Overview and latest updates of the GCOM-C/SGLI products and expanding data accessibility

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is conducting the Global Change Observation Mission (GCOM). The GCOM mission consists of two satellite missions: GCOM-W (called “SHIZUKU”) for observing water cycle and GCOM-C (called “SHIKISAI”) for observing carbon cycle and radiation budget. The GCOM-C satellite was launched from JAXA Tanegashima Space Center on December 23, 2017 (JST). It carries the Second generation Global Imager (SGLI). SGLI is a versatile, general purpose optical and infrared radiometer system covering the wavelength region from near ultraviolet to thermal infrared using two radiometers: Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer (SGLI-VNR) and the Infrared Scanning Radiometer (SGLI-IRS). SGLI is a successor of the Global Imager (GLI) on board the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II), which was launched in 2002.

GCOM-C provides 28 types of Standard products, including aerosols, clouds, vegetation, ocean chlorophyll, sea surface temperature (SST), snow and ice distribution, and snow grain size. In addition to these standard products, Research products are also released, supporting studies on global climate change and carbon cycle monitoring such as evapotranspiration index, fire detection index and snow surface albedo. Based on these products, the GCOM-C aims to provide comprehensive information of the Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) defined by Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). It observes 18 categories of geophysical parameters defined as ECSs related to the atmosphere, ocean, land, and cryosphere, contributing to climate change research. Since its launch, GCOM-C has been continuously observing for over eight years, generating a variety of geophysical data products. Furthermore, by integrating data from similar optical sensors such as MODIS, the mission has enabled the creation of continuous datasets spanning more than 25 years. These data are available through platforms such as G-Portal and JASMES, and for some products, API-based access is also becoming available.