Report on Overseas Visit
CEOS WGCV IVOS Sub Group Meeting & CEOS WGCV Meeting
Ian Barton
September 1997
Itinerary:
29 - 30 August Hobart - Shanghai
1 - 2 September CEOS WGCV IVOS Sub-group meeting
3 - 5 September CEOS WGCV Meeting
5 - 7 September Shanghai - Hobart
NOTE: The minutes of both the IVOS Sub-group meeting and the main WGCV Meeting will both be available on the WWW shortly.
The URL is http://www.eos.co.uk/ceos-calval
The following notes should be read in conjunction with the official minutes of the meetings - but also include some discussions and interactions outside the meetings. I would be happy to supply further clarifications and details if required.
For those travelling to Shanghai (or China) in the future the following notes may assist.
1. I have a good street map of Shanghai if any-one wants to borrow it.
2. Taxis were really cheap compared to Australia.
3. Eating was also quite inexpensive - even in the western hotels.
4. I'd be happy to discuss other issues if you're travelling to China.
The agenda was agreed and accepted.
Minutes of the last meeting were discussed and some outstanding actionitems flagged.
I have agreed to assist the Chinese in placing test site details on the CEOS Dossier Site of the WWW.
Country/Agency reports were presented by:
Stephen Tjemkes - EUMETSAT
Phil Teillet - Canada
Ian Barton - Australia
Kiran Kumar - India
Zhimin Zhang - China
Evert Attema - ESA
Tim Nightingale - UK
Jean-Louis Counil and Aime Maygret - CNES France
Nagaraja Rao - NOAA
Chris Mutlow - UK
(Most country reports are on the WWW.)
Of interest:
Alan Belward (chair of WGCV) reported on IGOS activities and described the 6 projects of the IGOS Strategic Implementation Team (SIT).
Phil Teillet reported on his new concept on Calval.
Nagaraja Rao reported on AVHRR vicarious cal.
The Libyan Test Site Intercalibration was discussed - This is a sister activity to the Infrared intercomparison carried out in Townsville. It was agreed that participants would first identify what data were available for May 1997 - and then a shorter period would be identified.
The state of the different Dossiers was discussed. Ian Barton had started an IVOS bibliography and this was to be passed on to Chris Mutlow who would continue to compile suitable references.
Bob Saunders from NIST, USA gave a presentation on Radiometric Facilities and Plans. NIST are well involved in the cal of space instruments. One interesting possibility was to have some cal facility on the Space Station.
Tim Nightingale talked about the third (and last) Mutsu Bay campaign. His new SISTeR radiometer had performed well and some good coincidences with ATSR-2 had been obtained.
Weihe Wang talked about Chinese test sites and their use in the cal of FY-2. See later comments.
Ian Barton gave a presentation on the early results from the CEOS Infared Intercomparison Project held in Townsville 27 July-02 August.
Other presentations were from Chris Mutlow (ATSR cal-val), S. Tjemkes (Meteosat cal-val), Aime Maygret (SPOT cal) and J-L Counil (POLDER).
More detailed notes are available on request.
The main object of the meeting was identified as how WGCV interacts with the IGOS strategy, and how to work with the Analysis Group (AG) of the Strategic Implementation Team (SIT).
Yves-Louis Desnos reported on the SAR Workshop held in Canada recently, and the Wind-wave Workshop held at ESTEC. The next meeting of the SAR sub-group was to be held in February - details below.
Reports were also presented by Jim Shiue (Passive Microwave Sub-group),
Chris Mutlow (IVOS), Nigel Fox (NPL, UK) and Bob Saunders (NIST).
Ian Barton gave details of the CEOS Infrared Intercomparison Project.
A series of presentations were given by our Chinese hosts on cal-val activities in China. This was followed by tours of the factory where the LongMarch rockets are assembled, the laboratory involved with the development of IR-Vis space senspors and finally a trip up the new communications tower.
Nagaraja Rao gave details of a close collaboration betwee NOAA and China on cal. of geostaionary met. sensors.
Guiseppe Zibordi reported that the European COLORS project had been funded and that 3 ocean colour cal-val sites would be operating in European waters.
The next WGCV meeting would most likely be held in conjunction with COSPAR in Japan during July. Confirmation would be available soon.
CONTACTS:
1. Weihe Wang, China. Several off-line discussions were held on how to calibrate FY-2 and future sensors. China were keen to collaborate on sharing test sites and expertise and were interested in personnel exchange (although I got the feeling that it would be preferable for Australians to go to China than vice-versa). China is developing two test sites which may be attractive for different reasons. Quinghai Lake is to be used for IR work and has the advantage of a high altitude that minimises any water vapor absorption. This could be ideal for testing on-board absolute calibration of IR sensosrs. The DunHuang site in the Gobi Desert looks to be quite uniform and is perhaps a good target for vis NIR sensors.
I have sent Weihe details on our test sites and also pointed him to the CEOS Dossier which can be found through the above CEOS WGCV home page. Ross Mitchell is already in contact with Weihe and further collaboration could develop. I have also sent him info. on the CIGSN sites, as well as brochures on TASCO and EVEREST IR radiometers.
Weihe's contact points are:
Wang Weihe
National Satellite Meteorological Center
China Meteorological Administratyion
Baishiqiao Road 46
Beijing 100081, PRC
Phone +86 10 62172277
Fax. +86 10 62172724
Email bji02@sdb.csdi.ac.cn
fangzy@public3.bta.net.cn
2. Jean-Louis Counil.
Presentation on POLDER. Level 1 data with 6 km resolution are now available and are being sent to PIs.
More info is at
http://www-projet.cst.cnes.fr:8060/polder/Mission.html
3. IGOS
Six pilot projects and leaders are:
| Ozone | Chris Readings | ESA |
| Upper Air | Paul Menzel | NOAA |
| Ocean Data Assimilation | Phillipe Courtier | CNES |
| Ocean Biology | Yukio Haruyama | NASDA |
| Forests | Frank Ahern | CCRS |
| Disaster Management | Helen Wood | NOAA |
4.Next CEOS SAR Workshop
3-6 February at ESTEC, The Netherlands.
Contact is
Y-L Desnos
Chair CEOS SAR Sub-group
Envisat System Division
ESA/ESTEC
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Fax: +31 71 565 5617
Email: ydesnos@jw.estec.esa.nl
5. Information from NOAA
AVHRR cal coeffs are at http://140.90.207.25:8080/EBB/ml/niccal2.html
NOAA/NESDIS are at: http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orahome
For further info contact:
Ian Barton, CSIRO Marine Labs, ian.barton@ml.csiro.au
3 October 1997.