ISSUE # 25
DECEMBER 2012

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

CONTENTS

NEWS­­­­Public­Release­of­Level­4­Product­and­its­Brief­Overview­­­­­­­CAI­L3­NDVI­Product­Released­

0104­­­­­­Challenge:­Automatic­CO2 /CH4­Observation­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­by­Compact­Shipboard­Equipment­

04

GOSAT PEOPLE­­­­A­Series:­Supporting­GOSAT­Project­06­­­­­­­­­­-­Big­Stagehands­in­Mission­IBUKI

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/

ANNOUNCEMENT Accepting­Applications­of­GOSAT­RA#5­

07

IMAGE OF THE MONTH IBUKI ­Caught­Total­Solar­Eclipse­

07
08

DATA PRODUCT UPDATE­NEWS
Visit­to­NIES­by­Mr.­K.­O’Flaherty,­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Prosperity­Counselor,­British­Embassy­Tokyo­ 09
PUBLISHED PAPERS­

09

NEWS Public Release of Level 4 Product and its Brief Overview(L4A global CO2 flux, L4B global CO2 distribution)
Hiroshi­Takagi­­­­Junior­Research­Associate,
Biogeochemical­Cycle­Modelling­and­Analysis­Section,­Center­for­Global­Environmental­Research­at­NIES
The data of regional CO2 flux estimates and global CO2 distri-figure indicates a steady rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentration

data, were made available to the general public on December 5th,mospheric monitoring stations between 2001 and 2010, the glob-

butions, both of which obtained by analyzing GOSAT observational
as GOSAT Level 4A and 4B data products (version 02.01).

Level 4A data product stores monthly CO2 flux estimates for 64

regions of the globe (42 terrestrial and 22 oceanic regions). The CO2

flux estimates are net values, which were calculated as the differ-ence between the total amount of CO2 absorbed by terrestrial veg-

over the past half century. From data collected at these global at-

al-mean annual increase of CO2 concentration was found to be 1.97

ppm(*1). The unit "ppm" represents how much volume of CO2 in

cm3 occupies in 1 m3 (1 million cm3) of dry air (parts per million by

volume).

etation and oceans and that emitted by anthropogenic activities,
biomass burning, respiration of soil and plants, and oceans. The

released data product covers a one-year period from June 2009 to
May 2010.

Level 4B data product stores six-hourly CO2 concentrations sim-

ulated on a 2.5-degree horizontal grid over the one-year analysis
period. The concentration data are available at 17 vertical levels
between near the surface and the top of the atmosphere.

Currently, the data for June 2010 and onward are being analyzed,

and extended Level 4A and 4B data products will be released to thegeneral public upon completion of the analysis.

Level 4 data product can be downloaded from GOSAT User Inter-face Gateway (GUIG: https://data.gosat.nies.go.jp/).

Fig.­1:­Long-term­CO2­observation­at­Mauna­Loa­Observatory.
­Data:­US­NOAA­Earth­System­Research­Laboratory

Background - the global cycle of CO2

Mauna Loa Observatory is one of the atmospheric observatories

located around the globe for monitoring the long-term trend of
atmospheric CO2 levels. Figure 1 shows the result of the CO2 measurement there that began in 1958 and continued ever since. The(http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/mlo.html)

Based on an estimate for the total mass of the atmosphere, theglobal-mean annual growth rate (1.97 ppm/year) can be expressedas the amount of CO2 that was left in the atmosphere, which was

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

calculated to be approximately 15.3 billion tons of CO2 per year.

Since CO2 in the atmosphere is inert, and the amount of CO2

emitted through human activities, based on national fossil fuelconsumption statistics, is known to be about 29.6 billion tons peryear(*2), the amount of CO2 uptake by terrestrial vegetation andoceans can be estimated as about 14.3 billion tons per year.

As shown above, it is possible to obtain an approximate global

estimate of the amount of CO 2 exchanged between the atmo-

sphere and the ground surface (this is also called surface CO2 flux

and will be used hereafter). However, questions such as how thesurface CO2 flux is spatially distributed, how it changes with time,

Fig.­2:­CO2­distribution­data­used­for­CO2­fl­ux­estimation­(July­2009)

and what controls it remain unanswered. Ascertaining these details
is key to understanding the global carbon cycle and is an importantresearch topic for predicting CO2 rise in the future and evaluating
the degree of impact the CO2 rise has on climate.

GOSAT's contribution to understanding global carbon cycle

Two methods have been used so far in estimating the spatial

distribution of CO2 flux in nature. One is the "bottom-up" method
in which CO2 flux distribution is obtained by summing up the es-

timates of CO2 fluxes based on on-site observations and forestry

statistics and those simulated by computer models of terrestrial

Fig.­3:­Time­series­of­monthly­net­CO2­fl­ux­for­Middle/Near­East.­The­

biosphere and oceans. This method is good for the detailed esti-

green/blue­ solid­ lines:­ CO 2­ flux­ estimates­ from­ the­ ground-based­mation of CO2 fluxes of particular regions, but not for estimation on

CO2­data­only/ground-based­and­Level­2­CO2­data,­respectively­(left­

a global scale because available source data are localized.

ordinate;­ in­ gC/m 2/day (*5)).­ Emission­ when­ >­ 0,­ absorption­ when­

The other is called the "top-down" method (also known as at-<­0.­I-shaped­bars:­range­of­flux­uncertainty.­Gray­bar:­reduction­of­mospheric inverse modeling) with which CO2 fluxes are estimateduncertainty­achieved­by­adding­GOSAT-based­CO2­data­(right­ordinate;­from the distribution of CO2 concentrations observed at fixed sites

such as Mauna Loa Observatory as well as airborne and shipbornein­percent).

monitoring locations. This approach allows for global-scale CO 2

2 data covers many of the dataless regions, there still remain gaps,

tions are centered within or near the developed nations, CO2 flux

Level 2 data were not obtainable due to perturbation by clouds

flux estimation, but because the most of the CO2 monitoring staestimates for other regions where CO2 concentrations are poorly

sampled suffered from large uncertainties. It was therefore desired

such as Amazonia and some part of central Africa, where quality
and atmospheric aerosol particles.

To see how beneficial the GOSAT data are for the estimation, let's

to expand the existing CO2 monitoring network, however, setting

have a look at the Middle/Near East region without ground-based

because of funding and staffing issues.

tration data throughout the one-year analysis period.

up new monitoring stations in those regions is quite challenging

To solve these issues, space-based monitoring was suggested.

data within or nearby, but with a large number of Level 2 concenFigure 3 shows the one-year time series of net flux estimated forWith the advent of GOSAT, specializing in observing CO2 and CH4,

the Middle/Near East region. The green/blue solid lines denoteable since its launch in January 2009. In August 2010 (1.5 years

based and Level 2 data, respectively. The I-shaped bar attachedretrieved from GOSAT data, was released to the general publicquantities as emission and negative as absorption. The green line

plenty of data on those poorly sampled regions has become availafter the launch), the column-averaged CO2 concentrations(*3) data,(GOSAT FTS SWIR Level 2 data product, version 01). Later, thanks to

improvement in the data quality and retrieval algorithms, bias andspread associated with Level 2 CO2 concentrations were reduced

significantly and that enabled Level 4A CO2 flux estimates to beopened to the general public.

Figure 2 presents part of the CO2 concentration distribution data

(July 2009) used for the estimation of fluxes. Circles/squares denoteestimates from the ground-based CO2 only/from both the ground-indicates the range of uncertainty. The left ordinate shows positiveshows the flux estimate for July 2009 (in the red box) as 0.2 ± 0.7
gC/m2/day. The large uncertainty made it unclear whether theregion this month was a net source or sink of CO2, which was because there were no ground-based data within and near the region

and the flux was estimated based on CO2 data collected at distantlocations.

The blue line, on the other hand, shows 0.4 ± 0.3 gC/m2/day,monthly average CO2 concentrations of ground-based(collectedmuch smaller uncertainty than the green. This is because, as indi-

column-averaged CO2 gridded to 5ºx5º cells, respectively. Level 2

able. With the reduced uncertainty, it is possible to determine thatat 220 locations including airborne and shipborne sites)/Level 2

data are seen to fill out gaps in the ground-based network, such as

South America, Africa, Middle/Near East, and Siberia. Though Levelcated in Figure 2, there were numerous GOSAT-based data availthis region acted as a weak net source of CO2 this month.

The gray vertical bar in Figure 3 indicates how much the uncer-

2­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

tainty of green value was reduced by adding GOSAT-based CO 2

cause none of the ground-based or GOSAT-based data were avail-certainty reduction in percent. The uncertainty of July 2009 flux

there are associated with large uncertainties (Figure 6).

data to the ground-based data. The right ordinate shows the un-

was reduced by 56%, and 43% in annual average. The annual-mean
uncertainty reduction rates for other regions are shown in Figure 4.

able near these regions, as indicated in Figure 2, the flux estimates

Level 4B data product stores CO2 concentrations obtained by

performing computer simulations of global atmospheric transport.
The simulations predict global CO2 distributions and their temporalchanges based on the one-year distribution of the surface CO2 flux-

es estimated from both the ground-based and GOSAT-based CO2
concentration data (Level 4A data product).

Figure 7 presents the distribution of simulated CO2 concentra-

tions (monthly average) for July 2009 at altitudes of approximately

800m and 5000m. The concentration distributions at levels closer
to the ground surface reflect the patterns of CO 2 absorption byterrestrial plants and emission by human activities and biomassburning. On the other hand, the distribution at 5000m level ap-

pears much smoother in appearance because the air goes throughFig. 4: Annual-mean uncertainty reduction rate for 64 regions (%).

Level 4A and 4B data productAs a sample of Level 4A data product, Figure 5 shows the global

distribution of net CO2 flux estimates for July 2009. Figure 6 pres-diffusion and mixing processes as it ascends to higher altitudes.
These results are expected to be used for carbon cycle studies inregions where neither ground-based nor GOSAT-based CO2 data

are available.

ents the estimation uncertainties of the same month.

Figure 5 shows strong net absorption in many regions north of 50

degrees north latitude where boreal forests grow. Regions in be-

tween 20 and 40 degrees north latitudes (North America and Asia
including Japan, China, and Korea) are weak sources, weak sinks, or

neutral, considering the range of uncertainty. The Amazon regions

were also shown to be weak source or weak sink. However, be-Fig. 7: Global distribution of Level 4B CO2 concentration (July 2009).

With the advent of GOSAT and the subsequent improvement in

the flux estimation, now a new era has come to the research of the

global carbon cycle. I strongly hope that the continuation of thespace-based CO2 observation by GOSAT will contribute to deeper

understanding of carbon cycle mechanisms and mitigation of further global warming.

Fig. 5: Global distribution of Level 4A CO2 flux (July 2009). Upper color*1 Reference: The World Meteorological Organization Greenhouse Gas

scale: terrestrial flux. Lower color scale: oceanic flux.

Bulletin (November 2011 issue). (http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/
gaw/ghg/documents/GHGbulletin_7_en.pdf)*2 Based on the ODIAC anthropogenic emission data, CO2 emissions via

cement production included. Reference: T. Oda and S. Maksyutov, Atmos.
Chem. Phys. (Volume11, pages 543-556, 2011)*3 Column-averaged CO2 concentration: the ratio of the number of CO2
molecules to that of dry air molecules in a column above a unit surfacearea.

*4 The CO2 concentration data GLOBALVIEW provided by the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Reference: GLOBALVIEW-CO2(2011), Cooperative Atmospheric Data Integration Project - Carbon Diox-

ide. CD-ROM, NOAA ESRL, Boulder, Colorado (Also available on Internet via
anonymous FTP to ftp.cmdl.noaa.gov, Path: ccg/co2/GLOBALVIEW).

*5 Amount of CO2 (converted to carbon amount in grams) emitted or ab-

Fig. 6: Uncertainty of Level 4A CO2 flux (July 2009). Upper color scale:sorbed per one square meter in a day.

terrestrial flux. Lower color scale: oceanic flux.

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NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

CAI­L3­NDVI­Product­Released

NEWS

Hiroshi­Watanabe,­­­Offi­­ce­Manager,­­­NIES­GOSAT­Project­Offi­­ce
CAI L3 NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) productwas released to general public on Nov. 9, 2012. NDVI is calculated

based on reflectances ref2 and ref3; the former uses band 2 (0.674µm

Northernvisible red light) of TANSO-CAI, the latter, band 3 (0.870µm near-infra-

Summer

red light). The formula is

NDVI = (ref 3 ‒ ref 2) / (ref 3 + ref 2).

Vegetation uses visible red light for photosynthesis to make its

reflectance low, whereas near-infrared light reflectance becomes rapidly high when vegetation activity is high, which results in large NDVI

value with high activity, and small with low. The value, calculated by©­JAXA/NIES/MOE

various satellites with those kinds of bands, provides us with generaltendency, though the absolute value itself may differ between different sensors using different wavelength bands.

Northern
Winter

The product is provided per 36 rectangles of global division inmesh of 1/30 degree latitude and longitude, excluding 6 rectangles

near the Antarctic with little vegetation. Please refer to “Important
Notes at Releasing” and ATBD in GUIG(*1) for more details. On right aresamples of northern summer (Jun. 3 – Jul. 2, 2009) and winter (Dec.
3, 2009 – Jan. 2, 2010), showing great NDVI change between the two

seasons at high latitude region due to greater change in seasonal
vegetation activity.

©­JAXA/NIES/MOE*1 GOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG) is the name of the site where GOSAT observation data is provided: https://data.gosat.nies.go.jp/

NEWS

Challenge­:­Automatic­CO2/CH4­Observation­by­Compact­Shipboard­Equipment
Shuji­Kawakami,­Associate­Senior­Engineer­and­Hiroshi­Ohyama,­Engineer,­JAXA­­­­­­Yoshiyuki­Nakano,­Researcher,­JAMSTEC­
Column amounts of CO2 and CH4 were measured for validationof GOSAT data over the ocean. Recently we adopted new compact
equipment to automate andators indispensable. We are now trying the first observation with newcompact, unmanned, fully-automatic equipment over the ocean.

This challenge was one of adopted applications to public offering

streamline the measurement

for research use of JAMSTEC’s ships, which included two cruises on

ity and functionality.

2012) and Leg2 (Jun. 25 – Jul. 12))MIRAI (MR12-02 (Leg1(Jun. 4 – 24,

activity and tested its operabil-and MR12-03 (Jul. 17 – Aug. 29,

GOSAT observes ground2012)) as shown in Fig. 1. Pleasesurface scattered light oversee MIRAI observation cruise re-the land area to retrieve CO2

port for its whole objectives andetc., whereas we use sunglint

activities, etc. (http://www.godac.

region for the same purpose

jamstec.go.jp/catalog/data/doc_

over the ocean area because

catalog/media/MR12-02_leg1-2_

the reflectance is higher thanall.pdf) MR12-03 was made mainly

other ocean region. We hadfor installation/collection of TRITON

used a high resolution FTS on

buoys in the west pacific tropicalresearch ships of JAMSTEC (Ja-sea area (http://www.jamstec.go.

pan Agency for Marine-Earth

CO2 sensor developed by Mr. Nakano was collected with the buoy

KAIYOU, KAIREI, and MIRAI (seeGOSAT Newsletter#20), which

hard to automate making oper-

orange object at the bottom)

jp/e/hot_pictures/?264), where the

Science and Technology),

is large, expensive to carry, andPhoto1 A CO2 sensor collected (the(Photo 1).

Fig.­1­­Observation­routeThe new compact equipment consists of a solar tracker and an op-

tical spectrum analyzer (OSA: Yokogawa AQ6370C); the former was

4­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

nities due to broken wire stressed by repeated rotation for tracking,which Nakano first aided with a help from Prede Co., Ltd., the makerof the new equipment, on the windy deck to resume observation.

MR12-03 went down to the equator through calm sea. Almost noland was seen after leaving Sekinehama except some islands near
Papua New Guinea; just sea all around you. And we were surprised

to notice “in service” on our cellphone brought from Japan near aseemingly deserted island, last place to find a “civilization”. Several re-searchers were on board with their own purposes, however, we had

a pleasure in common, the sunset to watch floating on limitless sea(photo 4).

Photo 2a   Solar tracker installed on MIRAI

Photo 2b  Spectrometer installed on MIRAI

set on the exposed deck (photo 2a) insulated by a hybrid anti-rolling

Photo 4 Researchers’ pleasure #1: Sunset watching (Aug. 1)

system, the latter in common observation room (photo 2b). Sunlight

MR12-03 obtained data for 41 days during 44 days’ cruise, or syn-was led via optical fiber (for more details about instrument, see Ko-bayashi et al., 2010(*1), Kawasaki et al., 2012(*2)). We asked the crew chronized data for more than 10 GOSAT passing days (it depends on
to turn the ship for the equipment not to be overshadowed by masts the condition of Level 2 processing). Solar tracking was successful inetc., at GOSAT passing times so far as it’s not inconvenient for other general, but it was found that measurement accuracy was reduced byresearches, and we also obtained solar spectra whenever the solar

big rolling or solar zenith angle below 20 degrees because of shaking

elevation angle was greater than 10 degrees other than the passing transmitted from the ship or insufficient tracking performance, whichtimes, to check the data consistency. We obtained atmospheric tem- is the issue to be improved.
perature and humidity profiles too with a radiosonde synchronizing

In closing, let me in-the passing times (photo 3).

troduce “Dried Curry”,

companied by Ohyama (MR12-02 Leg1), Nakano (MR12-02 Leg2),(photo 5). That dish is

The new equipment was unmanned in nature, however, was ac-

and Kawakami (MR12-

the specialty of MIRAI

after the style of Nippon Yusen, the owner03) for supervision,of luxury liner ASUKA,

maintenance, andand was really special

data processing of theto eat on MIRAI, though

direct solar light spec-

served also at a certain

tra, because it’s the  Photo 5   Pleasure #2: Specialty “Dried Curry”

restaurant in Yokohama, I hear.

first unmanned oper-(http://www.nyk.com/rekishi/knowledge/museum/index.htm (de-ation on a ship. Leg1

scribed only in Japanese))

went in bad weather

We hope to expand the opportunity to obtain validation data bywith consecutive
two storms and huge

installing the compact equipment on various vessels based on thishigher than 10m. Leg2

[Acknowledgment] We are deeply grateful to persons involved inexperience.

waves sometimes

the research vessels for our experimental trial, and to Prede Co., Ltd

saw breakdown of theand Prof. Norio Ibuki of Kyoto University of Education, for manufac-

tracker to lose someobservation opportu-

Photo 3   Radiosonde released

turing of the equipment.

*1 Kobayashi et al., Atmos. Meas. Tech. (Volume 3, pages 1103–1112, 2010)*2 Kawasaki et al., Atmos. Meas. Tech. (Volume 5, pages 2593-2600, 2012)

5­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012GOSAT PEOPLE

A Series : Supporting GOSAT Project

Big Stagehands in Mission IBUKI
Toshiaki Takeshima,    Director, Mission Operations System Office, JAXA
It’s almost 4 years since the launch of IBUKI (GOSAT) on Jan. your PC or other appliances, which sometimes need to be rebooted

23, 2009. Most part of 5 years’ mission period has already past. Timereally flies! During the period, MOE, NIES and JAXA have cooperated

or repaired. The coordinate system is monitored everyday with theknowledge of how it should run normally to notice the slightest devi-on this collaborative project to fulfill the great responsibilities as the ation and the staff to locate where and what is happening to recoverowner of GOSAT, the only satellite (as of Dec. 2012) dedicated on

and keep stability. This task requires deep and specialized knowledge

greenhouse gases observation, and have done their best in data anal- as the system becomes more complex and highly automated, which

ysis and its enhancement every day, with utilization and feedback are met by the staff in everyday operation. This group also handles
data reprocessing. The process is required for past data when pro-from NASA/JPL, ESA, and other users all over the world.

JAXA is working on a wide variety of tasks every day: to make a

cessing algorithm is improved for better accuracy of the product andruns under the updated algorithm in parallel with everyday real-timeplan to operate the satellite and observation equipment, to send data processing. There occurs additional task of computer schedulingoperation messages to the satellite, to transmit acquired data to the considering the limit of the computing power, not to affect the curground, to process/store/provide Level 1 data, to check/maintain rent processing by occupying too much resources of the system. This
health of the satellite and equipment by monitoring telemetry data,
to monitor/predict/control the orbit, etc.

This kind of tasks, like “lifeline” of gas/water/electric supplies oris also a task of those operators with enough experience.

The system sends out an urgent alert mail via the embedded system

when it recognizes something wrong in its operation. As the urgent

mail is sent out by the system mechanically, it never considers whatpublic transportation, is infrastructure of mission continuity AND that is going on the receivers’ side. It interrupts the receivers’ lives regardis a kind of thankless job left unnoticed as far as nominal operation is
kept, and is rushed up with complaints once any deviation happens,less of their situation, whether it’s so late in the night with no one
awake, some of them may be on a date, or a someone’s child may be

which forces the staff to devote themselves entirely for the earliest just blowing out candles on his/her birthday cake, to get them backpossible recovery to the nominal operation. This is how infrastructur- to tough reality. They begin to examine, diagnose, and recover theal tasks go, therefore we thought we should send a hearty cheers to system just after confirming the alert message. Thanks to the contrithem for their ceaseless support in realizing the scientific/social ac-complishment of the mission. This time, two groups are introduced:

Mission Operation System operators who are responsible for Level

bution of this group, IBUKI ’s data can be kept its nominal processing
and provision (photo 1).

1 processing and provision, and Satellite Control System operators, Satellite Control System operators to monitor/control IBUKI
who are responsible for monitoring and control of IBUKI .

The task of this group is more demanding than processing and pro-Mission Operation System operators to process/provide Level 1
data

vision of the observation data. They always monitor IBUKI whether

it’s in a good status to execute normal observation, and at the sametime, they keep IBUKI in good condition, make a plan for observation,

Many computers work as a coordinate system to process/provide and control IBUKI for its nominal operation. It’s a task of great respon-

the observation data, which is automated in JAXA for the sake of sta- sibility that can lead to discontinuation of IBUKI operation/function inble operation. However, there is no faultless system as is the case withthe worst case if you happen to make an operation mistake or overlook any symptom of a problem. Therefore you can never say, “Let’s

give a day-off to our observation and monitoring. It’s happy holiday
season!” and you continue your task 7 days a week on a round-theclock basis. Yes, some of the operators are always confirming thenormal operation of the monitoring/control system of the satellite,
evaluating the satellite’s data on the monitor, and sending out mes-

sages to make the satellite and observation sensors work for the sakeof data to be collected and sent to users, when you were exchanging

presents, having a festive party, hugging each other wishing a happy
new year.

IBUKI was kind of a newborn baby just after it was sent out to space,

Photo 1
Members supporting Level 1 processing/provision, smiling but a bit
shadowed with lack of sleep?  (from left, Mr. Suetake, Mr. Tanabe, Mr.
Tanaka, Mr. Shinotsuka)

and it was raised carefully under many people’s vigilant eyes of JAXA
personnel and a number of partners, however, it was required tooperate the observation effectively, safely, and reliably with fewer

people once the nominal operation was realized after the functionsof the satellite and observation equipment were confirmed. Thatmeant the staff should cover wider range of specialist knowledge not

6­­NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

only for the ground system but for the satellite system. The operators

are always ready to be called by emergency contact day and night,
and handle any troubles literally in round-the-clock manner, once

something wrong or unusual happens to IBUKI or the ground system,

never to halt IBUKI data to be delivered to users. That is the way how

IBUKI keeps its health.

The staff of this group devote the days of their youth with enthu-

siasm and commitment to keep the IBUKI ’s health for its productive
work, making this hard work “nothing special” and keeping it as it isfor the sake of users around the world.

Photo 2

[Acknowledgment] We are deeply grateful to the everyday support

and cooperation at IBUKI operation tasks, as introduced in this article,

provided by General Incorporated Foundation Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, Space Engineering Development Co., Ltd.,and other partners.

(photo 2: Satellite operation room just after the launch of IBUKI : so crowded

then, but it is operated with some ten people, 24 hours/7 days, now.)(photo 3: Members supporting Satellite operation now, hardworking in
the backstage to help generate the project outcomes. Back row from left,
Mr. Tsukahara, Mr. Kato, Mr. Izumito, Mr. Hirabayashi, Mr. Nawata; front row

from left, Mr. Sogawa, Mr. Watanabe, Mr. Katagami, Mr. Aketa, Mr. Funaki,
Mr. Miyashita; upper right in circular window, Mr. Yagi, the photographer)*1 NASA/JPL : NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory*2 ESA : European Space Agency

ANNOUNCEMENT

Photo 3

Accepting­Applications­of­GOSAT­RA#5

We hope many proposals to come with inventive, cutting-edge,

and ambitious ideas which are aware of characteristics of GOSAT
data. For more details, please refer to:

http://www.gosat.nies.go.jp/eng/proposal/proposal.htm

IMAGE OF THE MONTHIBUKI caught a total solar eclipse on South Pacific Ocean.

IBUKI ­Caught­Total­Solar­Eclipse

The image was taken from space by the CAI (Cloud and Aerosol-­Yukio­Yoshida,­­­Researcher,­­­Satellite­Remote­Sensing­­­­­­­­­Research­Section,­­Center­for­Global­Environmental­­­­­­­­­Research,­NIES

Imager) on-board IBUKI on Nov. 13, 2012.

A solar eclipse, usually understood as a phenomenon of theMoon masking the Sun, can be seen as a shadow of the moon
thrown on the Earth. The total solar eclipse this time was observed in the regions along the red line on which vaguely out-

lined black circle passed from west to east in about 3 hours; onthe other hand, IBUKI orbits once in about 90 minutes movingfrom east to west. That meant the photo-opportunity was only
once, of which IBUKI took advantage successfully.

(“Photo” by IBUKI on Nov. 13, 2012, a pseudo-color image createdby assigning band 2 to red, band 3 to green, and band1 to blue.
The observed part of the shadow is enlarged and marked with a

bit larger dotted line circle. The left end of the red line = 20:37 UT,©­JAXA/NIES/MOE©­JAXA/NIES/MOE©­JAXA/NIES/MOE©­JAXA/NIES/MOE

7­­the right end = 23:48 UT; the top of the orange box = 22:42 UT,
the bottom = 22:51 UT.)NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE

Data Processing Status Update from GOSAT Project Office
Fumie Kawazoe, Specialist, NIES GOSAT Project OfficeObservation Period and Versions of Publicly Released Data

As of December 17, 2012■

FTS L1B data

● 050050 143,700 scenes● 080080 80,200 scenes● 100100 210,500 scenes● 110110 125,700 scenes● 128128 196,900 scenes● 130130 316,100 scenes● 141141 355,100 scenes● 150150 302,200 scenes● 150151 746,800 scenes

FTS L2 CO2 column amount  (SWIR)■■FTS L2 CH4 column amount (SWIR)● 02.00● 02.10● 02.1185,000 scans
88,400 scans
128,900 scans● 02.00● 02.10● 02.11

85,100 scans
88,400 scans
129,000 scans● 00.01● 00.01

204,800 scans
206,400 scans● 01.10● 01.20● 01.30● 01.31● 01.40● 01.50

8 months
3 months
7 months
1 months
5 months
7 months● 01.00

614,000 frames● 01.00

272,900 frames● 01.00

585,400 frames■

FTS L2 CO2 profile (TIR)FTS L2 CH4 profile (TIR)FTS L3 global CO2, CH4 distribution (SWIR)■■■CAI L1B data■
CAI L1B+ data

CAI L2 cloud flag■■■

CAI L3 global radiance distribution● 00.50● 00.80● 00.90● 00.91● 00.92

99 recurrences
36 recurrences
253 recurrences
144 recurrences
158 recurrences■
CAI L3 global reflectance distribution● 00.91● 00.92● 01.00■● 01.00■● 02.01● 02.01

CAI L3 NDVI
L4A global CO2 flux
L4B global CO2 distribution

2009/
4
6

8

10

2010/
12
2
4

6

8

10

2011/
12
2

4

The chart above is as of Dec. 17, 2012. The latest processed andreleased on are: FTS L1B in V150.151; CAI L1B/L1B+/L2 cloud flag in
V01.00; FTS L2 CO2/CH4 column amount (SWIR) in V02.10 and V02.11.

We have released to general public CAI L3 global reflectance

distribution V01.00 on Nov. 27; CAI L3 NDVI (a new product) V01.00
on Nov. 9; L4A global CO2 flux and L4B global CO2 distribution (new

6

8

10

2012/
12
2

49 months
77 months
440 months
6,090 rectangles
1 year
1 year

■
4

6

8

10

12

← Observ. period

Format Descriptions, and Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents(ATBD) in GUIG before using those new products.

V02.10 FTS L2 CO2/CH4 column amount (SWIR) for Sep. 1 to Oct.

10, 2010, which were under reprocessing, began provision again. We
are very sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused to users.
The number of registered users is 1364 as of Dec. 17, 2012.

products) V02.01 on Dec. 5. Please refer to Product Notes, Product

8­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#25 DEC. 2012

NEWS
Visit to NIES by Mr. Kevin O’Flaherty, Prosperity Counselor, British Embassy Tokyo
Mr. K. O’Flaherty, Prosperity Counselor, British

Embassy Tokyo, visited NIES on Sep. 28. His
brief includes climate change, energy, science,
innovation and others. He began at the Climate
Change Research Hall where he heard details of
the GOSAT Project from Dr. T. Yokota, the project
leader, including global scale collaborationin data validation and use, taking in British
universities and information provision to the
British Government in response to inquiries on
diffusion status of the plume from a volcano
which erupted in Iceland in Apr. 2010 (see GOSAT
Newsletter#12). He asked such pointed questions
as to whether the extensive methane in thenorthern hemisphere is of anthropogenic origin.

PUBLISHED PAPERS
Field of Research: data processing algorithm, validation
Name of Journal:		 IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
		 (Volume 50, pages 1770-1784, 2012)
Title:	Retrievals of Total and Tropospheric Ozone From GOSAT Thermal
Infrared Spectral Radiances
Authors:	H. Ohyama, S. Kawakami, K. Shiomi, K. Miyagawa
Field of Research: calibration, data processing algorithm
Name of Journal:		 Atmospheric Measurement Techniques(Volume 5, pages 2447-2467, 2012)
Title:	Level 1 algorithms for TANSO on GOSAT: processing and on-orbit
calibrations
Authors:	A. Kuze, H. Suto, K. Shiomi, T. Urabe, M. Nakajima, J. Yoshida,
T. Kawashima, Y. Yamamoto, F. Kataoka, H. Buijs
Field of Research: calibration
Name of Journal:		 Atmospheric Measurement Techniques(Volume 5, pages 2515-2523, 2012)
Title:	On-orbit radiometric calibration of SWIR bands of TANSO-FTS onboard GOSAT
Authors:	Y. Yoshida, N. Kikuchi, T. Yokota

Field of Research: data processing algorithm, validation
Name of Journal:		 Journal of Geophysical Research(Volume 117, D21301, 2012)
Title: Atmospheric carbon dioxide retrieved from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT): Comparison with ground-based
TCCON obser vations and GEOS- Chem model calculations
Authors:	A. J. Cogan, H. Boesch, R. J. Parker, L. Feng, P. I. Palmer,
J.-F. L. Blavier, N. M. Deutscher, R. Macatangay, J. Notholt,
C. Roehl, T. Warneke, D. Wunch
Field of Research: validation
Name of Journal: Scientific Online Letters on the Atmosphere		 (Volume 8, pages 145-149, 2012)
Title:	Comparisons between XCH4 from GOSAT Shortwave and Thermal
Infrared Spectra and Aircraft CH4 Measurements over Guam
Authors:	N. Saitoh, M. Touno, S. Hayashida, R. Imasu, K. Shiomi,
T. Yokota, Y. Yoshida, T. Machida, H. Matsueda, Y. Sawa

EDITOR'S NOTE...”, “The ... was really interesting,” or any other comments you like to

A new series "Supporting GOSAT Project" has started this month.

make. Please feel free to contact : gosat_newsletter@nies.go.jp.

There will be 5 to 6 articles coming from JAXA and NIES.

Thank you for supporting the newsletter.

We appreciate readers’ voices, such as “I want to read articles on

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTERISSUE #25 DECEMBER 2012

S. Aikawa

Issued On : 2013/1/11

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 : gosat_newsletter@nies.go.jp

いぶき
IBUKI

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER

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

If you would like to receive an email notiﬁcation when each issue is published,address：16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-City, Ibaraki,

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

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gosat_newsletter@nies.go.jp

Center for Global Environmental Research
National Institute for Environmental Studies

9­­

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