STAR Joint Polar Satellite System Algorithms & Data Products website National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration website NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research website
GCOM AMSR2 Total Precipitable Water, 2/20/2017 - click to enlarge

GCOM AMSR2 Total Precipitable Water, 2/20/2017 - click to enlarge

GCOM Hydrological & Surface Products

Team Lead:

Paul Chang and Ralph Ferraro

Product Description

Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM):

  • The GCOM is a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) earth mission project for the global and long-term observation of the Earth environment. GCOM is expected to play an important role in monitoring global water circulation and climate change.
  • GCOM consists of two satellite series, GCOM-W and GCOM-C. The GCOM-W1, launched May 18, 2012, is the first satellite of the GCOM-W series.
  • The AMSR2 (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2) instrument onboard the GCOM-W1 satellite will continue Aqua/AMSR-E observations of water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, SST, sea surface wind speed, sea ice concentration, snow depth, and soil moisture.
  • GAASP (GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Algorithm Software Processor), STAR developped software package to generate the AMSR2 EDRs.
  • Since June 2013, the products available in near real-time to users via the GAASP on the STAR GCOM-W1/AMSR2 product development and validation system.

Product and Data Access

Products and data:

EDR Long Term-Monitoring

Documentation (ATBDs)

Day 1 Products:

  • Microwave Brightness Temperature (MBT)
  • Total Precipitable Water (TPW)
  • Cloud Liquid Water (CLW)
  • Sea Surface Temperature (SST)
  • Sea Surface Wind Speed (SSW)
  • Precipitation Type/Rate (PT/R)

Day 2 Products:

  • Snow Cover/Depth (SC/D)
  • Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)
  • Sea Ice Characterization (SIC)
  • Soil Moisture (SM)

Users

US NOAA National Weather Service

  • Tropical Cyclone Monitoring and Forecasting
  • Numerical Weather Prediction Model Assimilation
  • Marine Forecasting and Monitoring
  • Hydrological and Precipitation Forecasting and Monitoring
  • Seasonal and Climate Forecasting

US Department of Defense

  • AFWA (Air Force Weather Agency)
  • FNMOC (Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center)
  • NAVO (Naval Oceanographic Office)
  • NRL (Naval Research Laboratory): Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Oceanographer of Navy

US National Ice Center, North American Ice Service, Anchorage Ice Desk

Leading Numerical Weather Prediction Centers outside US including: Japan, ECMWF (European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting)