CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MISSION SUMMARY - ALOS-2 -
Full Name Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2
aka DAICHI-2
Status Operational (extended)
Mission Agencies JAXA Launch Date 24 May 2014
Mission Links mission site | data access portal EOL Date Dec 2025
EO Portal Info NORAD Catalog # 39766 (TLE)
International Designator 2014-029A
Orbit Type Sun-synchronous Orbit Period 97 minutes
Orbit Sense Descending Orbit Inclination 97.9 deg
Orbit Altitude 628 km Orbit Longitude
Orbit LST 12:00 Repeat Cycle 14 days
Objectives and Applications Environmental monitoring, disaster monitoring, civil planning, agriculture and forestry, Earth resources, land surface and ocean monitoring.
Mission Measurements
CategoryParameterInstrument(s)
AtmosphereAtmospheric Winds PALSAR-2
Gravity and Magnetic FieldsGravity, Magnetic and Geodynamic measurements PALSAR-2
LandAlbedo and reflectance PALSAR-2
Landscape topography PALSAR-2
Soil moisture PALSAR-2
Vegetation PALSAR-2
Surface temperature (land) CIRC
Multi-purpose imagery (land) CIRC, PALSAR-2
OceanOcean surface winds PALSAR-2
Multi-purpose imagery (ocean) PALSAR-2
Snow & IceIce sheet topography PALSAR-2
Snow cover, edge and depth PALSAR-2
Sea ice cover, edge and thickness PALSAR-2
Mission Instruments
CIRC - Compact InfraRed Camera
PALSAR-2 - Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar-2
SPAISE2 (AIS) - Automated Identification System (SPAISE2)
Featured Datasets
More Datasets
2018 ALOS Mosaics
Dec-2019



Global 25m resolutions PALSAR-2/PALSAR mosaic and forest/non-forest map are free and open dataset generated by applying JAXA's powerful processing and sophisticated analysis method/techniques to a lot of images obtained with Japanese L-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (PALSAR and PALSAR-2) on Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2). Read more
Groups: LSI-VC F&B SG

Biomass CCI AGB 2017
Dec-2019



This dataset comprises estimates of forest above-ground biomass for the year 2017. The data has been produced as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme by the Biomass CCI team. The data was derived from input data from the PALSAR-2 instrument on the ALOS-2 satellite, and data from the Sentinel-1 satellite. The ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 dataset was obtained from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in the form of a mosaic of images acquired in 2017. The Sentinel-1 dataset consisted of individual data takes by the 1A and 1B units during 2017 and provided by the European Space Agency. Read more
Groups: LSI-VC F&B SG

ALOS Mosaics
Jul-2018



Global 25m resolutions PALSAR-2/PALSAR mosaic and forest/non-forest map are free and open dataset generated by applying JAXA's powerful processing and sophisticated analysis method/techniques to a lot of images obtained with Japanese L-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (PALSAR and PALSAR-2) on Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2). Read more
Groups: LSI-VC F&B SG , LSI-VC

OpenSearch Datasets Selected IDN OpenSearch Results (search all 6 )
ABoVE: Wetland Type, Slave River and Peace-Athabasca Deltas, Canada, 2007 and 2017
ALOS-2/CIRC L1 Radiance
Carbon Pools across CONUS using the MaxEnt Model, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2016, and 2017
CMS: Terrestrial Carbon Stocks, Emissions, and Fluxes for Conterminous US, 2001-2016
ESA Biomass Climate Change Initiative (Biomass_cci): Global datasets of forest above-ground biomass ...
MEaSUREs Phase-Based Antarctica Ice Velocity Map V001

Selected FedEO OpenSearch Results (view all 2 results: browser , table )
ALOS-2/CIRC L1 Radiance
ESA Biomass Climate Change Initiative (Biomass_cci): Global datasets of forest above-ground biomass ...

Want to explore more? Read about FedEO by ESA or click here to search FedEO or CMR OpenSearch by NASA