Journal of Oceanography, Vol. 54, pp. 383 to 399.

1998

OCTS Mission Overview

HIROSHI KAWAMURA1,2 and THE OCTS TEAM2*
1Center

for Atmospheric and Oceanic Studies, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University,

Sendai 980, Japan
2OCTS team, NASDA Earth Observation Research Center,
Roppongi First Building, 1-9-9, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106, Japan
(Received 1 April 1998; in revised form 2 September 1998; accepted 2 September 1998)

The Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) on board the Advanced Earth
Observing Satellite (ADEOS) observed the chlorophyll-a concentration in the surface
layer and sea surface temperature in global oceans from October 1996 to June 1997. The
OCTS team was formed in the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA)
Earth Observation Research Center (EORC) to develop algorithm, calibrate and validate
OCTS products and promote OCTS data usage. Intensive efforts to improve the quality
of the OCTS products were made after the launch of ADEOS. Much sea-truth data was
collected, and the algorithms to retrieve the ocean parameters have been revised several
times. The OCTS data were distributed to the user community through the Internet while
OCTS was functioning. An overview of the OCTS mission is presented in this paper.

1. Introduction
The Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS)
was launched by an H-II launch vehicle on 17 August 1996,
carrying eight different sensors for monitoring changes in
the global environment. Its operation was terminated on 30
June 1997 following an unexpected accident of the satellite.
The Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) on
board ADEOS observed the distribution of chlorophyll-a
(Chl-a) in the surface layer of the oceans as well as sea
surface temperature (SST). Although the ADEOS lifetime
was relatively short (about 10 months), OCTS left a huge,
invaluable data set for oceanographic research.
In recent years, global environmental changes originating from human activities have been reaching detectable
levels, causing much concern in regard to their possible
adverse impacts. The main objective of the ADEOS mission
is to contribute to investigating phenomena of the Earth
system through integrated observation of geophysical parameters using the eight sensors. Of the eight sensors,
NASA scatterometer and OCTS were dedicated to
oceanographic studies and applications. Chl-a and SST
images with 700 m spatial resolution were obtained together
with the surface wind vectors in the global oceans. Various
types of research are now being conducted using these
images together with the other observation data. Because of
the unique characteristics of the ADEOS mission, OCTS
data will continue to be of immense value to the oceano-

graphic community.
Prior to this mission, the Coastal Zone Color Scanner
(CZCS) on board the Nimbus-7 satellite was the only source
of global ocean color data. CZCS was launched in 1978 as
a proof-of-concept instrument to demonstrate the feasibility of satellite ocean color remote sensing in monitoring
Chl-a distributions which are related to phytoplankton activities in the global oceans. CZCS operated until 1986 and
contributed greatly to the understanding of marine environment and the biological, biochemical and physical processes in the ocean (Abbott and Chelton, 1991; McClain,
1993; Barale and Schlittenhardt, 1993; Mitchell, 1994). The
CZCS sensor, which had four visible wavebands plus one in
the near infrared and one in the thermal infrared band, was
the first generation of ocean color sensors. After a decade
break in ocean color monitoring, the OCTS sensor, a successor to CZCS, provided the only source of global, highspatial-resolution ocean color data from November 1996 to
June 1997. OCTS can be considered a second-generation
global ocean color sensor. It performed highly sensitive
multispectral observations of the ocean with eight visible
and near-infrared channels and four thermal infrared channels.
The OCTS mission is reviewed in this paper. The
ADEOS sensor and OCTS instruments are described in
Subsections 2.1 and 2.2. The National Space Development
Agency (NASDA) established the Earth Observation Research Center in 1995 and formed the OCTS team to develop
OCTS algorithms, calibrate and validate (Cal/Val) the
products, and encourage OCTS data usage (Subsection 2.3).

*The OCTS Team is formed by NASDA personnel and

supporting scientists listed in Appendix 1.

383
Copyright The Oceanographic Society of Japan.

Keywords:
Ocean Color and
Temperature
Scanner (OCTS),
Advanced Earth
Observing Satellite
(ADEOS),
bio-chemicalphysical interaction,
multi sensor
mission.

Table 1. Chrohology of ADEOS and OCTS, 19951998.

Fig. 1. ADEOS in orbit (NASDA, 1997). The acronyms are defined in Appendix 2.

The OCTS team reorganized preexisting OCTS-related activities for generating OCTS products useful for scientific
and application research. The main OCTS targets were 1)
Chl-a, 2) SST of the global oceans, and 3) Land vegetation
index, and intensive efforts were made to improve quality of
the OCTS products (Section 3). During the OCTS lifetime,
much sea-truth and air-truth data was collected through the
NASDA in situ projects and provided by the cooperating
researchers (Subsection 3.3). Examples of the OCTS images are presented in Section 4. Section 5 is devoted to
384

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

introducing dissemination of the OCTS products. Discussions of the ADEOS mission and oceanography are presented
in Section 6.
2. ADEOS Mission and OCTS Instruments
2.1 ADEOS and sensors
The initial work on ADEOS feasibility began in 1987.
Actual development efforts commenced in 1990, and ADEOS
was launched in August 1996 after nine long years of

Table 2. Sensors aboard ADEOS.

Fig. 2. ADEOS orbits and OCTS coverage on 25 February 1997. Blue swaths show regions observed by the OCTS ocean-high gain,
yellow the ocean-normal gain, and red the land gain.

preparation (NASDA, 1997). Table 1 shows the history of

ADEOS and OCTS for 1995 to 1998.
ADEOS was a large satellite with dimensions of 4 m
4 m 5 m as shown in Fig. 1. When the solar array paddle
(3 m 24 m) and the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) were
deployed in space, ADEOS had a span of 11 m in the flight
direction and 29 m in the perpendicular direction. Its launch
mass was 3,500 kg, and its in-orbit power generation capa-

bility was 4,500 W. It had a sun-synchronous, subrecurrent

polar orbit with an altitude of 796.75 km and an inclination
angle of 98.50 degree. The ADEOS recurrent period was 41
days and one cycle period 100.92 minutes. Descending local
time was set at about 10:30AM. Figure 2 shows an example
of one-day orbits with the OCTS swaths.
ADEOS carried two core sensors (OCTS and AVNIR)
and six Announcement of Opportunity (AO) sensors,
OCTS Mission Overview

385

Fig. 3. Schematic picture showing the swaths of six sensors at the

Earths surface and direction of the ILAS observation. The
relative sizes of swaths drawn in the figure are not correct; the
OCTS swath was about 1400 km, the AVNIR swath 80 km, the
TOMS swath 2,800 km and the NSCAT swaths were 450 km
on each side of the orbit. The POLDER swath dimensions
were 2447 km 1809 km. The IMG observation area was
8 km 8 km on the ground. ILAS looked at the Sun.

NSCAT, TOMS, POLDER, IMG, ILAS and RIS. The instrument providers and the main targets of each sensor in
terms of the Earth environment studies are listed in Table 2,
and the acronyms are defined in Appendix 2. The sensors
were provided by five organizations in Japan, the US and
France, which made the ADEOS mission international and
multidisciplinary. ADEOS observed the Earth environment
using a wide range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to
microwave. The swaths and the utilized wavelengths of
ADEOS sensors are illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.
ADEOS was successfully launched by H-II launch
vehicle No. 4 (H-II 4F) from the Tanegashima Space Center
at 10:53 on 17 August 1996 (Table 1). After ADEOS was
confirmed in orbit, it was named Midori in Japanese,
which is the satellite nickname and means green representing luxuriant trees. The initial operation and initial onorbit checkout phases from August to November 1996
confirmed that all eight sensors functioned well. ADEOS
was supposed to operate for 3 years.
Since the volume of ADEOS observation data was so
huge, the burden of data acquisition was shared by the
NASDA Earth Observation Center (EOC) and NASA ground
stations (the Alaska SAR Facility and the Wallops Flight
Facility). All the data were transferred to EOC, and Level0 products of each sensor were generated for further processing at facilities of the sensor providers.
On 30 June 1997, ADEOS ceased to reply to any
commands from the ground due to a power loss, and NASDA
stopped further operation on 1 July (Table 1).

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram showing observation bands of the ADEOS sensors.

386

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

2.2 OCTS and its operation

The detailed information of OCTS bands is shown in
Table 3, together with the other characteristics. The conceptual drawing of OCTS measurements cited from NASDA
(1997) is depicted in Fig. 5. OCTS performed daytime
observation of the Earths surface using the tilt function to
prevent the OCTS color images from being disturbed by sun
glitter. The sensor swath was about 1400 km (40 degrees),
which covered the whole Earths surface within 3 days.
Figure 2 shows an example of the OCTS global coverage in
one day and the operation gains for the ocean and land. For
seasonal and latitudinal changes of the sun altitude and the
alternation of land and ocean in the view, the OCTS gain was
changed several times per orbit. Its spatial resolution was
700 m at the surface, which is finer than resolutions of
CZCS, SeaWiFS and AVHRR.
ADEOS had a subsystem called Direct Transmission
for Local users (DTL), which was developed for real-time
broadcasting of the 4-band data (443 nm, 565 nm, 665 nm,
11.0 m) with 6 km spatial resolution. The transmission
frequency of DTL was 467.7 MHz, and the data rate 23.4375
kbps (Table 3). The coarse image data with the relevant
telemetry data was transmitted to local users for applications
research.
The first visible and near-infrared images of OCTS
were acquired on 3 September, and the first infrared images
on 1 October 1996 (Table 1). OCTS data was collected from
14 October 1996 while the initial operation and on-orbit

checkout were conducted. The post-launch evaluation of the

satellite and sensors was terminated on 25 November, and
the on-orbit routine operation phase started on 26 November
1996 and continued until 29 June 1997. The initial checkout
proved that the OCTS instrument was performing at or
beyond engineering specifications (Oaku et al., 1997;
Shimada et al., 1998).
Using the algorithms developed by the OCTS team in
the Earth Observation Research Center (EORC), EOC
processed the OCTS data to generate the Level 1, 2 and 3
products. For semi-real-time distribution of the OCTS
products to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and
Japan Fisheries Information Service Center (JAFIC), EOC
processed the OCTS data around Japan received by their
antenna within 3 hours after reception. These products were
also registered in the I-LAC database (see Section 5) for
access through the internet.
2.3 The OCTS team and NASDA EORC
NASDA established EORC in April 1995 (Table 1).
EORC is responsible for conducting high-level analyses
including algorithm development, carrying out pilot projects,
and promoting the use of Earth observation data; NASDA
Headquarters (Earth Observation Promotion Division) coordinates general matters for Earth observation. EOC receives and archives satellite observation data and generates
standard satellite products (NASDA, 1997).
The OCTS team, which consists of NASDA personnel

Table 3. Characteristics of OCTS.

OCTS Mission Overview

387

Fig. 5. Conceptual drawing of OCTS measurement (NASDA, 1997).

and non-NASDA researchers, was formed in July 1995

(Table 1). The members are listed in Appendix 1. The OCTS
team develops the OCTS algorithms and evaluates the
generated products through calibration and validation for
scientific and applications research. Integrating all the preexisting OCTS-related activities, the OCTS team screened
and reorganized these activities for the OCTS Cal/Val and
algorithm development. The supporting scientists joined the
team to perform in situ oceanographic observations and
cooperate with the NASDA personnel in the OCTS Cal/Val.
At the same time, the suggestions relating to the product
generation and distribution to promote research using the
OCTS data were reviewed by the supporting scientists. The
cooperative relationship between the non-NASDA researchers and NASDA personnel was maintained throughout the OCTS team working period.
3. OCTS Algorithms and Product Generation
3.1 Algorithms for the OCTS products
Light intensity observed by satellite over the clear-sky
ocean is significantly influenced by the atmosphere. In order
to retrieve the ocean color information from the OCTS
observations, the obtained signals must be corrected for the
atmospherically induced changes. Fukushima et al. (1998)
developed an atmospheric correction algorithm to retrieve
the upward radiance at the water surface from the OCTS
data. Sharing the some basic structure with the SeaWiFS
algorithm by Gordon and Wang (1994), the OCTS algorithm
uses ten candidate aerosol models including the Asian dust
388

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

model (Fukushima and Toratani, 1997).

An in-water algorithm was developed by Kishino et al.
(1998) to retrieve Chl-a concentration, pigment concentration and attenuation coefficient at a wavelength of 490 nm
from the atmospherically corrected OCTS data. They adopted
empirical formulae including water leaving radiance of
three OCTS bands and used the 77 bio-optical measurements
made in the oceans around Japan for the algorithm development. It has been shown that the Chl-a estimated by the in
situ radiance at the water surface agrees well with the in situ
Chl-a in the range below 10 mg/m3.
A multi channel SST (MCSST) algorithm was made
using data of three infrared bands (Sakaida et al., 1998). A
unique point of the OCTS MCSST algorithm is usage of the
8.5 m band (see Table 3), which was not provided by the
pervious sensors, together with the bands of 10.5 and 11.5
m. The formula was tuned by using the sea-truth SSTs
obtained from buoys in the global oceans.
An algorithm for the OCTS vegetation index is still
being developed (August 1998). Since field experiments
were planned for the summer of 1997, the research schedule
to collect the ground truth-data was completely upset. The
OCTS vegetation products will be generated around the end
of 1998 by acquiring vicarious ground truth data and examining it together with other satellite data.
3.2 OCTS calibration
Optical sensors on board satellites degrade while functioning in space. Since the degradation influences the quality
of the sensor products, continuous calibration of the sensor

Table 4. List of sea-truth data providers for OCTS Cal/Val.

outputs is essential. While OCTS was functioning, the

observed radiance of each band was calibrated using internal
calibration sources and OCTS observation data, i.e., internal
lamps, sunlight, nighttime data, and uniform ground target
data (Oaku et al., 1997; Shimada et al., 1998). Radiometric

calibration using the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging

Spectrometer (AVIRIS) was first tried for vicarious calibration of the ocean color sensor; AVIRIS on board an
aircraft flying at an altitude of 20,000 m observed the clearsky ocean when OCTS overflew. The OCTS radiance estiOCTS Mission Overview

389

mated by the preflight calibration data agreed with that

obtained by AVIRIS within 3 to 7% differences (Shimada et
al., 1998). It can be concluded through the above-mentioned
calibrations that the degradation of OCTS visible bands was
not significant during the ten-month OCTS lifetime.
The outputs of infrared bands were calibrated by the
space radiance and the on board black body as a warm target.
The black body temperature was monitored at five points
(Oaku et al., 1997).
3.3 Validation and algorithm tuning
3.3.1 Acquisition of sea-truth data for ocean color products
In order to validate the OCTS products and tune the
algorithms to improve the quality of the target geophysical
parameters, the OCTS team collected many in situ observations. Ship-observed Chl-a and optical measurements were
provided by the various organizations and researchers listed
in Table 4. While OCTS was functioning, 1,666 Chl-a
observations and 496 observations of in situ sea surface
radiance were collected.
The Yamato Bank optical moored buoy system (YBOM)
was specially designed to calibrate and validate OCTS and
NSCAT (Ishizaka et al., 1997; Kishino et al., 1997). A
photograph and schematic drawing of YBOM are shown in

Fig. 6. This buoy was deployed at 392906 N, 135516

E over the Yamato Bank, which is in the central part of the
Japan sea, in August 1996. Two underwater radiometers
were installed on the buoy at depths of 1.8 m and 6.8 m to
measure spectra of the upward radiance and downward
irradiance. Incident irradiance at 860 nm was measured at
5.2 m height in the air. In vivo chlorophyll fluorescence was
also measured by a fluorometer. Marine meteorological
parameters and sea water temperatures were also measured.
The buoy transmitted some observation data in real time
through the Data Collection System of Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5. The observation period was from
August 1996 to June 1997. The collected data were used for
the OCTS and NSCAT calibration and validation (e.g.,
Shimada et al., 1998; Kawamura and Wu, 1998).
The National Research Institute of Fisheries Agency
(NRIFS) and NASDA concluded a special agreement to
promote the OCTS Cal/Val and applications of OCTS data.
Under this agreement, the Fisheries Agency and NASDA
planned a practical demonstration of the DTL subsystem
and ADEOS data applicability for forecasting promising
fishing grounds. The DTL receivers were specially developed and installed on research vessels to examine its feasibility for fisheries. To demonstrate the applicability of

Fig. 6. (a) Photograph of the deployed Yamato Bank optical moored buoy system (YBOM), and (b) its schematic diagram (Kishino
et al., 1997).
390

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

OCTS data for fisheries, the Chl-a and SST products were
distributed to the fishery research community through the
Internet in the intensive LAC project described in Section 5.
In order to collect reliable Chl-a data for validating the
OCTS-estimated Chl-a, a round robin workshop was held
to compare Chl-a measurements eight months before the
ADEOS launch (Furuya, 1996). This was a kind of blind
test in which Chl-a solutions were distributed to participants from 14 research institutes and 12 universities, and the
measurements results were returned. The comparison shows
that the measurements agreed well with the true values
determined by HPLC, which demonstrates that Chl-a obtained by the fluorometric and spectrophotometric determinations can be used as reliable sea-truth data. Based on
the comparison experience, a manual (Kishino et al., 1996)
describing methods to conduct bio-optical measurements
for OCTS Cal/Val was compiled for distribution to Japanese
sea-truth data providers.
A field experiment called the Sanriku Campaign was
specially planned for the OCTS Cal/Val and demonstration
of OCTS applicability in scientific and applications research. The campaign was conducted in the northwestern
Pacific Ocean off the Sanriku coast during the spring of
1997. Much and various types of in situ observation data was
collected. The data was subsequently used for the OCTS
Cal/Val and combined with the OCTS products for the
oceanographic studies presented in the special issue of the
Journal of Oceanography (Saino, 1998).
3.3.2 Validation and algorithm tuning
To generate the OCTS products in NASDA EOC, the
retrieval algorithm has been modified several times. The
higher product version numbers correspond to significant
improvements of the OCTS algorithm. A CZCS-type atmospheric correction algorithm proposed by Fukushima et
al. (1997) was applied to generate the Ver. 1.0 OCTS color
products from November 1996 to March 1997. The OCTStype atmospheric correction algorithm was used for Ver. 2.0
product generation from April 1997, though the algorithms
were still under development. The Ver. 3.0 products were
generated from October 1997 after the ADEOS failure.
Product generation using the Ver. 4.0 algorithm began in
June 1997 (Table 1). The algorithms used for the Ver. 3.0
products were described in detail by Fukushima et al. (1998),
Kishino et al. (1998), and Sakaida et al. (1998). The latest
algorithm for the Ver. 4.0 products is briefly introduced by
Mitomi et al. (1998) and will be fully described elsewhere.
OCTS Ver. 3.0 Chl-a products were validated; the
estimated Chl-a correlates well with the in situ Chl-a but is
a little overestimated below 2 mg/m3 . The estimated Chl-a
tends to saturate in a sea-truth range above 2 mg/m3 (Shimada
et al., 1998). In order to compare the accuracy of the Ver. 3.0
and 4.0 Chl-a, an error factor (EF) is defined as
EF = 10r,

where

r=

1 N
log10 (OCTS_ Chl - a )i log10 (in situ_ Chl - a )i
N i

and N is the total number of match-up data sets (Mitomi et

al., 1998). EFs of the estimated Chl-a for the ranges below
2 mg/m3 and above 2 mg/m3 were 1.67 and 3.53. EF for the
whole Chl-a range was 2.20. These tendencies of Ver. 3.0
Chl-a were confirmed through validation using the sea-truth
Chl-a data collected in global oceans.
In March 1998, the OCTS team started tuning the Ver.
3.0 algorithm to eliminate the bias and extend the proportional range according to the accumulated understanding of
the OCTS sensor and the algorithms (Shimada et al., 1998;
Fukushima et al., 1998). The main modification of the algorithm was made for atmospheric correction, especially
the aerosol selection method (Mitomi et al., 1998). It was
found (Shimada et al., 1998; Mitomi et al., 1998) that the
estimation errors of color products strongly depend on the
ratios of the OCTS radiances based on the preflight calibration
to those based on the vicarious calibration. In the algorithm
development for the Ver. 4.0 products, the ratios were
treated as the algorithm correction coefficients of input
radiance and tuned to minimize the estimation errors of
products against the sea-truth radiance and Chl-a (Mitomi et
al., 1998).
Figure 7 compares the Ver. 4.0 Chl-a and the in situ
Chl-a (Mitomi et al., 1998). The bias seen in the Ver. 3.0

Fig. 7. Comparison of in-situ Chl-a and Ver. 4.0 estimated Chla.

OCTS Mission Overview

391

Fig. 8. Comparison of Ver. 3.0 and Ver. 4.0 Chl-a values estimated in the global oceans from 16 February to 20 March 1997. The color
shows the frequency of appearance.

products below 2 mg/m3 (Shimada et al., 1998) was removed, and the estimation for Chl-a above 2 mg/m 2 was
improved. The EF of the Ver. 4.0 Chl-a below 2 mg/m3 is
1.83 and that above 2 mg/m3 is 2.61. For the whole Chl-a
range, the EF was 2.05. The estimation accuracy of the Ver.
4.0 products is improved for the higher Chl-a values and for
the whole range. Note that Chl-a values estimated by the in
situ radiances through the in-water algorithm by Kishino et
al. (1998) tend to deviate from the sea-truth Chl-a above 10
mg/m 3.
The comparison between Ver. 3.0 and Ver. 4.0 EFs
demonstrates that the algorithm tuning significantly improved
the estimate accuracy. The Ver. 4.0 normalized waterleaving radiance also shows better agreements with in situ
observations than Ver. 3.0 (Mitomi et al., 1998). The tuning
results can be visualized well by viewing Fig. 8, which
compares Ver. 3.0 and Ver. 4.0 Chl-a in the global oceans
from 16 February to 20 March 1997. This confirms that the
above-mentioned tuning was effective for Chl-a products in
the global oceans.
392

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

The SST products were also validated, and OCTS Ver.

3.0 SSTs were shown to have an rms error of 0.7 K (Sakaida
et al., 1998) with respect to buoy-observed SSTs.
4. OCTS Global and LAC Images
The OCTS Ver. 3.0 products released in October 1997
have been used for various types of research, some results of
which were published in a special issue of the Journal of
Oceanography (Saino, 1998). Figures 9 and 10 show examples of the monthly Chl-a and SST distribution in the
global oceans for April 1997. The high quality of the OCTS
Chl-a field is demonstrated, capturing characteristic Chl-a
patterns in the global oceans.
Figure 11 shows the OCTS Chl-a distribution in the
Pacific Ocean off Peru and Chile. The image has the highest
spatial resolution of 700 m. Along the coastline, high concentrations of Chl-a are observed. An eddy-like structure is
prominent off the Patagonia coast, and a wavy pattern
reminiscent of fluid dynamical instability is seen off the
coast of northern Chile. Fine features near the coast and

OCTS Mission Overview

393

Fig. 9. Monthly Chl-a distribution for the global oceans for April 1997 observed by OCTS on board ADEOS. The version 3.0 algorithm
is used for the processing. The lands, clouds and the flagged pixels are shown in black.

394

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

Fig. 10. Monthly SST distribution for the global oceans for April 1997 observed by OCTS on board ADEOS. The version 3.0 algorithm
is used for the processing. The lands, clouds and the flagged pixels are shown in black.

Fig. 11. Chl-a distribution in the Pacific Ocean off Peru and Chile on 4 April 1997. The image has the highest spatial resolution of
700 m. The lands are shown in gray, and the clouds and the flagged pixels in black.
OCTS Mission Overview

395

Fig. 12. SST distribution in the Pacific Ocean off Peru and Chile on 4 April 1997. The image has the highest spatial resolution of
700 m. The lands are shown in gray, and the clouds and the flagged pixels in black.
396

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

inside the eddies were well represented in the Chl-a image.

Figure 12 depicts the SST image with a spatial resolution of
700 m obtained at the same time as the Chl-a image of Fig.
11. Although the patterns in both images are similar, the
detailed features are not the same. These differences should
be investigated in detail to understand the bio-physical
interactions in the upper ocean. These images demonstrate
the characteristics and capability of OCTS as a powerful
tool for oceanography, i.e., the combination of the simultaneously acquired Chl-a and SST images with a fine spatial
resolution of 700 m.
5. Dissemination of OCTS Products
The OCTS products are distributed to the ADEOS
principal investigators from NASDA EOC. The OCTS
Level-3 products (global maps) showing Chl-a concentrations and SSTs in the global oceans can be obtained from
NASDA EORC home page (http://www.eorc.nasda.go.jp/)
and EOC home page (http://www.eoc.nasda.go.jp/). Information of the OCTS/ADEOS is available from the NASDA
EORC home page.
In order to distribute the OCTS images in a timely
manner, the Intensive LAC (I-LAC) project was initiated in
December 1996. In this project, NASDA EORC distributes,
through the internet, the daily images of OCTS Chl-a and SST
with the highest spatial resolution for the oceans around
Japan. The project name stands for intensive processing of
OCTS images for a local area coverage.
Throughout the OCTS lifetime, the OCTS I-LAC images were generated by using the updated algorithms (Table
1), and all the Chl-a and SST images in the oceans around
Japan are archived in NASDA EORC. Monthly records of
the I-LAC data distribution are shown in Fig. 13, which
indicates that distribution of the I-LAC images increased
with time until the very end of the ADEOS operation. The
highest access rate in a day, about 1 Gbyte, was recorded on
18 June 1997. The I-LAC project is carried out in cooperation with I-LAC partners (NASA, NOAA, ESA, JRC).

Fig. 13. Monthly volume of the I-LAC data transfer through the
internet from August 1996 to September, 1997.

NASDA provides regional OCTS data with the partners to

promote research using the OCTS data. The OCTS images
of the US waters are distributed by NASA through the
Internet (http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/).
6. DiscussionsADEOS Mission and Oceanography
During the lifetime of ADEOS, ocean color in the
global oceans was observed from space together with surface wind vector by NSCAT. Since the TOPX/POSEIDON
mission and ERS-1/2 mission were being conducted in
parallel, the global oceans were investigated by an almost
complete set of satellite sensors for oceanography. OCTS
observed the global oceans with 700 m spatial resolution,
which was achieved by powerful data recorders on board
ADEOS. This means that any small area of the global oceans
can be investigated by the OCTS images with the highest
spatial resolution. The data volume obtained by the OCTS
observation is about 4700 GByte which is much larger than
obtained by CZCS for 1978 to 1986. All the observation data
are archived in NASDA EOC, together with the data of other
ADEOS sensors. In a historical context of satellite oceanography, the ADEOS mission may be characterized by 1)
multi sensor observations for the ocean surface layer and 2)
global coverage of ocean color and SST with 700 m spatial
resolution.
Although there are many social requirements originating
from the necessity of monitoring the coastal environments,
coastal waters are technically difficult targets in terms of the
ocean color remote sensing. The large variability in the
coastal waters and the atmosphere over the seas near land
produces various types of errors in the ocean color products.
In order to improve the ocean color technology to meet the
social requirements, we must conduct intensive regional
research for each of the coastal waters. The Intensive LAC
project, in which the OCTS data were passed to the partners
for research of their coastal waters, was motivated to conduct feasibility research of the world coastal ocean monitoring. Using the OCTS observation data with the same
quality and the high spatial resolution for the global coastal
seas, we can compare results of the regional research. The
NSCAT 25-km wind product specially designed for research of the coastal seas will support the OCTS investigations.
Since ADEOS carried eight sensors, it becomes possible
to investigate the same points on the Earth with different
wavelengths, angles, and polarizations (Figs. 3 and 4).
Combined use of the OCTS data with the data from the other
sensors may enable us to understand the characteristics of
OCTS signals and to retrieve highly accurate parameters
(NASDA, 1997). POLDER had visible and near-infrared
channels similar to those of OCTS. While the OCTS spatial
resolution (700 m) was finer than that of POLDER (about 7
km), POLDER measured polarization by three visible and
near-infrared channels, and observed the same point from

OCTS Mission Overview

397

nine different angles. Combined use of POLDER and OCTS

data may improve the atmospheric correction and retrieval
of ground parameters. The spatial resolution of AVNIR
visible and near infrared bands was quite high, approximately 16 m at the Earths surface. AVNIR could image the
Earth surface in the OCTS sub-pixel, which contributes to
understanding effects from the subpixel clouds, white caps,
and the fine ground-surface features on the OCTS parameter
retrieval. The measurement principle of IMG was the
Michelson interferometer. IMG looked downward to measure the radiance of atmospheric radiation in the thermal
infrared band with a high spectral resolution as well as high
radiometric accuracy. SST retrieval using the OCTS infrared channels may be improved by comparing radiance from
both sensors and by examining the IMG-derived atmospheric
temperature and water vapor profiles.
Although the ADEOS lifetime was not so long, OCTS
and NSCAT left a huge new data set for oceanography. It
reminds us of Seasat, which was launched in 1978. The
lifetime of Seasat was only 3 months. However, its observation data was carefully analyzed and used to produce
numerous scientific and remote sensing papers, contributing to the understanding of physical aspects of global oceans
(Katsaros and Brown, 1991). ADEOS was the first to realize
simultaneous acquisition of Chl-a, SST, and surface winds
in the global oceans. We believe that the ADEOS mission
will contribute to progress of understanding biological,
chemical and physical interaction in the surface layer of the
global oceans.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Mr. T. Tanaka (the previous
director of EORC), Dr. Y. Toba (the previous Chief Scientist
of EORC), and Professor H. Shimoda (the ADEOS project
scientist) for their support and encouragement. We also
thank one anonymous reviewer for valuable comments and
suggestions on this manuscript.
Appendix 1. The OCTS Team
Location:
National Space Development Agency of Japan, Earth Observation Research Center
Roppongi First Building, 1-9-9, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
106, Japan
NASDA Pesonnel:
Hiroshi Kawamura (Leader)
Masanobu Shimada (Sub leader)
Yasuhisa Nakamura (Sub leader)
Hiromi Oaku (Calibration-group leader)
Yasushi Mitomi (Algorithm-group leader)
Akira Mukaida (Validation-group leader)
Hiroshi Murakami (Application-group leader)

398

H. Kawamura and The OCTS Term

Supporting Scientists
Hajime Fukushima (Tokai University)
Ken Furuya (University of Tokyo)
Yoshiaki Honda (Chiba University)
Joji Ishizaka (Nagasaki University)
Kiyoshi Kawasaki (National Research Institute for Fisheries Research)
Motoaki Kishino (Institute of Physical and Chemical Research)
Satsuki Matsumura (National Research Institute for Far
Seas Fisheries)
Masao Moriyama (Nagasaki University)
Teruyuki Nakajima (University of Tokyo)
Futoki Sakaida (Kobe University of Mercantile Marine)
Sei-ichi Saitoh (Hokkaido University)
Toshiro Saino (Nagoya University)
Yasuhiro Senga (Tokai University)
Sumio Tanba (Hirosaki University)
Appendix 2. Acronyms
ADEOS: Advanced Earth Observation Satellite
AOCS: Attitude and Orbit Control System
AO: Announcement of Opportunity
AVNIR: Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer
AVIRIS: Airborne Visible and Inrared Imaging Spectrometer
CNES: Centre National dEtudes Spatiales
C&DH: Communication and Data Handling
Cal/Val: calibration/validation
Chl-a: chlorophyll-a
DT: Direct Transmission Subsystem
DTL: Direct Transmission for Local users
EA: Environment Agency
EOC: Earth Observation Center
EORC: Earth Observation Research Center
EPS: Electrical Power Subsystem
ESA: European Space Agency
GAC: Global Area Coverage
GMS: Geostationary Meteorological Satellite
GSFC: Goddard Space Flight Center
ILAS: Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer
IMG: Interferometric Monitor for Greenhouse Gasses
IOCS: Inter Orbit Communication Subsystem
JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSNFRI: Japan Sea National Fisheries Research Institute
LAC: Local Area Coverage
MDP: Mission Data Processor
MITI: Ministry of International Trade and Industry
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA: National Space Development Agency of Japan
NNFRI: Nansei National Fisheries Research Institute
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NRIFS: National Research Institute of Fisheries Agency
NRIFSF: National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries

NSCAT: NASA Scatterometer

OCTS: Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner
PDL: Paddle Subsystem
POLDER: Polarization and Directionality of the Earths
Reflectance
RIS: Retroreflector In Space
SeaWiFS: Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
SNR: Signal-to-Noise Ratio
SST: Sea Surface Temperature
TOMS: Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
References
Abbott, M. R. and D. B. Chelton (1991): Advances in passive
remote sensing of the ocean. U.S. Natl. Rep. Int. Union. Geod.
Geophys. 19871990, Rev. Geophys., 29, 571589.
Barale, V. and P. M. Schlittenhardt (eds.) (1993): Ocean Colour:
Theory and Applications in a Decade of CZCS Experience.
Kluwer Academic Pub., 367 pp.
Fukushima, H. and M. Toratani (1997): Asian dust aerosol:
Optical effect on satellite ocean color signal. J. Geophys. Res.,
102, 1719717207.
Fukushima, H., A. Higurashi, Y. Mitomi, T. Nakajima, T. Noguchi,
T. Tanaka and M. Toratani (1998): Correction of atmospheric
effect on ADEOS/OCTS ocean color data: Algorithm description and evaluation of its performance. J. Oceanogr., 54,
this volume, 417430.
Furuya, K. (1996): Chlorophyll-a measurement by fluorometric
determination. p. 1025. In Manual for Sea-Truth Data Acquisition for Calibration/Validation, ed. by M. Kishino, K.
Kawasaki and K. Furuya, NASDA/EORC OCTS Tech. Momo.
Vol. 3, NASDA/EORC (in Japanese).
Gordon, H. R. and M. Wang (1994): Retrieval of water-leaving
radiance and aerosol optical thickness over the oceans with
SeaWiFS: a preliminary algorithm. Applied Optics, 33, 443
452.
Ishizaka, J., I. Asanuma, N. Ebuchi, H. Fukushima, H. Kawamura,
K. Kawasaki, M. Kishino, M. Kubota, H. Masuko, S.
Matsumura, S. Saitoh, Y. Senga, M. Shimanuki, N. Tomii and
M. Utashima (1997): Time series of physical and biological
parameters off Shimane, Japan, during fall of 1993: First
observation by moored optical buoy system for ADEOS data
verification. J. Oceanogr., 53, 245258.
Katsaros, K. and B. Brown (1991): Legacy of the Seasat mission
for studies of atmosphere and air-sea-ice interactions. Bull.

American Met. Soc., 72, 967981.

Kawamura, H. and P. M. Wu (1998): Formation mechanism of the
Japan Sea Proper Water in the flux center off Vladivostok. J.
Geophys. Res. (in press).
Kishino, M., K. Kawasaki and K. Furuya (1996): Manual for seatruth data acquisition for Calibration/Validation. NASDA/
EORC OCTS Tech. Momo. Vol. 3, NASDA/EORC, 25 pp. (in
Japanese).
Kishino, M., J. Ishizaka, S. Saitoh, Y. Senga and M. Utashima
(1997): Verification plan of OCTS atmospheric correction
and phytoplankton pigment by moored optical buoy system. J.
Geophys. Res., 102, 1719717207.
Kishino, M., T. Ishimaru, K. Furuya, T. Oishi and K. Kawasaki
(1998): In-water Algorithms for ADEOS/OCTS. J. Oceanogr.,
54, this volume, 431436.
McClain, C. R. (1993): Review of major CZCS applications: U.S.
case studies. In Ocean Colour: Theory and Applications in a
Decade of CZCS Experience, ed. by V. Barale and P. M.
Schlittenhardt, Kluwer Academic Pub., Norwell, Mass., 167
188.
Mitchell, B. G. (1994): Coastal zone color scanner retrospective.
J. Geophys. Res., 99, 72917292.
Mitomi, Y., M. Toratani, M. Shimada, H. Oaku, H. Murakami, A.
Mukaida, H. Fukushima and J. Ishizaka (1998): Evaluation of
OCTS standard ocean color products: Comparison between
satellite-derived and ship measured values. Proceedings of
The 4th Pacific Ocean Remote Sensing Conference,
Qingdao, China, July 2831, 1998, 115119.
NASDA (1997): ADEOS Reference Handbook, NASDA/EORC,
1-9-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 337 pp.
Oaku, H., M. Shimada, Y. Mitomi and Y. Miyachi (1997): Calibration of Ocean Color Temperature Scanner (OCTS).
GEOCARTO International, 12(4), 1520.
Saino, T. (1998): Foreword. J. Oceanogr., 54, this volume, 381
382.
Sakaida, F., M. Moriyama, H. Murakami, H. Oaku, Y. Mitomi, A.
Mukaida and H. Kawamura (1998): The sea surface temperature
product algorithm of the ocean color and temperature scanner
(OCTS)/ADEOS-I and its accuracy. J. Oceanogr., 54, this
volume, 437442.
Shimada, M., H. Oaku, Y. Mitomi, H. Murakami, A. Mukaida, Y.
Nakamura, J. Ishizaka, H. Kawamura, T. Tanaka, M. Kishino
and H. Fukushima (1998): Calibration and validation of the
ocean color version 3 products from ADEOS OCTS. J.
Oceanogr., 54, this volume, 401416.

OCTS Mission Overview

399