Status of GCOM-W1 development and expected meteorological applications

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. GCOM-W1 is the first satellite of the GCOM-W series and scheduled to be launched in Japanese fiscal year 2011. The mission instrument will be the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2), which is the successor instrument of AMSR on ADEOS-II and AMSR-E on EOS Aqua platform. Development of the GCOM-W1 system progresses favorably. The mechanical and thermal tests using the GCOM-W1 structural and thermal model were successfully completed. The GCOM-W1 and AMSR2 proto-flight models are under their proto-flight testing. In the middle of 2010, AMSR2 will be delivered to satellite system prior to the system proto-flight test of GCOM-W1. Retrieval algorithms are being developed by collaborating with principal investigators. Algorithm comparisons or integrations are now underway for several algorithms to find best available algorithms for post-launch processing. Also, maintaining and extending the validation sites such as the Mongolian Plateau site for soil moisture is being implemented. In addition to the long-term climate variability monitoring, meteorological applications will be the most important operational utilization of AMSR2 data. Currently, AMSR-E data are being used for numerical prediction through data assimilation at several meteorological agencies. Also, retrieved geophysical parameters such as sea surface temperature are being used for diagnostics of the weather and ocean variations.

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