Research Vessel (R/V) MIRAI has received the HRPT (High Resolution Direct Readout) of AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) data of NOAA satellite several times per day. The AVHRR data received by the antenna installed on the rear pilothouse were processed using the TERASCAN system in the ship. The antenna has a gyroscope that enable exact satellite tracking on the rolling vessel. AVHRR covers the wavelength from 0.58 to 12.5 micrometer with five channels, which has 1.1km special resolution at nadir. The AVHRR data is stored in both TERASCAN and a LAC format. The programs that convert binary AVHRR/HRPT and ADCP into GIS format are developed. The NLSST (Non Linear Sea Surface Temperature) are made from AVHRR, where the direction and speed of oceanic current is derived from ADCP. The picture that unified two products into GIS shows the distribution of sea surface temperature, vortex, speed of current and direction. This combined data is useful for prediction of vortex's position, calculation of heat flux near surface current. A batch script of this program saves observer's time by processing data automatically. It is useful for onboard processing in a research vessel. This paper describes the usage of the AVHRR product in the observation and re-analysis.
Understanding of a climate change and prediction of climate is most urgent researches as a global warming is becoming serious. To investigate climate change, international projects, such as WOCE (World Ocean Circulation Experiment) and CLIVAR (CLIVARCLIMATE VARIABILITY AND PREDICTABILITY), has been established. Observation and a simulation are performed for the elucidation of the heat transport of an earth scale, and a climate change. The WOCE has set two goals for the experiment in 1986 (WCRP 1986), Goal 1: To develop models useful for predicting climate change and to collect the data necessary to test them.
