Earth Monitoring  › Contents menu
Physical parameters relating the Earth¡Çs water observed by AMSR and AMSR-E, such as distributions of Arctic sea ice, sea surface temperature, sea surface wind speed, and precipitation caused by tropical cyclones, were visualized.

Earth Monitoring

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  • Today's Image
    Browse images of the Earth's surface observed by AMSR-E are available. "Today's image" depict heavy rainfall area and sea ice distribution in light yellow, less atmospheric humidity and cloudy areas in light blue, and heavy atmospheric humidity and cloudy areas in dark blue.

  • El Niño Watch
    El Niño is defined by Japan Meteorological Agency that when the 5-month running mean values of deviation of the monthly mean of the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) averaged over the monitoring area (4°S - 4°N, 150°W - 90°W) from the 30-year mean (1960 - 1991) are more than 0.5°C above the sliding 30-year mean for 6 months or longer. On the contrary, when they are less than 0.5°C below the sliding 30-year mean for 6 months or longer, are defined as La Niña. JAXA/EORC monitors the El Niño with observation data of AMSR-E. In "El Niño Watch", browse image of SST, SST anomaly, and each time-series are available.

  • JAXA/EORC Real-Time Monitoring for Tropical Cyclones
    Near real-time browse images of precipitation, water vapor, and track of the latest tropical cyclone observed by PR/VIRS(TRMM) and AMSR-E(Aqua) from developing to decaying stage are available at "JAXA/EORC Real-Time Monitoring for Tropical Cyclones".

  • Near Real Time Monitoring of Sea Ice Distribution in the sea of Okhotsk
    "Near Real Time Monitoring of Sea Ice Distribution in the sea of Okhotsk" shows sea ice distribution maps which are provided by JAXA/EORC. Browse images of sea-ice concentration observed by AMSR-E, 3 channels composite image of MODIS, and cloud flag image are available.

  • Kuroshio Monitor
    The Kuroshio Current is part of a big, warm current circulating in the North Atlantic Ocean. It enters the East China Sea near Yonagunijima, and moves northward west of Okinawa to the Pacific Ocean through the Tokara strait between Tanegashima, Yakushima, and Amamioshima. It also flows along the south coast of Japan to the east of Bousouhanto. Information regarding the movement of the Kuroshio Current is necessary for people involved in fishing, marine sports, the safety of marine navigation, and disaster prevention along the coast. The route of the Kuroshio Current influences fish hauls because fishing points for bonito and tuna following the Kuroshio Current can change. ¡ÈKuroshio Monitor¡É shows subset browse images of sea-surface temperatures observed by AMSR-E, for the Route of Kuroshio Current.

  • Near Real-Time Brightness Temperature (around Japan)
    These images show AMSR-E data and Radar-AMeDAS composite data obtained from observations around Japan at approximately the same time. Radar-AMeDAS composite data indicates hourly precipitation and is provided by the Japan Weather Association in real time.

  • All Weather Ocean Wind Speed
    The archived ocean wind is retrieved by new Sea Surface Wind Speed (SSW) algorithm, which is not applied to standard products. By using 6GHz and 10GHz data which are not so affected by cloud or water vapor, the new SSW algorithm can retrieve wind speed in good level even under the conditions such as inside tropical cyclone or low pressure areas. We call the ocean wind of this page as "All Weather Ocean Wind Speed."

  • SST Anomaly in the arctic/antarctic
    Data analysis of the sea surface temperature (SST) observed by AMSR-E clarified that the SST rises significantly in the ocean at the northern high latitudes from its 30-year averaged means, particularly in summer. This may be closely related to a decrease of the sea ice distribution in the Arctic Ocean and may possibility be related to global warming. For understanding these global change, browse images of monthly averaged SST anomalies observed by AMSR-E in the both northern and southern high-latitude ocean is posted on the "SST Anomaly in the arctic/Antarctic".

  • Tropical Cyclone Database
    Tropical Cyclones archived data observed by TRMM/PR, TMI, and VIRS onboard TRIMM, AMSR-E onboard Aqua and AMSR onboard Midori-II (ADEOS-II) are available at "Tropical cyclone Database".

  • Image Gallery
    "The image gallery" introduces various images from analyzed data which was observed by AMSR-E. This content describes how AMSR-E observation data are used, and useful to capture many kind of natural phenomena.

  • Global Browse Image
    Browse images processed at EORC are available on this page. EORC is doing test processing of geophysical products by using "research algorithms" in addition to the "standard algorithms" used in the Earth Observation Center (EOC). Therefore, you will find multiple images for some geophysical parameters. Through the algorithm inter-comparison, EORC is trying to improve the products in cooperation with the AMSR investigators.

    Products available are as follows.