As a contribution to the climate variability monitoring, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) initiated the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM). GCOM is a concept comprised of two polar-orbiting satellite series, spread over three generations to achieve long-term and consistent data records. The two satellite series are GCOM-W (Water) and GCOM-C (Climate). JAXA is implementing the first generation of the series. The GCOM-W satellite was launched on May 18, 2012 (Japan Standard Time) and started the continuous observation by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) from the A-Train orbit. The instrument has been showing stable performance and accumulating its data records. AMSR2 is capable of observing various oceanic and atmospheric geophysical parameters, including sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface wind speed, water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, and sea ice. Particularly, nearly all-weather SST measurement by utilizing the characteristics of microwave observation is playing an important role in capturing dynamic changes of ocean phenomena, together with the time-proven infrared observations. The GCOM-C satellite is now under development and scheduled for launch in Japanese fiscal year 2016 to provide the continuous observations related to carbon cycle and radiation budget. The satellite will be equipped with the Second-generation Global Imager (SGLI) with some unique features including enhanced spatial resolution (250 m) for most of the visible channels, ultraviolet channels (380 nm), and polarization/multidirectional measurement capabilities. These features will provide the better understanding of the coastal phenomena through the detailed and accurate observations of coastal ocean colors and SST.

1. Ocean observations by the
Global Change Observation Mission
(GCOM)
K. Imaoka, M. Kachi, H. Murakami, M. Hori, Y. Kurihara , and N. Ito
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Blue Planet Symposium
Cairns, Australia
May 28, 2015

2. JAXA Earth Observation Projects
Late 1990s 2000s 2003 (JAXA established)
ADEOS
TRMM/PR
GCOM-W
GPM/DPR
GCOM-C
EarthCARE/
CPRADEOS-Ⅱ
Earth Observation
Global Warming
Aqua/
AMSR-E
Land Use
GOSAT
Disaster
Monitoring ALOS-2ALOS
Climate Change/Water
Next Gene. (optical)
GOSAT-2
Demonstration
AIS
MOS-1&1b JERS-1
Late 1980s – early 1990s
SDS-4
2012－
2012－ 2014－ JFY2016 JFY2017
JFY20172009－1997－
2014－
2002－
1
Himawari-8
GEO-LEO
Synergy

3. Instrument
AMSR2
(Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2)
Orbit
Sun Synchronous orbit
Altitude：699.6km (on Equator)
Inclination: 98.2 degrees
Local sun time: 13:30+/-15 min
Size 5.1m (X) * 17.5m (Y) * 3.4m (Z) (on-orbit)
Mass 1991kg
Power gen. More than 3880W (EOL)
Launch May 18, 2012
Design Life 5-years
GCOM-W
(Water)
Instrument
SGLI
(Second-generation Global Imager)
Orbit
Sun Synchronous orbit
Altitude：798km (on Equator)
Inclination: 98.6 deg.
Local sun time: 10:30+/- 15min
Size 4.6m (X) * 16.3m (Y) * 2.8m (Z) (on orbit)
Mass 2093kg
Power gen. More than 4000W (EOL)
Launch JFY 2016
Design Life 5-years
GCOM-C
(Climate)
“SHIZUKU”
2
GCOM Satellites

4. cloud
liquid
water
soil
mois-
turesnow
ice
distribu-
tion
sea ice
concen-
tration.
ocean
color
water
vapor
cloud
proper-
ties
snow
depth
snow
surface
temp.
land
cover land
surface
tempera-
ture
sea
surface
temp.
sea
surface
wind
speed
precipi-
tation
aerosol
proper-
ties
snow
surface
proper-
ties
above-
ground
bio-
mass
primary
produc-
tion
PAR
Land
OceanCryosphere
Atmosphere
CRadiation
Budget
CCarbon
Cycle
W
Water &
Energy
Cycle
GCOM Geophysical Products
3

5. 4
GCOM-C: Resolution Improvement
Ocean color by 250m resolution (simulated using Landsat-8 data)
1km
250m

6. 1-km resolution 250-m resolution
Simulated based on LANDSAT data
Kelvin
Arakawa Riv. Edogawa Riv.
Tama Riv.
Obitsu Riv.
5
GCOM-C: Resolution Improvement

7. Locations of actual fishing grounds superimposed on
SST distribution. Different marks incidate different types
of fishes.
Microwave
Infrared
Infrared is
superior in
resolution
Microwave
rocusts for
clouds
Merge
Merged SST and ship locations provided by JAFIC
GCOM-W: Microwave All-Weather SST

8. • Being produced as research products. Mainly use 6.9 and 10.65 GHz
channels to avoid influence of rainfall. Enable to estimate wind
speed under tropical cyclones.
Standard SSW All-Weather Surface Wind Speed
Oct. 23, 2013 (Dsc)
GCOM-W: Microwave All-Weather Wind

9. 8
7/06 05:09 Aqua 7/13 01:58 Terra
Effect of Typhoon Passage on Ocean

10. September 16, 2012 observed by GCOM-W/AMSR21980’s average of the smallest extent in summer
Decreasing Arctic Sea Ice
9

11. Atlantic
Patific
Northern Hemisphere：-153km2/day
Bering Sea：+0.5km2/day
Barents Sea：-30km2/day
http://kuroshio.eorc.jaxa.jp/JASMES/climate/index.html 10
Long-Term Sea Ice Dataset

12. Decreasing Arctic Sea Ice
11

13. Arctic Sea Ice on October 1, 2014 observed by AMSR2 on GCOM-W
and Ships detected by AIS receivers on SDS-4 and ALOS-2
Sea Ice image observed byPALSAR-2 on ALOS-2
50km width
3m resolution
AIS signals show
a Ice breaker was here.
A ship (about 100m long)
without AIS emmission
was detected.
Synergy among Various Sensings
12

14. Provided by the National Institute of Polar Research
Supporting Ice Braker “SHIRASE”
13

15. • GEO
Frequent observations
Increasing spatial resolution and observation channels
• LEO
Higher spatial resolution
Multichannels from UV to Infrared, polarization, slant view, etc.
• Synergy/Complementarity
Interchange of geophysical retrieval algorithms
Intercalibration of radiances
Complementary in space/time resolutions
Potential joint products/utilizations
14
GEO/LEO Synergy

16. 15
Global Products Applications
Global Change Research
Information for Decision-Making
Observation
Precipitation
SST
Ocean Color Sea Ice
NWP Fishery
© JAFIC© JMA
Maritime Info
© JCG
Navigation
© IPCC(2013)
Ocean Monitoring Sea Ice Extent
Global Products and Applications
Wind Speed