Takuji Kubota
(JAXA, Japan)

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) aboard the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites is a first instrument combining the microwave imager with sounding capabilities into a single scanning geometry. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has developed and operated near-real-time data processing system and distributed the global rainfall product via the Internet (http://sharaku.eorc.jaxa.jp/GSMaP/) as a prototype of the JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) product. Core algorithms of the system with passive microwave radiometer (PMW) data and GEO IR data are based on the combined PMW-IR algorithm developed under the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) project. We have started to add retrieval process of the SSMIS on DMSP-F16 and -F17 satellites into the system since mid-June 2010. Current operational SSMIS algorithm by the GSMaP inputs imager-channels only and is similar to the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) algorithm. Now we're developing utilization of sounder-channels of the SSMIS in addition to the imager-channels, in particular, over the coasts. The increased atmospheric water vapor absorption at 150GHz and around 183 GHz masks the land-ocean background differences and this can lead to the improvement of the rain retrieval over the coasts.

Tomoo Ushio
(Osaka University, Japan)

Precipitation is one of the most important parameters on the earth system, and the global distribution of precipitation and its change are essential data for modeling the water cycle, maintaining the ecosystem environment, agricultural production, improvements of the weather forecast precision, flood warning and so on. In the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) project, the microwave radiometers observing microwave emission from rain will be placed on many low-orbit satellites, to reduce the interval to about 3 hours in observation time for each location on the earth. Although the GPM can provide the global precipitation fields with 3 hour resolution, the precipitation map with higher resolution (< 1 hour) is required for some operational users such as flash flood warning systems and also the monthly based precipitation map is required from the climatology studies. In this presentation, the GSMaP_MVK which is a product of surface rainfall rate with 0.1 degree and 1 hour resolution on a global basis and GSMaP_Gauge which is a gauge adjusted product to the GSMaP_MVK for climatological studies are introduced, focusing particularly on structure and performance of the algorithm and some initial evaluation tests.

Marehito Kasahara
(JAXA, Japan)

The Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) consists of two polar orbiting satellite observing systems, GCOM-W (Water) and GCOM-C (Climate), and three generations to achieve long-term monitoring of the Earth. The first satellite of GCOM, the GCOM-W1 satellite, will be launched in the second half of Japanese fiscal year 2011 and put into the A-Train constellation. The mission instrument is the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2), which will take over the mission of the AMSR for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). AMSR2 will observe various geophysical parameters, particularly related to water and energy cycle with 6 radio-frequency bands ranging from 7GHz to 89GHz. Each band receives horizontal and vertical polarization separately. The GCOM-W1 satellite system is now under the proto-flight testing at Tsukuba Space Center. Next to the GCOM-W1, the GCOM-C1 satellite will be launched in Japanese fiscal year 2014. The Second-generation Global Imager (SGLI) will be installed in GCOM-C1. SGLI is a multi-band optical radiometer in the wavelength range from near-UV to thermal infrared. The GCOM-C1 project is now critical design phase. The GCOM-C1 satellite is being developed by making use of the results of GCOM-W1 development, and engineering model of SGLI is under testing to verify the sensor system.

Keiji Imaoka
(JAXA, Japan)

The Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) consists of two polar orbiting satellite observing systems, GCOM-W (Water) and GCOM-C (Climate), and three generations to achieve global and long-term monitoring of the Earth. The first satellite of GCOM, the GCOM-W1 satellite, will be launched in Japanese fiscal year 2011 and put into the A-Train constellation. The sole mission instrument is the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2), which will take over the mission of the AMSR for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E). The AMSR2 flight model has already installed on the satellite system, and the satellite system is now under the proto-flight testing at Tsukuba Space Center. AMSR2 will observe various geophysical parameters, particularly related to water and energy cycle. The standard products include sea surface temperature, sea surface wind speed, integrated water vapor, integrated cloud liquid water, precipitation rate, sea ice concentration, snow depth, and soil moisture content. Several research products are also being considered such as all-weather sea surface wind speed, sea ice thickness and moving vector, land surface temperature, and land hydrology assimilation products. In addition to the existing operational applications in the field of numerical weather forecast and fishery information service, potential applications such agricultural services are expected.