Land

XCH4 [ppmv]

1.80

Northern
Hemisphere

1.79

1.78

Southern
Hemisphere
NH
SH

1.77

April 2010

Apr

Jun

Aug

Oct

Dec Feb Apr Jun
Month in 2009-2010

Aug

Oct

Dec

Figure 2. A time series of XCO2 (top) and XCH4 (bottom)
monthly average from April 2009 to December 2010 overthe land. Red line: the northern hemisphere. Blue line: thesouthern hemisphere. Abnormal data are being removed
for the creation of the graphs. May 2009 was left blankbecause the data are not available. For the creation of thisfigure, the values of XCO2 were multiplied by 1.025, and thevalues of XCH4 were multiplied by 1.01.

XCH4 are described as follow.
CARBON DIOXIDE (XCO2):
The atmospheric CO2 concentration varies with thenature activity (e.g. ocean and plants) and the emission
caused by human activities. According to the analysis by

July 2010

the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG),
the global average of atmospheric CO2 concentrationnear the ground surface is about 387 ppm4 for 2009.
Figure 1 shows that the concentration of CO2 varies
with the location and season. In April (spring in northernhemisphere (NH)), the concentration marks high value
globally, and in July (summer in NH) the concentration in
the middle and high latitudes is low especially in Central
to Eastern Eurasian Continent (in Siberia). In October (fallin NH), the concentration seems higher than July in theNH, and lower in land areas in the southern hemisphere(SH).
Top graph in Figure 2 shows the seasonal variationsof XCO2 in NH and SH. As it was explained with Figure 1,

Oct. 2010

the concentration in the NH is high in April, and low in
July. It also indicates that the concentration is higher ingeneral and the amplitude (the range of variation within

Figure 1. The global distributions of column-averaged mixing ratio of carbon dioxide(XCO2) in 2.5 degree mesh (created with "IBUKI" Level 3 data products). The areas in white
indicate that the column-averaged mixing ratios for those areas could not be retrieved dueto the interference by clouds and aerosols.

4­­a year) is larger in the NH than in the SH.
4 The symbol ppm (parts per million) is a unit of concentrationthat describes the proportion of amount of target molecules tothe total amount of molecules in the dry air.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

In general, the global CO2 concentration in
the atmosphere is largely affected by the terrestrial
ecosystem of the NH where there is a bigger land surface.
The CO2 concentration reaches its highest right before
the plants start their activities in April (spring in NH), thendecreases until September as the amount of absorption
exceeds the emission due to the photosynthesis ofplants. In the SH, the seasonal variation is less prominent
than in the NH because of the smaller vegetation area.

Jan. 2010

T he top gr ap h in Figure 2 shows that theconcentration in September 2010 is approximately 2
ppmv higher than that of September 2009. The similartendency can be found in other months. It suggests that
the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has increased
since 2009.
METHANE (XCH4):
The CH4 emission is due to the humanforced causes such as leaks during coal mining andtranspor tation of natural gas, also from livestock
production, biomass burning and paddy fields, inaddition to the natural causes such as microorganisms'
activities in wetlands. CH4 is decomposed by chemical
reactions in the atmosphere. According to the analysis byApril 2010

WDCGG, the global averaged CH4 concentration near the
ground surface is about 1.80 ppm for 2009.
Figure 3 indicates that the concentration in the
NH is higher than in the SH throughout the year. The
concentration marks high especially in the tropics,
South America, Central and Southeast Asia. The seasonalvariation seems prominent in Asia. However, there is ahigh possibility that the concentration in July when it israiny season in Asia is not evaluated accurately due to the
influence of clouds.
In the bottom graph in Figure 2, it is suggested
that the concentration is higher in the NH than in the
SH. The sudden increase in August (summer in NH) to
October (fall) is due to the high CH4 concentration in

July 2010

Asia. The sudden increase starts in September when therainy season ends (and the cloud coverage becomes
small). From winter to spring the concentration decreases
gradually.
Now with "IBUKI," it is possible to observe theareas where it was hard to measure the concentration byground-based observation, especially over the oceans,South America and the Siberia with rich vegetation.
However, the concentration retrieved from "IBUKI"'s
observation is 2~3% lower (XCO2) and 1% lower (XCH4)
compared to that of the ground-based observations.
The NIES GOSAT Project considers that greenhousegases retrieval process is interfered by impact factors as
thin clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. There is aspace for improvement in terms of observations of theOct. 2010

areas where there are thin clouds and aerosols. Currently,
we are developing the retrieval methods that treat theclouds more accurately.

Figure 3. The global distributions of column-averaged mixing ratio of methane (XCH4)
created the same way as Figure 1.

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

GOSAT PEOPLE

Messages from People of "IBUKI"
Sensor Development
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Satellite Applications and Promotion CenterI develop sensors for satellites.
Just a quarter century ago, I
worked on a numerical simulation of thethermospheric chemistry as a graduate
student, and that is how I started to be
involved in the Earth's atmosphere. At thattime, the data we would compare to, were
mostly provided by the U.S. satellites, except
for those provided by the observation
rockets o f t h e I n s t i t u t e o f S p a c e a n d
Astronautical Science (ISAS) in Japan. Most of
the related literature then was also comingfrom the United States. I still regret that I did
not go to the United States to study at thatpoint, but instead I decided to work for NEC
Corporation in Japan to work on not just
simulations, but to develop observational
instruments. Ever since, I am engaged in thedevelopment of onboard-satellite sensors.
Around that time in Japan, ISAS had a
few satellites with compact spectrometers,
but there were n ot any high sp e c tr al
resolution sensors like the U.S. Nimbus
series for the Earth's atmospheric chemistry.
Then at NEC, I was given an opportunity to
study at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for A s trophysic s. Even though it is anastrophysical observatory, the spectroscopic
e xp eriment s and obser vations on the
Earth's atmosphere are also studied as anextension of its long history of spectroscopyof the Sun since the 19th century. There,
I had an oppor tunity to study radiativetransfer, the basics in satellite observation of
the troposphere. I think my studies on the
retrieval of cloud top heights and coverageusing the oxygen A-band during this staywere later applied to the GOSAT Project.
Af ter I came back to Japan, I finally
got the opportunity I always dreamt of. I
was assigned to develop a small sensor,
the spaceborne infrared Echelle Grating
1
Spectrometer for ILAS-II . Although it was asmall component, it observed atmosphericconstituents. Personally, I had a great pridein its elaborate optical design. However,even though the spectroscopic resolution
was high, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
was insufficient. For "IBUKI," some people
requested higher spatial resolution, but

Akihiko Kuze

learning from that experience, I gave apriority to SNR.
I was so devastated that I got a fever.
After that, I was assigned to develop
OPUS/SOFIS2 sensors. We already built theengineering models (EM), but the project
was dropped by the wayside. This happened
right after I changed careers and started
working for the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA). I was so devastated that I got
sick with a fever for the first time since I wasa freshman in junior high school. Eventually,
however, these OPUS and SOFIS were given
new objectives, and were reborn as different
sensors in the GOSAT Project. I have been
responsible for them until now.
Since 1996, I have participated in thefield observations of scattered light fromthe atmosphere in Mt. Fuji and of sunglint
on Sagami Bay using a commercial Fouriertransform spectrometer (FTS) with themembers of NIES, so I thought "IBUKI"
was theoretically feasible. However, FTS isgenerally used in a lab to measure spectrain the thermal infrared region, and the FTS is
installed onboard "IBUKI" to measure spectrain the short wavelength infrared region.
I was worried if the sensor could acquire
decent spectra from the orbit after surviving
the launch, until we received the first
spectra in February 2009. Especially for one
and half a year before the launch, we met
unexpected troubles such as the last minuteredesigning, parts replacement, finding
bugs in programs, and I would have to ask
enormous favors to NEC Toshiba Space

Photo by Yuki Tanaka

Systems Ltd. (sensor) and Mitsubishi Electric
Corp. (satellite body). If I think about it, theseordinary days of receiving beautiful spectra
now, is 'a dream come true' for me.
What is more exciting than anything isthat the oversea researchers that I only knew
from their research papers now come tojoin us at the field campaigns for vicarious
calibration of "IBUKI" carried out at theRailroad Valley in Nevada, the United States(RRV), or they even sacrifice their holidays towork on analyzing GOSAT data. Last June at
RRV, I felt a strange sense of accomplishment
for reaching another level in my career when
Dr. David Crisp, the Principal Investigator ofNASA's OCO Project and I were digging cat
holes together for the base camp… "IBUKI"
has been a great experience for me, but"IBUKI" might just be a rookie who happened
to make a full swing and hit a homerun. I
would like to devote myself to increasing theaccuracy of on-orbit calibrations and Level
2 O z o n e a n d P o l l u t i o n M e a s u r i n g U V 1 data for "IBUKI" to become a first-string
Spectrometer (OPUS) and Solar Occultation FTS for player.
Inclined-Orbit Satellite (SOFIS).

T h e G O S AT v i c a r i o u scalibration team (the UnitedStates and Japan) at theRailroad Valley in June 2010.
(first lef t in the bot tomrow) author. (center in thebottom row) Dr. David Crisp,
Principal Investigator, OCO
Project. Photo: courtesy of
the author.

1 The Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer
II (ILAS-II) is a ozone layer monitoring sensor
installed on Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II(ADEOS-II "Midori-II"). ADEOS-II ended its operationin 1997.

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE

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

Here we report an update on data processing status GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG) (https://data.gosat.nies.
go.jp/) and check for the updates in the "Remarks on Monthly

for late December 2010 to early January 2011.

Continued from last month, we are processing and FTS SWIR L2 Product" and "Gallery" sections. Satellite images of
releasing the V110110 of the FTS L1B data products, V00.91 of volcano eruption and drift ice can be found on GUIG's "Gallery"
the CAI L1B, CAI L1B, L1B+, L2 cloud flag data products, and the or GOSAT Project website (http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/).
L3 global radiance distribution products, and V01.40 of the FTS

The number of registered general users reached 998 as of

L2 CO2 and CH4 column amount (SWIR) data products for the February 22, 2011.
months of November and December 2010. Please also visit the7­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#14 FEB. 2011

IMAGES OF THE MONTHDrift Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk - Japan
Nobuyuki Kikuchi

Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project"IBUKI" captured drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk.
The image was acquired when "IBUKI" passed over the Sea of Okhotsk
during 12:45 pm to 12:50 pm on January 28, 2011. In the image, you can see
drift ice moving towards the Okhotsk Coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Drift ice hascome southward along the Sakhalin Coast all the way up from the north of
the Sea of Okhotsk. In this image, the ice looks purple and the snow looks
white. This is because "IBUKI" measures invisible light, the near infrared rays
(0.86 μ m). Ice and water absorb the near infrared rays, and look tinted in"IBUKI"'s images. However, snow and clouds are reflected as white sincesnowflakes and cloud particles are tiny and they have a tendency to scatter
light than to absorb. This causes the fresh drift ice to look purple, and toturn white as it is covered in snow, then to come back to purple as it melts.
The image shows that drift ice in northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk is not
snow-covered because it looks purple, and drift ice that reached Hokkaido issnow-covered. Mamiya Strait is all white, entirely blocked by ice and covered
in snow.
"IBUKI"'s images are false-color images produced by assigning band
2 (0.674 μ m) to red, band 3 (0.87 μ m) to green, and band 1 (0.38 μ m) toblue. This causes the images to have different color combination from thatof what a person sees.

ANNOUNCEMENT Correction and Apology
In the article "Data Processing Status Update from GOSAT Project Office" on August, September, October, November 2010,

and January 2011 issues of NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER, we reported a wrong version number for the L1B data products that
we were processing and releasing. It was reported as "V00.90," however the correct version number is "V100100" (August - November2010) and "V110110" (January 2011). We apologize to the readers for any inconvenience caused by this article. These issues online
were revised on February 8, 2011.

CALENDARANNOUNCEMENTNIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER welcomes letters from our readers.

2011/03/11
Hosting the 1st Workshop on GOSAT Data Utilization at Tsukuba
Internatinal Congress Center (EPOCHAL Tsukuba) in Tsukuba, Japan.
2011/03/16-18
Participating in the 5th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium held at Tokyo
Station Conference in Tokyo, Japan.
2011/03/29-31
Participating in NOAA NASA EUMETSAT Satellite Hyperspectral
Sensor Workshop held at the University of Miami, in Miami, U.S.A.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

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- Yuki Tanaka, editor

ISSUE #14 FEB. 2011

Issued On : 2011.03.22

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
IBUKI

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

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

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