[M-SD35] Future Missions of Satellite Earth Observation

[MSD35-P05] High-frequency observations of water vapor, isotope, ice clouds and radiation budget by small satellite constellation

*Nawo Eguchi¹, YASUKO KASAI^2,3, Ryoichi Imasu⁴, Kei Yoshimura⁵, Kinya Toride⁶, Kozo Okamoto⁷, Naoko Saitoh⁸, Toshiya Hanada⁹, Junko Suzuki¹⁰, Masanori Saito¹¹, Atsushi Okazaki⁸, Shinji Hatta^12,13 (1.Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, 2.School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 3.National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 4.Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, Univ. of Tokyo, 5.Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 6.CIRES/ NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory, 7.Meteorological Research Institute, 8.Center for Environmental Remote Sensing, Chiba University, 9.Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 10.Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Research Institute for Global Change, Center for Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Research, 11.University of Wyoming, 12.Hatta Yamamoto Propulsion Engineering & Research Co.,Ltd, 13.MUSCAT Space Engineering Co., Ltd.)

Keywords:small satellite, water vapor , water vapor isotope, far infrared

Global observations of water vapor and clouds in the Earth's atmosphere not only provide a more
quantitative understanding of the radiation balance and the maintenance and variability of the climate through it, but also the information of upper tropospheric water vapor and ice clouds improve the accuracy of typhoon forecasting. Furthermore, it has been reported that the accuracy of numerical weather prediction is improved by using the water vapor isotopes as input values.
The purpose of this mission is not only a quantitative understanding of the Earth's radiation balance, but also to improve the forecast accuracy of a meteorological disaster through an understanding of the precipitation process and atmospheric disturbances by the high frequency observation of the water vapor, its isotopes and ice clouds in the troposphere and stratosphere.
In the observation, multiple small instrument (50 kg class) (50- satellites) will be used to observe the East Asian region including Japan at intervals of about one hour. The observation wavelength range is in the far infrared region (100 to 670 cm-1; 15 to 100 μm) is assumed. The satellite is expected to have an orbital inclination of 38 degrees, an altitude of 200 to 300 km, a vertical resolution of 3 km, and a Swath of 40 km at nadir viewing.