JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) initiated GCOM (Global Change Observation Mission) to monitor the global Earth surface and contribute to the research of the climate change and the operational usage. By using the satellite observation data in the climate system model, it is expected that the prediction accuracy of the climate change will be improved. This information will be useful for making a policy against the climate change. GCOM consists of 3 generations of satellites to make observation for more than 10 years. The satellites of the first generation, GCOM-W1 and GCOM-C1, have been developed to aim at the launch in Japanese Fiscal Year 2011 and 2014, respectively.

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.

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) was built in Japan, and it has been flying on the Aqua satellite since May 2002. Aqua has completed its prime mission in September 2008. The observations from AMSR-E are being used by scientists all over the world in conjunction with other ATrain satellite instruments to monitor and understand hydrological processes over land, ocean, and in the cryosphere. The status of AMSR-E will be presented. Images of AMSR-E products will be shown, as well as a summary of the ongoing research with these data. AMSR-E's follow-on instrument, AMSR2, will be launched on JAXA's GCOM-W1 satellite in Japanese fiscal year 2011. The AMSR2 instrument will be similar to AMSR-E with some important enhancements, and will provide a critical bridge of climate observations until the first Microwave Imager Sounder (MIS) flies on the second NPOESS satellite in 2016 or any other radiometer planned, and yet unknown to the international research community. JAXA and NASA are discussing whether to place GCOM-W1 in the same orbit as Aqua, as part of the Atrain constellation. The benefits of the collocation of the two AMSRs will be discussed and examples given of the research possibilities.