Day 2 (December 7, 1999)


Session: AMSR Sensor Team Workshop
Room: 104
Agenda:
  1. GCOM (JAXA Mr. Sobue)
  2. Project Status(JAXA Mr. Nakagawa)
  3. Introduction of new PIs
  4. Algorithm Development Status (JAXA Dr. Shibata)
  5. Calibration and Validation Plans (Dr. Koike)
  6. PI Program Test (RESTEC Mr. Mikai)
  7. Higher Processing Subsystem (MELCO Mr. Sasaki)
  8. Water Vapor (WV) (Dr. Takeuchi)
  9. Cloud Liquid Water (CLW)/ Sea Surface Temperature (SST) (Dr. Wentz)
  10. Amount Precipitation (AP) (Dr. Petty)
  11. Amount Precipitation (Dr. Liu)
  12. Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) (Comiso)
  13. Sea Surface Wind speed (SSW)/ Sea Surface Temperature (JAXA Dr. Shibata)
  14. Snow Water Equivalence (SWE) (Dr. Chang)
  15. Snow Water Equivalence (SWE)/ Soil Moisture (SM) (Dr. Koike)

Summary of Major Discussions

1. GCOM (JAXA Mr. Sobue)

 Mr. Sobue summarized a GCOM plan. This is a repeat of his presentation he gave yesterday in the plenary session.

Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Wentz): Is it still an option to add 6.9GHz channel?
Answer: Yes, it is up to future study.
Question (Dr. Shiue): Are there any alternatives of 6.9GHz?
Answer: Again, it is subject to future study. 6.9GHz is a secondary channel.
Question (Dr. Lobl): Understanding that JAXA plans to make a GCOM spacecraft small. Are there any additional functions planned to be implemented?
Answer: No additional functions are planned.

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2. Project Status (JAXA Mr. Nakagawa)

 Mr. Nakagawa presented the AMSR project status. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Purpose of the workshop
  • Schedule
  • Integration test; configuration
  • Organization of PI Teams
  • Product Delivery System at EORC
  • JRA Results; 16PIs for AMSR only and 3 for multi-sensor research.
  • Algorithm completion target changed from ADEOS-II to AQUA.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Koike): Does algorithm development include algorithm validation?
Answer: Yes, the algorithm development includes algorithm validation to some extent.
Question (Dr. Liu): How do old and new PIs communicate?
Answer: JAXA will coordinate with both old and new PI's and ask the team leaders to facilitate communications. This issue will be discussed in the business meeting slated for Thursday morning.
Question (Dr. Njoku): AQUA/ AMSR-E will be processed at EORC. How soon will the processed data become available to PIs?
Answer: I will investigate and provide an answer later.

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3. Introduction of new PIs

 New PIs introduced themselves.

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4. Algorithm Development Status (JAXA Dr. Shibata)

 Dr. Shibata presented the algorithm development status. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Past activities from October 1995.
  • 8 Criteria of selecting standard algorithms
  • Obligations of PIs selected for standard algorithm
  • Simulated L1B HDF data.
  • Computation of Brightness Temperature in AMSR L1B processing
  • Match up data sets
  • Data Distribution
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Heygster): Where is the match up data documented?
Answer: It is documented in the calibration and validation document that has been provided.
Question (Dr. Njoku): How will the level 1B data, which will be provided next March, differ from those already provided?
Answer: The formats are different; temporary format (or native) for L1B provided this year, and HDF for L1B to be provided next March.

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5.Calibration and Validation Plans (Dr. Koike)

 Dr. Shibata presented the calibration plan that is almost the same as that he presented last year.
Dr. Koike presented the strategy and plan for AMSR validation. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Validation strategy; operational path and experimental path.
  • Pre-launch and Post-launch validation plans; AMR flights, automatic stations, field campaigns.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr.Lobl): You didn't mention collaboration with NASA AMSR-E. How shall we collaborate for AMSR and AMSR-E validation activities?
Answer: That is the purpose of this meeting. We will discuss further in the Thursday morning.
Comment by Dr. Petty: Dr. Petty's algorithm was developed for SSMI and will require another development to be used for TMI or AMSR.
Response by Dr. Aonashi: Day-1 algorithm exists and a new development is not required.
Comment by JAXA Mr. Imaoka: JAXA can provide Dr. Petty with information on the difference in scan geometry.

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6. PI Program Test (RESTEC Mr. Mikai)

 Mr. Mikai presented the status of the PI's programs. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Status of the program tests.
  • Objectives of the program tests.
  • Test environments.
  • Results of program performance tests.
  • RESTEC MELCO will update the common library. PI's are requested to revise and deliver the program by the end of March 2000.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Jackson): For Soil moisture algorithms, we didn't receive any instruction from JAXA as to how to treat where there is no prediction data. Dr. Jackson used "zero's" where there is no prediction data. Did JAXA know it?
Answer (Dr. Koike): Dr. Koike agreed to Dr. Jackson's comment that JAXA didn't provide any instruction on this matter.
Comments:
Dr.: Not only for soil moisture, but all other parameters, realistic ancillary data are required to yield useful outcome.
Dr. Koike: PIs are responsible for providing ancillary data within data. Dr. Njoku: JAXA provided some ancillary data.
Dr. Koike: Yes, JAXA provided data of air temperature, humidity, and wind velocity, which were obtained from JMA. PIs are responsible for providing ancillary data other than those provided by JAXA.
Question (Dr. Comiso): Land mask includes ice shelves in Antarctica as part of open ocean. What can we do to change or improve the data?
Answer (Dr. Shibata): If the ratio of land to ocean is greater than 50%, the grid is evaluated as ice.
Question (Dr. Petty): Two possible reasons exist when a bad result is produced; the algorithm is bad, or the simulated data is bad. Does JAXA/RESTEC assume that the simulated data is good, and the algorithm is bad for the bad result?
Answer (Dr. Koike): We don't have a good validation data for soil moisture. Retrieval of soil moisture data is still challenging and that is why JAXA treats the soil moisture algorithm as a research program. 4 PIs have been working on the soil moisture algorithm. 18 months after launch, soil moisture products will be regenerated.
Question (Wentz): Like soil moisture algorithms, will JAXA select the SST algorithm after launch. (There are two algorithms being evaluated.)
Answer (Dr. Shibata): Yes.

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7. Higher Processing Subsystem (MELCO Mr. Sasaki)

 Mr. Sasaki presented the higher processing subsystem. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Outline of the processing flow in EORC.
  • Structure of the development software.
  • Interface requirements of common library.
  • Requirements for higher processing subsystem.
  • Integration test.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Njoku): Why do not the tables contain soil moisture products?
Answer (Mr. Nakagawa): Because the tables contain only standard algorithms and soil moisture algorithm is research algorithm.
Question (Dr. Njoku): Did JAXA/RESTEC size the EORC processing system reflecting the processing requirements of soil moisture data?
Answer (Mr. Nakagawa): Yes.

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8. Water Vapor (WV) (Dr. Takeuchi)

 Dr. Takeuchi presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • History
  • Theoretical background
  • MSC Algorithm for PWA Retrieval.
  • Heavy rain correction for PW retrieval
  • Application to TRMM/TMI data.
  • Requirements for match-up Dataset for PWA.
  • Support from ITWG.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Mr. Imaoka): Should both sounding and imaging channels be used?
Answer: I don't know.

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9. Cloud Liquid Water (CLW)/ Sea Surface Temperature (SST) (Dr. Wentz)

 Dr. Wentz presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Derivation of algorithm coefficients.
  • Exercising the toolbox.
  • Application to TMI data; eliminated water vapor bias.
  • Algorithm comparison.
  • Algorithm validation.
  • Microwave SST retrieval versus Infrared Retrievals; penetration depth, geographical noise, and spatial resolution; data exclusion due to sun glitter.
  • Examples of SST.
  • Baseline cloud algorithm.
  • JAXA simulation test.
Questions & Answers, and comments: Question (Dr. Lobl): What is the depth the buoy senses?
Answer: It senses 1m. The satellite sensor senses 1mm.
Question (Dr.Lobl): Does he correct the buoy date when he compared with the satellite data?
Answer: No. Question (Dr. Petty): Do you retrieve a single footprint?
Answer: Some are averaging. The error is 0.2K brightness temperature. Question (Dr. Rosenberg): What is the sensitivity of the algorithm to cloud raindrop size?
Answer: It doesn't matter because drop size is much smaller than the wavelength.
Question (Dr. Njoku): How do you avoid sun glitter?
Answer: I only use the observations with the sun angle greater than 20 degrees.
Question (Dr. Njoku): Why do you use the regression algorithm?
Answer: Because the regression algorithm is simpler to implement.
Question (Dr. Comiso): How close to the land can you get SST?
Answer: 50 km-75 km.

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10. Amount Precipitation (AP) (Dr. Petty)

 Dr. Petty presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Overview.
  • Forward model.
  • Relationship between SSM/I and nearest AMSR equivalents
  • Performance; empirical experience with SSM/I, experience with AMSR version.
  • Status report.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Heygster): Does the algorithm require any other ancillary parameters?
Answer: No, the current version of algorithm does not require any other ancillary data. The next version will require data from 10.7GHz and 6.9GHz for rainfall.

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11. Amount Precipitation (AP) (Dr. Liu)

 Dr. Liu presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • History and features of Rainfall algorithm.
  • SSM/I version; comparison with GPCP version 1C, comparison with moisture budget during TOGA COARE, comparison with gauge.
  • TMI version; algorithm conversion (frequency and spatial resolution).
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question: Do you plan to compare the result of precipitation over land produced by your algorithm with GLI product?
Answer: Yes, I do. We need to compare over a large area, not pixel by pixel.

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12. Sea Ice Concentration (SIC) (Dr. Comiso)

 Dr. Comiso presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Why is sea ice important?
  • Comparison between SMMR and SSM/I.
  • Improvement of retrieving coastal ices concentration.
  • The algorithm can retrieve ice concentration and ice temperature,
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Liu): Is there any effect of 85GHz?
Answer: No, there is no effect.

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13. Sea Surface Wind speed (SSW)/ Sea Surface Temperature (JAXA Dr. Shibata)

 Dr. Shibata presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Incident angle correction.
  • Atmospheric correction.
  • Surface wind correction.
  • Land contamination correction.
  • Sunglitter removal.
  • Salinity correction.
  • Sea ice removal.
  • Conversion to SST.
  • Spatial running mean.
  • Correction of anisotropic wind speed.
  • AMSR Sea Surface Wind Speed Algorithm.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Takeuchi): Can you apply the incident angle correction with another channels to water vapor algorithm?
Answer: Yes, you can. However, the correction improves only about 1K.

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14. Snow Water Equivalence (SWE) (Dr. Chang)

 Dr. Shibata presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • AMSR product.
  • At launch software.
  • Research area.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Heygster): The problem is snow grain size. You should combine GLI data.
Answer: GLI data is about raindrop size. Reflectance is a function of grain size. We need a profile.
Question (Dr. Comiso): You said you have no problem about forest. Do you have a forest detector or forest identifier?
Answer: Yes, we do. Ours is static, not dynamic.
Question (Dr.): GLI standard data will be produced biweekly for vegetation index. Is it useful to use the GLI standard data?
Answer: It is not certain that GLI standard data of vegetation index be produced routinely. This issue should be further discussed in the business meeting in Thursday morning.

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15. Snow Water Equivalence (SWE)/ Soil Moisture (SM) (Dr. Koike)

 Dr. Koike presented the status of the algorithm development. His presentation covered the following topics.
  • Simulation results; snow depth, snow temperature.
  • Key parameters; polarization index.
  • Validation using the old AMR.
Questions & Answers, and comments:
Question (Dr. Petty): Why do you neglect reflected radiation?
Answer: Because it is not important.