1. Japanese perspective on GIIPSY Jinro Ukita (Chiba University)
ALOS (Advanced Land Observation System) provides timely contribution from Japan to GIIPSY, launched on Jan for 3-5 yr mission and just became operational with three sensors
PRISM – Panchromatic radiometer ( mm) with 2.5 m resolution and 75km/35km (nadir/triplet only) swath for digital surface mapping
AVNIR-2 – Advanced visible and near IR radiometers in 4 bands ( mm) with 10m resolution and 75km swath
PALSAR – L-band SAR with 7-44m, 14-88m and 100m resolution (single, dual, polarimatric) and 40-70km and km (single and ScanSAR) swath in 4 sensor modes
As regarding the GIIPSY and the IPY period, the most timely and significant contribution from Japan would be our satellite ALOS.
2006 AGU Fall Meeting

2. Summary table for PALSAR default modes
Mode Name
Pol
Off-nadir
angle
Pass
Coverage
Period
Obs frequency
Fine beam
Single HH
34.3
Ascend.
Global
Dec-Feb
1-2 per yr
Dual
HH, HV
May-Sep
1-4 per yr
Polari-
matric
21.5
Regional
Mar-May
2 per 2yr
ScanSAR
Descend.
Thru yr
1 per yr
8 per yr
Observational schedule with specific dates during the IPY period is available at

3. Acquisition plan for ascending during IPY(v10/2006)
Cycle
Starting date
Polarization 8
5-Dec-06 HH 9
20-Jan-07 10
7-Mar-07
Polarimetry 11
22-Apr-07
Polarimatric 12
7-Jun-07
Dual 13
23-Jul-07 14
7-Sep-07 15
23-Oct-07
Unassigned 16
8-Dec-07 17
23-Jan-08 18
9-Mar-08 19
24-Apr-08 20
9-Jun-08 21
25-Jul-08 22
9-Sep-08 23
25-Oct-08 24
10-Dec-08 25
25-Jan-09 26
12-Mar-09 27
27-Apr-09
Acquisition plan for ascending during IPY(v10/2006)
Light: Greenland
Dark: Antarctic
Red : Both
Cycle 8 (Dec – Jan 2007)
Greenland?
Based on JAXA’s website at

4. Current PIs on ALOS mission listed under the cryosphere
(can be contact points)
M. Drinkwater (ESTEC) Thin winter and summer ice in the Antarctic and Arctic
D. Flett (CIS) Regional ice monitoring
R. Forster (U of Utah) Arctic seasonal snow melt as detected
R. Kwok (JPL) Sea ice
A. Luckman (U of Wales) Svalbard glaciers
R. Massom (Antarctic CRC) Fast-ice and polynyas in East Antarctica
K. McDonald (JPL) Boreal landscape freeze/thaw dynamics
E. Rignot (JPL) Ice sheet flow in Antarctica and Greenland
J. Shi (UCSB) Snow properties
K.Shum (Ohio) Filchner-Ronne ice shelf
L. C. Smith UCLA) Arctic river systems
C. Tsatsoulis (Kansas) Fram Strait sea ice
N. Young (Antarctic CRC) Ice shelves and glaciers in East Antarctica
M. Aniya (U of Tsukuba) Patagonia icefield
Cho (Tokai U) Okhotsk Sea
H. Wakabayashi (Nihon U) Okhotsk sea ice

5. Possible issues to discuss and action items
Ways to make requests and feedback from the GIIPSY community to JAXA – established channel through the current PIs?
Maybe speak up for un-assigned mode
Boundary regions, e.g. 60 deg N
Arctic Ocean
IPY Legacy (e.g. Greenland during Cycle 26-7)
Current PIs and future AOs – (2nd AO with Feb 15 deadline but only for ALOS Data Node Asia/Russia)
Lack and absence of direct involvement by Japanese scientists
The IPY provides an opportunity to build remote sensing cryosphere obs community in Japan for the benefits of GIIPSY and beyond – so what to do?