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The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

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Kyoto University Graduate Schol of Science, Associate Professor, Shoichi Shige

Creation and evaluation of a global precipitation map using satellite data

Research grant

Project Description

Research on the distribution of global precipitation and its changes are essential for clarifying the causal relation with climate change, establishing a water circulation model, conserving water resources, maintaining an ecological environment and predicting agricultural productivity. As a result, it is important to create a global precipitation map based on reliable observations, which utilizes data from satellites. This purpose of this research is to create a global precipitation map over 3 years using a microwave radiometre equipped man-made satellite and infrared radiation data in order to evaluate this research under an international collaborative research framework. Our assessment will also include the evaluation of precipitation maps created by each country's research team participating in the IPWG/PEHRPP (an organization sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization). This research consists of cooperation between five organisations; Kyoto University, Osaka University, Tottori University of Environmental Studies, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology.

Fields
Climate change
Grant year
FY2007 Research Grants
Grant term
3 years
April 2008 - March 2011
Grant amount
14,404,740 yen
Activity region
Earth (particularly tropical and subtropical zones)
(Above) May 3 2008 global satellite precipitation map using the GSMaP (Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation) algorithm (Below) Enlarged view of the cyclone that hit Myanmar (image provided by JAXA)

Overview of the Organization

Associate Professor, Shoichi Shige
Representative
Associate Professor, Shoichi Shige
Profile
Specialist field
Meteorology, climatology earth observation. Research related to the estimation of latent heat and precipitation using man-made satellite data
Affiliated academic societies
The Meteorological Society of Japan, American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, The Remote Sensing Society of Japan, IEEE Geoscience society and remote sensing society
Background
Graduated in 2001 from Kyoto University Graduate School of Science doctoral course, Joined JAXA in 2001 as a visiting research scholar. Joined Osaka Prefecture University Graduate School of Engineering College of Engineering as an assistant in 2004, and became an associate professor in 2007. Joined Kyoto University Graduate School of Science as an associate professor in 2009 as a Doctor of Science
Collaborating researchers
Tottori University of Environmental Studies Professor Kenichi Okamoto, Osaka University Associate Professor Tomio Ushio, JAXA senior development staff Misako Kachi, JAXA reseracher Takushi Kubota, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology group leader Toshio Iguchi
Research achievements
  • (1) Shige, S., T. Watanabe, et al., 2008: Validation ofwestern and eastern Pacific rainfall estimates from the TRMM PR using a radiative transfer model. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D15116, doi:10.1029/2007JD009002
  • (2) Shige, S., Y. N. Takayabu, et al., 2007: Spectral retrieval of latent heating profiles from TRMM PR data. Part II: Algorithm improvement and heating estimates over tropicalocean regions. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 46, 1098-1124.