NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#13 JAN. 2011

ISSUE # 13JAN. 2011

CONTENTSGREETINGS

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.

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

On the Second Anniversary of GOSAT Launch
01
AHA! OF THE MONTH
A Series: Ground-based Observation Sites for "IBUKI"'s Validation"Mauna Loa Observatory – Hawaii, USA"
02
NEWSReport : American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 201003IMAGES OF THE MONTH
Floodings in Queensland, Australia
04
DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE
Data Processing Status Update from GOSAT Project Office05
CALENDAR
05
PUBLISHED PAPERS
05

aerosols1, as expected in the beginning.
The distribution of data products toresearchers and the general public isrunning smoothly as planned.
Director, Center for Global Environmental Research, NIES
However, the challenge that "IBUKI"
I hear different opinions about these is facing now, is to take the first step
Two years have now passed
since GOSAT "IBUKI" successfully went two years since the launch of the satellite. towards contributing to measures against
into orbit. Thinking about all the efforts Some say, "Even after two years, you global warming. In other words, themany people in and out of Japan made haven't produced a visible result yet," GOSAT Project aims at estimating thein various aspects of the project, I would and others say, "Two years or so is not regional (on a sub-continental scale as
like to express my sincere gratitude to its enough to make a perfect observation of a initial goal) CO2 flux (=emission andstaff and everyone involved as a member atmospheric minor components." As for absorption) more accurately by addingof this collaborative project among the me, I had long been involved in a project the satellite observations to existing
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on stratospheric ozone layer observation CO2 concentration data of groundthe Ministry of the Environment, and using satellites before taking my current b ase d and airb or ne obser v ations,
the National Institute for Environmental position, and I think I understand how using mete orological data and anchallenging it is to expect a high accuracy atmospheric transport model. In orderStudies.
in observing minor components in the to realize this, it is necessary to further
atmosphere from space. From this point reduce the bias in concentrations, andof view, I can say that "IBUKI" has been to continue the leading-edge work inmaking a satisfying result as a satellite the world with accurate evaluation ofthat o bs er ve s min o r co mp o n ent s the characteristics of sensors, with datain the atmosphere. There is only a processing algorithms, as well as with thesmall negative bias of 2~3% with the atmospheric transport model, ultimately
carbon dioxide (CO2) column amounts resulting in data products and reliable(concentration) data and an even smaller estimations of regional distributions ofbias with the methane (CH4) column emissions and absorptions.
amounts data when compared to theI feel that more efforts are called forvalidation data acquired by the ground- in order for "IBUKI"'s data to be used forbased observation.
'the climate change public policy making,T h e re t r i ev al o f gl o b al CO 2 an d including elaborating the targets forCH4 column amount data products reducing greenhouse gases emissions'is p ro ce e d i n g w i t h o u t a ny m a j o r based on 'scientific research on carbon
problems, except that there are areas cycle in the earth system.' I hope for yourwhere the retrieval of column amounts continuing understanding and support
is extremely difficult due to clouds and for the project.
GREETINGS

On the Second Anniversary of GOSAT Launch- Yasuhiro Sasano1­­

1 An aerosol is a tiny particle of liquid or solid thatfloats in the atmosphere.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#13 JAN. 2011

AHA! OF THE MONTH
A Series: Ground-based Observation Sites for "IBUKI"'s Validation"Mauna Loa Observatory – Hawaii, USA"
Dr. Akihiro Uchiyama, Dr. Akihiro Yamazaki
Meteorological Research Institute,Japan Meteorological Agency

Data validation is an indispensable task for a
GOSAT data product to be used for scientific purposes.
It is to evaluate the uncertainty in the data retrieved
from "IBUKI"'s observation such as concentrations ofgreenhouse gases using the data collected by groundbased and airborne observations that contain lessuncertainty than "IBUKI"'s observation. In this series,
we are going to introduce you to the observation sitesaround the world collecting data used for "IBUKI"'s data
validation.

Image 2. Mt. Mauna Kea seen from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO). The clean and stable air makes thislocation great for taking data for the Langley Method.

Image 1. The Skyradiometers (POM-02)
and two Sun Photometers installed forcalibration data acquisition at the MLO.

1958, and the observation continues
still today. The observatory is located at
an altitude of 3397m, a location above
the atmospheric boundary layer. Since
it is above the stratocumulus clouds
that form in the atmospheric boundary
layer, the sky is mostly clear. The air
is also stable because it is located in
the subtropical high-pressure system.
In the north of Mt. Mauna Loa, there
is another mountain, Mt. Mauna Kea(Image 2). At the summit of Mauna Kea,a number of astronomical telescopes,
including "the Subaru Telescope," areinstalled. This is also because the air isstable and the sky is usually clear.
The Skyradiometer is an instrument
to retrieve the optical depth andproperty of aerosols by measuring thedirect solar light and diffuse light. Since
the spectra measured by the Fourier
Transform Spectrometer installed on"IBUKI" are sensitive to aerosols in theatmosphere, it is necessary to collectinformation on the aerosols using
LIDAR1 and the Skyradiometers.
It is also necessary to calibrate theSkyradiometers carefully for taking
accurate measurements. In orderto retrieve aerosol properties, theSk y r a d i o m e ter s d o n ot n e e d tomeasure the absolute amounts of

Oceanic & Atmospheric Administrationto acquire data for calibration (Image1).
As you may know, MLO is theobservatory where Dr. Charles Keelingstarted a regular observation of CO2 in

1 LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) is an
instrument to emit pulse laser light and record
the light that comes back after being scatteredby aerosols and clouds. The distance can becalculated from the round-trip time. The amountof substance is estimated from the number ofreturned light pulses.

At an "IBUKI"'s ground-based
validation site, the reference data on
direct solar light spectra are collectedusing the FT-IR Spectrometer and on
the vertical profile of aerosols using
LIDAR, and at the same time, the dataon aerosols are collected using theSkyradiometer. The MeteorologicalResearch Institute received a funding
from the validation team of the GOSAT
Project as well as from other sources,
and installed the Skyradiometers andthe Sun Photometers at the Mauna
Loa Observatory (MLO) of the National2­­

Figrue 1. An example of Langley plot. The data
make a good straight line. At MLO, it is possible toacquire a set of high-quality data like this example.

direct solar irradiance and dif fuseradiance from the sky, but need todetermine the relative amount of these
direct and diffuse lights to the solar
light in outer space.
To d e t e r m i n e t h e c a l i b r a t i o nconstant (assumed output value forsensor if direct solar irradiance wasmeasured in outer space), the direct

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#13 JAN. 2011

solar irradiance is measured at different air mass to extrapolate at the zero air mass (outerspace). The method is called the Langley Method. This method requires that the air stays
stable while the calibration data are collected. It is necessary to acquire the data at alocation with the best possible conditions because it is a long known fact that a minorchange in the air interferes with the accuracy of the calibration. MLO is one of the perfectlocations for acquiring data for such purposes. Figure 1 in the previous page shows theresult of calibration (Langley plot). The data points lie on a straight line like this image andit is possible to estimate the output value of sensor for outer space.
MLO is located in the middle of Mt. Mauna Loa, 18 miles (29 km) up on a mountainroad (the Mauna Loa Road) winding through black molten rocks, from an intersection
after road sign '27 miles' and before '28 miles' on the Saddle Road from Hilo City on theIsland of Hawaii (Image 3). The Saddle Road has been properly maintained in recent
years perhaps because it cuts across the Island of Hawaii, but some parts of the MaunaLoa Road are quite wild with some holes here and there. (For more information on MLO,
Image 3. A map of Island of Hawaii (Credit:
please refer to their website: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/obop/mlo/index.html)
MLO website)
MLO is one of the world's best observatories not only for its great weather condition,
but also for its capability to measure a wide array of basic atmospheric parameters (air pressure, temperature, and humidity), as
well as the data on amounts of water vapor and ozone that are needed to estimate the transmittance, and even other data suchas the number of cloud condensation nuclei and aerosol scattering coefficient that tell the condition of the atmosphere. One ofthe downsides would be there are often cirrus clouds. Plus, the air from down below can be brought up by the valley wind evento this altitude during the day time, and interferes with the observation
data. The amount of water vapor can change drastically depending on
the wind direction. It is also costly because we have to travel overseas.
Using the radiometers calibrated with the MLO data as a reference
device, we make comparative observations at the MeteorologicalResearch Institute to transfer the calibration constants to theSkyradiometers in multiple locations. This way it contributes to otherobservation projects (Image 4).
We use the aerosol optical property determined by the Skyradiometerfor validation of other satellite observations. Other than validation,
we can monitor the aerosols such as Asian dust, and investigate therelationship between the aerosol properties and radiation budget
by combining Skyradiometer measurements and other radiometermeasurements. For accurate monitoring, accurate measurement
is necessary. For this reason, we need to continue observations for Image 4. Cross Comparison of the Sk yradiometers at thecalibration at MLO in the future.
Meteorological Research Institute (transferring calibration constants).
NEWS

Report : American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2010
- Yukio Yoshida Researcher, Satellite Remote Sensing Research Section, CGER, NIES

NIES CGER Specialist Hiroshi Takagi (middle) explaining the GOSATrelated research.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) held its
annual Fall Meeting from December 13 to December 17, 2010
in San Francisco, USA. The AGU has held a session on satellite
greenhouse gases measurement at every Fall Meeting forthe last several years, and the GOSAT Project members haveattended these sessions to give presentations each year. At theprevious AGU Fall Meeting, perhaps because the timing was
shortly after the first release of GOSAT data products, the GOSAT
Project members took the lead and made presentations on

satellite data calibration and on greenhouse gas concentration
retrievals. However, this time, the presentations given by theresearchers working on research selected at the GOSAT Research
Announcements outnumbered the presentations given by
the GOSAT Project members. The topics discussed were wideranged, including calibration, retrieval of concentrations,validation of the outcomes, and the applied studies using thereleased GOSAT data products.
There were a large number of presentations on the SWIR
L2 data products (column-averaged carbon dioxide (CO2)and methane concentrations) that I am responsible for, and I
was able to have an active discussion with a great number ofresearchers.
The GOSAT Project also gave a report on the result of initial
analysis on the project's ultimate goal, the CO2 flux estimation,using the actual observational data (Photo).
Now that two years have passed since the launch of GOSAT
and we have accumulated a certain amount of data, theresearch topics are shifting from the calibration, retrievals,
and validation to the applied studies using the results ofdetermination.
I am expecting to see even more presentations on researchusing GOSAT data products at the next AGU meeting.
3­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#13 JAN. 2011

IMAGES OF THE MONTHFLOODING Damage
QUEENSLAND,
AuSTRALIA- Nobuyuki Kikuchi,
Specialist,
NIES GOSAT Project Office

The record-breaking
flood that has hit Australia's
Queensland state was captured
in the images acquired by "IBUKI."
The upper image is a false color
image produced from the CAI L1B
data product acquired by "IBUKI"'s
Clouds and Aerosol Imager on
January 4, 2011. The golden
glare in the image is reflectionof sunlight. Queensland state iscrossed by the Tropic of Capricorn,
and the Sun is located right above
the area in this time of year. The
overflowing water of rivers shines
acting as a mirror.
The lower image is a false
color image of January 27, 2010,
similarly produced as the topimage. The latest image shows
the rivers are flooding and spreadwide while the rivers are almost
invisible in the image from thesame season last year.
The red circle indicates theheavily damaged Rockhampton
city.

4­­

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTER ISSUE#13 JAN. 2011

DATA PRODUCTS UPDATE

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

Here we report anupdate on data processing
status for late December toearly January.
Continued from lastmonth, we are processing
and releasing the V110110
of the FTS L1B data products,
the latest version - V00.91 ofthe CAI L1B, CAI L1B+, and L2 cloud flag data products, and the latest version - V01.40 of the FTS L2 CO2 and CH4 columnamount (SWIR) data products. We have newly released V01.30 and V01.40 of FTS L2 CO2 and CH4 column amounts for themonths of October 2010 and November 2010, and V01.30 of FTS L3 for the month of October 2011. Please also visit theGOSAT User Interface Gateway (GUIG) (http://data.gosat.nies.go.jp) and check for the updates in the "Remarks on Monthly
FTS SWIR L2 Product" and "Gallery" sections. The number of registered general users reached 957 as of January 7, 2011.

PUBLISHED PAPERS
Field of Research: Carbon balance
estimation, atmospheric transport models
Name of Journal: International Journal ofOceanography (Volume 2010, Article ID540783, 15 pages)
Title: A Short Surface Pathway of theSubsurface Indonesian Throughflow Waterfrom the Java Coast Associated with Upwelling, Ekman Transport*, and Subduction
Authors: V. Valsala and S. Maksyutov

Field of Research: Carbon balance
estimation, atmospheric transport models
Name of Journal: Atmospheric Chemistryand Physics (Volume 11, Number 2, January
2011, pages 543-556)
Title: A very high-resolution (1 km x 1 km)
global fossil fuel CO2 emission inventory
derived using a point source database andsatellite observations of nighttime lights
Authors: T. Oda and S. Maksyutov* Ekman Transport: the movement of ocean water
caused by relatively steady winds such as trade wind.
In the northern hemisphere, the movement is at a rightangle to the right of wind direction, and in the southernhemisphere to the left of wind direction.

Field of Research : Other (FutureTechnology）
Name of Journal: The Review of Laser Engineering (Volume 39, No 1, January 2011,
pages 12-16)*
Title: Space-Borne Lidar Technology for
Global Environmental Observation Research
Authors: D. Sakaizawa, M. Nakajima, T.
Tanaka, I. Morino, and O. Uchino* The paper is written in Japanese except for its abstract,figures, and tables.

CALENDAR 2011/03/11 Hosting The 1st Workshop on GOSAT Data Utilization at Tsukuba Internatinal Congress Center (EPOCHAL Tsukuba) inTsukuba, Japan.

NIES GOSAT PROJECT NEWSLETTERISSUE #13 JAN. 2011

Issued On : 2011.02.07

edited and published by : NIES GOSAT Project Oﬃce

Revised On : 2011.02.09

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

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,

305-8506 Japanand preferred language (English or Japanese) at:

GOSAT Project Oﬃce

gosat̲newsletter@nies.go.jp

Center for Global Environmental Research
National Institute for Environmental Studies

5­­

Reproduction in any form without publisherʼs permission is prohibited.