IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - March 2015 - 37

IV. SATELLITE GROUND SEGMENTS
visible, two near-IR) with a 500 m spatial resolution, eight
So far, all Earth observation satellites of the KOMPSAT
times per day, every hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. over the
series and the COMS satellite have been successfully
Korean Peninsula and nearby areas in East Asia. The ocean
launched and operated. The satellite ground station with a
data products derived from the GOCI measurements are
multi-mission facility for the KOMPSAT-series satellites is
primarily chlorophyll concentrations, optical diffuse atlocated at KARI and is composed of a Mission Control Eletenuation coefficients, concentrations of dissolved organic
ment (MCE) and an Image Reception and Processing Elematerial or yellow substance, and concentrations of susment (IRPE). MCE also oversees operational orbit deterpended particles in the near-surface zone of the sea. In
mination and prediction. The KOMPSAT ground segments
operational oceanography, satellite-derived data products
are furthermore globally networked with the Svalbard Satare used in conjunction with numerical models and insitu
ellite Station in Norway, King Sejong Station at the South
measurements to provide forecasting and nowcasting of
Pole, and Weno Station in Micronesia.
the ocean state. As the first ocean color remote sensing satFor the COMS satellite, there are three ground stations
ellite in geostationary orbit, GOCI has received worldwide
located at KARI, Korea Ocean Satellite Center (KOSC),
attention for its possible uses in oceanographic applicaand National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC).
tions, algorithm development, and calibration/validation
KARI is responsible for satellite mission control. KOSC
activities [12, 13].
takes the lead in the GOCI mission in data downloadThe Meteorological Imager (MI), developed for the
ing, image processing, and applications for ocean monimeteorological mission, performs the extraction of metetoring. NMSC is responsible for mission operations and
orological products, early detection of severe weather
the development of the COMS Meteorological Data
phenomena, and monitoring of climate change and the
atmospheric environment. The MI provides imagery and
radiometric information of the Earth's surface and cloud
cover over five channels including one visible channel
with 1-km resolution and four IR channels with 4-km
resolution. The data acquisition is performed in three different modes. The global mode takes images of the full
Earth disk. The regional mode takes images of the Asia and
Pacific in the Northern Hemisphere, the Extended Northern Hemisphere, and the Limited Southern Hemisphere in
every 30 minutes. The local mode covers an image field of
1000 km # 1000 km with 10-minute intervals for monitoring severe local weather. Notably, the local area mode can
be operated in any urgent situation, such as a severe storm
event in a fast scan mode [10, 14, 15].
As the next initiative, the GEO-KOMPSAT-2 (GK-2) proFIGURE 6. KOMPSAT-5 image (HR mode, Berlin, on Feburary 20, 2014).
gram will develop two geostationary orbit satellites, GK-2A
and GK-2B. GK-2A will be used
MODCS Antenna
Earth
South
for meteorological observation
(L-Band)
and space weather monitorMODCS Antenna
GOCI Sensor
ing and will thus be equipped
(S-Band)
MI Sensor
with an Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) and the
Korean Space Environment
Monitor (KSEM) payloads.
GK-2B will be used for ocean
TM/TC
and environmental moniS-Band Antenna
Velocity
toring and will be equipped
Ka-Band Repeater
with the Geostationary Ocean
Panel
Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) and
Earth Sensors
Geostationary Environmental
Ka-Band Antenna
Monitoring Sensor (GEMS)
Reflector (West)
payloads. These two geostaKa-Band Antenna
tionary satellites are scheduled
Reflector (East)
to be launched in 2017 and
2018, respectively.
FIGURE 7. COMS satellite.
march 2015

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