[M-SD40] Future Missions of Satellite Earth Observation

[MSD40-06] Geostationary Satellite Ocean Color Mission

*Joji Ishizaka¹, Mitsuhiro Toratani², Toru Hirawake³, Takafumi Hirata⁴, Hiroshi Kobayashi⁵, Yuji Sakuno⁶, Hiroshi Higa⁷ (1.Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, 2.Faculty of Engineering, Tokai University, 3.Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 4.Arctic Research Center, Hokkaido University, 5.Graduate Faculty of Interdisciplinary Research, University of Yamanashi, 6.Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, 7.Graduate School of Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University)

Keywords:Geostationary Satellite, Ocean Color

It is expected that the coastal marine ecosystem, which was originally greatly affected by humans, is further changing under the significant changes of seawater temperature and freshwater inflow due to climate change. Observation of ocean colors is making it possible to continuously monitor the status of coastal ecosystems, such as phytoplankton and suspended matter. However, because visible observations are disturbed by clouds, sufficient data is difficult to be obtained, specifically in coastal areas where short term variations is large, such as influence of river water and tides. It was clarified that the high-frequency observation of "Himawari" on an hourly basis makes it possible to observe short-term fluctuations under moving clouds. On the other hand, the wavelength and radiance resolution are insufficient to obtain sufficient ocean color information. Therefore, we propose here the observation of high frequency, high resolution, and high radiance resolution by the geostationary satellite ocean color sensor with additional bands. This makes it possible to monitor phenomena that affect coastal fisheries and aquaculture, such as red tides and river water, and to make observations related to coastal material cycles. Moreover, it is possible to contribute to understand the environment not only in Japan, but also in the coastal areas of southeastern Asia, which are greatly affected by human activities and climate change and by relatively many clouds. Furthermore, it is considered to be effective not only for observation of the ocean but also for observation of the atmosphere (aerosol particles) and land (vegetation).