JAXA’s Water Cycle
Observation Programs andApplications
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

December 2007
3rd Asian Water Cycle Symposium
Ohita International House

Japan’s Basic Strategyfor Earth Observation
Council for Science & Technology Policy (March 2005)

 Needs for an integrated observation by satellites, ships,buoys, ground stations and so on Establishment of a integrated observation system based
upon user needs
 One of tools for policy making
 Contribution to GEOSS, especially in the following
3 Societal Benefit Areas
Water, Climate & Disaster
A National Key Technology“Integrated Marine Exploration and Earth Observation System”¾ Earth Observation¾ Disaster Monitoring¾ Marine Exploration

“Integrated Marine Exploration and Earth Observation System”
Establishment of a fundamental system for Earth observation, disaster monitoring andmarine exploration system as a national key technology for Japanese national security
Quasi-Zenith
Satellite

ALOS

GOSAT

GCOM

GPM/DPR

Policy making

Cloud
Aerosol
Positioning

Oceancolor

GHG
Vegetation

・Global environment problem
・GHG
・Understand of weather
anomaly and climate change

Deep sea drilling

Disaster Monitoring
・Disaster monitoring ofearthquake, heavy rain etc.
・Trench giant earthquake

Future marine
exploration technology

緯度Users

Earth Observation

Ocean wind
SST

Integration of observation dataRainfall

Integrated
datasetData
Integration& Analysis

時間
経度

Research
institutes

Marine exploration
・Marine exploration under
ocean bottom
・Resource exploration bysatellite and marine probe

Japan’s EO Long Term Plan

Ministry andagency

Advanced Land Observing Satellite(ALOS) Launch: 24 January, 2006.
 Objectives:
Cartography
Regional observation
Disaster monitoringResource surveying
PALSAR(L-band SAR)
Cloud-freeDay-night observation
Optical sensorsMt. Fuji observed by PRISM

Observation from space plays
significant role for disaster management
Flood disaster in Thailand

Landslide disaster in Philippines

Flood area
Landslide area

Northern Thailand,observed by
ALOS/PALSAR

Leyte Island, Philippines,
observed by ALOS/PALSAR

Jau River, Amazon, Brazil,
observed by JERS-1/SAR

Flood monitoringTropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM)
 Japan-U.S. joint mission, flying sinceNov. 1997
 World's first space-borne precipitation
radar (PR) with microwave radiometerand visible-infrared sensor.
 Three-dimensional observation of rainfall
by PR.

Hurricane KATRINA
approaching South US,observed by TRMM at0323Z 28 Aug. 2005.

TRMM Tropical Cyclone Real-time
Monitoring (North-western Pacific)
 Near real-time browse
images of tropical
cyclones (typhoons)
for the North-western
Pacific region,
observed by TRMM isavailable.
 Database of past
tropical cyclones for
global region, observedby TRMM, AMSR andAMSR-E, are alsoavailable.

http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/TRMM/
http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/TRMM/

Advanced Microwave ScanningRadiometer for EOS (AMSR-E)
 Observing various shapes of water overocean (water vapor, precipitation, cloudwater, SST, and sea ice) and land (soilmoisture and snow water equivalence).
 Four-years of continuous data records
have been archived from 2002.
2002

2003

2004

EOSEOS-Aqua(NASA)

2005

Sea ice monitoring byAMSR-E.
Yearly changes of monthly sea
ice distribution over north polar
regions in summer (red lines
indicate average extent between
1988 and 2000, provided byNSIDC).

Future mission: Global Precipitation
Measurement (GPM)
Core Satellite
Dual-frequency Precipitation Radarand microwave radiometer
Observation of rainfall with moreaccurate and higher resolution

Constellation
Satellites
Each carrying microwave
radiometers, provided byinternational partners
More frequent Observation

Adjustment of data fromconstellation satellites
JAXA (Japan)
Dual-frequency Precipitation RadarNASA(US)Satellite bus, microwave radiometer

International Partners ：NOAA(US),NASA(US), JAXA (Japan),
CNES/ISRO(France/India)
and others

Global Observation
every 3 hours

Future mission: Global Change
Observation Mission (GCOM) Establish and demonstrate global and long-term Earth observation system forunderstanding climate variability and water-energy cycle.
 2 satellites (GCOM-W and C) series of 3 generations with 1-year overlap will resultin over 13 years homogeneous and steady observation. (W: water and C: climate) GCOM-W will focus on variability of global water-energy cycle and extend
successful AMSR-E observation to contribute to world water relevant issues.
GCOM-W & -C characteristics
GCOM-W

GCOM-C

DesignOrbit (TBD)

Instruments
Launch DateSun-synchronousAltitude: 699.6km
Inclination: 98.19degAsc. local time: 13:30

Sun-synchronousAltitude: 798km
Inclination: 99.36deg
Dsc. local time: 10:30

AMSR2
Microwave imager
JFY 2011

SGLI
Near-UV ~ TIR imager
JFY 2012

Mission Life
Launch Vehicle

AMSR2 of GCOM-W
satellites

5 years (×3 satellites; total 13 years)
H-IIA

Expected application (1):
Numerical Weather Prediction
 Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) started to use AMSR-E data forthe meso-scale numerical weather prediction from November 2004, andfor global model from May 2006.
Data assimilation experiment for Fukui heavy rain in July 2004
Increase in “heavy” rainfall region
6-hour9-hourW/ AMSR-E

Decrease of “false”
rainfall area

W/O AMSR-E

Radar analysis［mm］

All results were provided by Numerical Prediction Division, JMA

Expected application (2):Monitoring of soil moisture content
 Soil moisture is important inregional agricultural
management and inregional/global climate.
 Because of its fine resolution,
AMSR-E currently has thebest capability for soil
moisture monitoring.
 The wetter land surface
condition in 2003 derived
from AMSR/AMSR-E isconsistent with that year's
large amounts of wintersnow and summer rain.

MonthlyMonthlyaverage
averagesoil
soilmoisturemoisturemaps
mapsofofMongolia
Mongolia

July 2002

July 2003

This is a cooperative research project between JAXA,Unv. of Tokyo and Hiroshima Univ.

Global Flood Alert System (GFAS)GPMGFAS will receive and utilize
real-time 3-hourly global
precipitation data obtained
Raw Data
from GPM to disseminate
flood information to theconcerned countries.
OnOn-Line(Global Precipitation
Measurement)

Precipitation Information
around the Upstream

Ground Stations(NASA, JAXA)

Data Processing System (NASA, JAXA)RealReal-time 33-hourly Precipitation Data

OnOn-Line

Estimation ofprecipitation probability
PresentPrecipitation>

Estimated
Precipitation
Probability

FloodAlert !

E-mailDisaster Prevention
Organizations ofthe concerned countries

Sentinel Asia For Environment(SAFE)
Satellite data
Univ. of Tokyo

Land Use

MTSAT

Meteorology

Terra/MODIS

Raw
Data

Near-RealDistribution

Process

Aqua/AMSR-E
Water Cycle

JAXA

OutputAsia Pacific Region

SAFE
Value-Added
Products

Get
Products

SAFE Research Team (Japan)

Users

A water resources monitoring system
Near real time water cycle dataset by AMSR-E and PR
Monthly mean data

Parameters-Soil moisture-SST-Ocean wind speed-Water vapor-Cloud liquid water-Rain

Clipping

Distribution

Near real time data

Distribution
AMSR: within 5 hours
PR : within 3 hours
Number of scenes :6 - 8 scenes/dayCEOP Satellite Dataset• JAXA will produce ALOS datasets in addition to existing datasets of ADEOS-II,
TRIMM, etc.
• ALOS datasets will consist of Reference Site (RS) dataset , River Basin dataset
and agricultural dataset.
SatelliteADEOS-IISensor
GLIAMSR

Aqua
TRMM
DMSP13,14,15

ALOS

Parameter

Processing centerCloud Optical Thickness, Aerosol radiance,
Vegetation Index, Chlorophyll-a, Snow Grain Size,
Cloud flag…etc.
JAXA

AMSR-E

Brightness temperature, Sea temperature and windspeed, Water vapor, Soil moisture, Snow water…etc.

PR

Rain profile, Near surface rain, Averaged rain

TMI

Brightness temperature, Surface rain, Cloud
ice/liquid water, Precipitation ice/water

NASA/GSFC

SSM/I

Brightness temperature

NASA/GHRC

PRISM

Radiance

AVNIR-2

Radiance

PALSAR

Amplitude

JAXA

CEOP Reference Site
Reference Site Dataset will produced in order of priority.
□：RS ■：Top10RSObserved scenes and plans for RS
Observed scenes*1No.

Reference Site
Name

Observation plan*2

PALSAR

PRISM

AVNIR-2

FBD343

PLR215SCAN

PALSAR

PRISM*3

AVNIR-2

FBD343

PLR215SCAN

1

Mongolia/Mandalgobi

50

24

16

20

5

9,10,11

9,16,17

12,13,14-

16

2

Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar

34

13

10

27

8

9,10,11

9,16,17

12,13,14-

16

3

Tibet/Naqu35

32

15

49

2

9,10,11

9,16,17

12,13,14-

16

4

Tibet/Gaize

37

26

5

10

9

9,10,11

9,16,17

12,13,14-

16

5

Tsukuba

51

210

34

29-15, 17

9,10,11,12,13,14,1
5,17

12,13,14

10,11

12

6

Western Maritime
Continent

23

90

34

15

9,11,12,1
6,17

10,11,15,
16

12,13,14

10,11

10

7

Lindenberg

630

29

6

11,12

12,13

12,13

10,11

9,17

8

Cabauw

32

00

31

16

11,12

12,13

12,13,14

10,11

9,17

9

ARM/Southern
Great Plains

011

10

6

0

12,13

11,12

12,14

-

16

10

ARM/Northern
Slope of Alaska

1217044

39

11,14

10,14

13,14

10,11

9,17

ALOS dataset for River BasinRiver Basin:
17 rivers in 17 countries
are chosen from allover the world.
JAXA will produce
dataset of Huong riverin Vietnam in this year.

AVNIR-2
Obs.Date: Oct. 07, 2006

ALOS dataset description• The dataset consists of path mosaiced geo-coded data are generated fromstandard products.
• Each scene is fully or partially covers RS area.
• Scenes of optical sensors that have less than 10% cloud cover are counted.
Sensors

PRISM

AVNIR-2

PALSAR

Observation mode

OB2(Nadir35km)
or OB1(Nadir70km)

ObsFBD

PLR

WB1(SCAN)

Pointing Angle/
Off nadir Angle (°)±1.2(OB2)or 0(OB1)

034.3

12.5

27.1

1B2G(UTM)

1B2G(UTM)

1.5G(UTM)

1.5G(UTM)

1.5G(UTM)

Radiance

Radiance

Amplitude

Amplitude

Amplitude

2.510

12.5

12.5

10035(OB2) or70(OB1)

7070

35350

Product Level
Parameter
Spatial Resolution (m)Swath (km)Processing

Path Mosaic

Sample Images(PRISM, AVNIR-2: Tsukuba)

Obs.Date:
Mar. 01, 2007
OB1
(Nadir 35km swath)

Obs.Date: Mar. 01, 2007
(R:G:B)=(4:3:2)(R:G:B)=(3:2:1)

Sample Images(PALSAR:Mongolia, Tibet)
Mongolia/Mandalgobi

Tibet/NaquFBD34.3
Obs.Date: May 01, 2007
(R:G:B)=(HH:HV:HV)

PLR21.5
Obs.Date: May 18, 2007
(R:G:B)=(HH:HV:VV)

Summary JAXA has been developing satellites for water cycle
observation to contribute to GEOSS.
 Increase of satellite data use for societal benefits isa major goal of JAXA. It has been developing
applications of satellite data for water resource
management in cooperation with otherorganizations and researchers.
 AWCI is a key regional task of GEOSS andprovides a significant opportunity fordemonstration of satellite data applications for
IWRM in this region.