The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is pursuing the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM) that will inherit the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II) mission and develop into long-term monitoring. GCOM is not the name of a single satellite, but of a mission that consists of two series of medium-size satellites, GCOM-W (Water) and GCOM-C (Climate), and three generations of each satellite series to continue the observations for 10 to 15 years. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) will be the single instrument on the GCOM-W1 satellite, which is the first satellite of the GCOM series. The second satellite will be GCOM-C1, which will carry the Second-generation Global Imager (SGLI). GCOM-W will mainly contribute to the observations related to global water and energy circulation, while GCOM-C will contribute to the measurements related to the carbon cycle and radiation budget. Current target launch years are calendar year 2011 for GCOM-W1 and 2014 for C1.

Vegetation over land plays an important role to the carbon cycle, which influences global warming. It is necessary to measure vegetation amount accurately on global scale to understand the carbon cycle mechanism. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA; former NASDA) has successfully launched a new Advanced Earth Orbiting Satellite (ADEOS-II) aboard an H-2A booster on December 14, 2002. The ADEOS-II satellite is focused on monitoring of global climate change on the Earth. Unfortunately, the operation of ADEOS-II satellite has stopped on October 24 of 2003, but very important VNIR/SWIR/MTIR data have been obtained in northern hemisphere for vegetation dynamics by GLI sensor. These data have enough capability to monitor the density and vigor of green vegetation. GLI data has high potential for vegetation monitoring, and it will contribute to the future satellite sensor. 23 channels are dedicated for land observations in the two spatial resolutions ( 1km/250m ). MODIS sensor has also 1km/250m resolution and various land products, which include VIs. This paper shows the preliminary evaluation of GLI land products for vegetation monitoring using MODIS VIs product.

ADEOS-II is the second global observation satellite of Japan following ADEOS to improve satellite-based global change observation system, and to obtain Earth observation data set for elucidation of the global water and energy cycle, carbon cycle, stratospheric ozone depletion and so on. For these mission objectives, five remote sensing instruments are onboard ADEOS-II that was launched on December 14, 2002. NASDA is responsible to check out ADEOS-II, and to calibrate and validate AMSR and GLI sensor characteristics and their data products. After launch for four months, the first check out phase is planned for satellite function and performance and during the phase the first-light images of AMSR and GLI is obtained. Before data distribution for general uses, NASDA is planning the calibration and validation phase for eight months after the first check out phase. This paper describes overview of NASDA's Calibration and Validation Plan.

The Kyoto & Carbon Initiative is an international collaboration initialised by NASDA in 2000 [1], set out to support dataand information needs raised by certain multinational environmental conventions and by global carbon cycle science, through provision of data products and high level information derived from ALOS, JERS-1 and ADEOS-II data. The conventions primarily in focus are the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, to which fineresolution, multi-scale information about the status and changes in forests and wetlands will be derived. There is apparent synergy with terrestrial carbon cycle science information needs, where improved spatial information about carbon pools, sources and sinks at local, regional to global scales are of high priority. Support to the UN Millennium Development goal on water access, as well as to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, are

The Panchromatic Remote sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) sensor that will be carried on the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) includes creation of digital elevation maps as one of its purposes. PRISM is capable of high spatial resolution and along-track stereoscopic observation. In order to provide software to create a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) semi-routinely at the Earth Observation Research Center (EORC), development of a DEM generation algorithm and software was carried out. The authors considered the basic function of DEM generation software, various processing algorithms for DEM generation were examined, and a trial production and evaluation which used test data was performed This paper reports the resulting processing method, and evaluation of results, of DEM generated from test data consisting of the nadir and forward images from JERS-1/OPS.

This paper presents the current calibration plan of the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2). Radiometric calibration methods based on internal calibration lamps and Earth-observed data are outlined. Several areas for surface radiometric reference are selected on the Asian and North American continents and in the Pacific Ocean. Vicarious calibration is planned in these areas. For geometric calibration, concerns about the pointing function of AVNIR-2 and the complementary method by the simultaneous use of Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) am outlined.

Several research products using the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) onboard Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) are planned to be produced in the Earth Observation Research Center, National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA EORC). The products are snow cover maps albedo maps, land cover maps, land cover classification maps, vegetation classification maps, and so on. These products are to be produced in combination with the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM), and to be mainly used for local to regional scale land applications. The outline and the methods to produce each product are introduced in this paper.

Peat swamp forests are very important sources of carbon among the terrestrial forest ecosystems. Large areas of peat swamp forests have been deforested in the recent past. A time series of L-band SAR data has been employed to detect the deforestation that has occurred in the central Kalimantan region, Indonesia, between 1994 and 1998. Large areas that have been deforested have been converted into cultivated lands but agricultural crops have miserably failed to grow on these soils because of the adverse water and soil chemistry. Furthermore, the L-band SAR has been able to detect the flooded conditions in these forests, particularly in short pole and riverside vegetation types where the transmissivity of the L-band SAR signals are quite significant. In case of very dense forests, the inundation could not be detected because of very high attenuation and thus low penetration of L-band radar. The information about these two phenomena viz., deforestation and inundation would be used for estimation of the carbon and trace gases exchange in these forests.

Introduces the current plans for calibrating and validating the Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) aboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), which will be launched in 2004. PRISM will be used to derive a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with very high spatial resolution. That also is one of the objectives of the ALOS mission. In order to do so, PRISM consists of three panchromatic radiometers for forward, nadir and backward views and acquires images in the same orbit and at almost the same time. More calibration and validation will be conducted to ensure high accuracy of the DEM.