Importance of Monitoring Sea Ice with GOSAT-GW/AMSR3
Kohei Cho 1*, Kazuhiro Naoki 1 , Misako Kachi 2, Rigen Shimada 2, and Josefino Comiso

1 Tokai University, japan
2 JAXA , Japan
3 NASA, USA
* kohei.cho[at]tokai.ac.jp

Abstract

JAXA has successfully launched the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW) on June 29, 2025 (JST). GOSAT-GW carries two sensors, which are Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 3 (AMSR3) and Total Anthropogenic and Natural emissions mapping SpectrOmeter-3 (TANSO-3). AMSR3 is the follow on of AMSR2 onboard GCOM-W which was launched in 2012 and is still under operation. Microwave radiometers on board satellites such as AMSR3 can penetrate clouds and can observe the global sea ice distribution on daily basis. Ice concentration (IC) is one of the most important parameters of sea ice which can be calculated from brightness temperatures measured by the passive microwave radiometers. The IC data is used for calculating the global sea ice extent, and the historical sea ice extents observed by the passive microwave radiometers onboard satellites are used to monitor the trend of global sea ice distribution. In this paper, the trend of the dramatical sea ice extent reduction of the Arctic derived from those sensors are presented. The initial result of AMSR3 for sea ice monitoring will also be presented.

Keywords: passive microwave radiometer- GCOM-W- AMSR2- sea ice extent- global warming

Topic: Topic B: Applications of Remote Sensing