The ESC is the ground station of the world’s first geostationary air quality satellite instrument. The Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) is capable of monitoring air pollutants and climate forcers, eight times during daylight. Its coverage ranges from Japan to India in the east-west direction, and from Mongolia to Indonesia in the north-south direction.

The spaced-based observation enables real-time monitoring of long-range transboundary air pollution and identification of its sources and transport characteristics, which can contribute to improving the accuracy of air quality forecasts.

Ground-based remote sensing instruments that measure atmospheric chemical composition by altitude will be installed in 13 Asian countries within the GEMS domain to validate GEMS data, which will be shared with Asian countries. GEMS data can serve as a reliable source of scientific knowledge for policy to improve air quality at a national and regional level. The ESC will be at the center of the international cooperation to address air pollution.

The techniques under development to detect and estimate in/outflow of trans-border air pollution, calculate near-surface concentrations of particulate matter and other major pollutants, and compensate for missing data caused by cloud cover will expand the applications of GEMS data

We are also planning to make the best use of satellite data by combining measurements from other environmental satellites such as the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI2) and the Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI).

Accumulation of the 20 types of GEMS products will also enable further research on climate change, ecology, and human toxicity associated with air pollution.

Moreover, once the other geostationary air quality missions from the U.S. (TEMPO) and Europe (Sentinel-4) scheduled to be launched within a couple of years are in operation, the constellation will cover most of the northern hemisphere and the international cooperation to improve global air quality will even be enhanced.

Your support and encouragement will keep us motivated and on-track to achieve our goals for a better environment for people to live in. Thank you.

Lee Dong-won Director Environmental Satellite Center