IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2014 - 51

Latitude (deg.)

60
30
0
-30
©JAXA/NIES/MOE

-60

370
-90
-180

-150

-120

-90

-60

-30

380

Longitude (deg.)

390
400
XC02 (ppm)
60

120

410

150

180

20130801-0831 (Ver.02.21)

FIGuRE 7. Global CO2 distribution map measured by GOSAT.

◗ Initial calibration will run 3.5 months after the above phase.
◗ BOS will be activated 4 months after the launch.
◗ Data (calibrated) distribution will start 6 months after

the launch.
The AO program was dispatched on July 20, 2012 and
JAXA collected 379 PIs within the following categories.
◗ Calibration/Validation, vegetation and forest, disaster,
polarimetry, sea ice, land use and land cover, etc.
III. PI-SAR-L2
The important points of the Pi-SAR-L2 (Figure 3) can be
shown below:
◗ High resolution and high quality imaging with 85 MHz
bandwidth and 8-bit real time analogue-to-digital conversion with oversampling rate of 1.3 or more.
◗ Full polarimetry mode and an experimental compact
polarimetry mode.
◗ Very low Noise Equivalent Sigma Zero (NESZ) of -54
dB with the up-down (UD) chirp modulation for lower
range ambiguity experiment.
◗ High precision Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
installation and perfect synchronization with PiSARL2 data formatter.
◗ GPS guided flights within 5-m corridors for confident
repeat pass InSAR flight.
◗ Mechanical yaw steering capability within +-18
degrees for image refinement.
◗ Installed on the high-speed jet airplane for quick
accessing to the target area.
As the calibration was well performed [5], the application studies have begun [6]. In order to expand the user
community and to investigate the research and application potentials, we have issued in 2013 a national
june 2014

ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

◗ National Announcement of Opportunity (AO) pro-

gram was issued in 2013 and 30 PIs at six different application categories, submitted proposals on
polarimetric analysis, disaster, vegetation, and interferometric researches.
◗ Indonesia-Japan Pi-SAR-L2 campaign for selected
research topics on map generation, disaster mitigation, forest monitoring, ship detection, and the crop
monitoring in the Indonesian research sites and the
capacity building.
IV. ENVIRONMENTAL EO PROGRAMS
A. GPM
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is an international satellite mission to provide next-generation
observations of rain and
snow worldwide every three
hours (Fig. 5 and 6). NASA
GLObAL PREcIPITATION
and the Japanese Aerospace
MEASuREMENT (GPM) IS AN
Exploration Agency (JAXA)
INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE
launched the GPM Core
MISSION TO PROVIdE
Observatory satellite on
February 27, 2014, carrying
NExT-GENERATION
advanced instruments that
ObSERVATIONS OF RAIN
will set a new standard for
ANd SNOw wORLdwIdE
precipitation measurements
EVERy ThREE hOuRS.
from space. The data they
provide will be used to unify
precipitation measurements
made by an international network of partner satellites to
quantify when, where, and how much it rains or snows
around the world [7].
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2014