An Introduction to Himawari-8/9— Japan’s New-Generation Geostationary Meteorological Satellites

Kotaro BESSHO; Kenji DATE; Masahiro HAYASHI; Akio IKEDA; Takahito IMAI; Hidekazu INOUE; Yukihiro KUMAGAI; Takuya MIYAKAWA; Hidehiko MURATA; Tomoo OHNO; Arata OKUYAMA; Ryo OYAMA; Yukio SASAKI; Yoshio SHIMAZU; Kazuki SHIMOJI; Yasuhiko SUMIDA; Masuo SUZUKI; Hidetaka TANIGUCHI; Hiroaki TSUCHIYAMA; Daisaku UESAWA; Hironobu YOKOTA; Ryo YOSHIDA

doi:10.2151/jmsj.2016-009

Articles

An Introduction to Himawari-8/9— Japan’s New-Generation Geostationary Meteorological Satellites

Kotaro BESSHO, Kenji DATE, Masahiro HAYASHI, Akio IKEDA, Takahito IMAI, Hidekazu INOUE, Yukihiro KUMAGAI, Takuya MIYAKAWA, Hidehiko MURATA, Tomoo OHNO, Arata OKUYAMA, Ryo OYAMA, Yukio SASAKI, Yoshio SHIMAZU, Kazuki SHIMOJI, Yasuhiko SUMIDA, Masuo SUZUKI, Hidetaka TANIGUCHI, Hiroaki TSUCHIYAMA, Daisaku UESAWA, Hironobu YOKOTA, Ryo YOSHIDA

Author information

Kotaro BESSHO
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Kenji DATE
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Masahiro HAYASHI
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Akio IKEDA
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Takahito IMAI
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Hidekazu INOUE
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Yukihiro KUMAGAI
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Takuya MIYAKAWA
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Hidehiko MURATA
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Tomoo OHNO
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Arata OKUYAMA
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Ryo OYAMA
Typhoon Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan
Yukio SASAKI
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Yoshio SHIMAZU
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Kazuki SHIMOJI
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Yasuhiko SUMIDA
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Masuo SUZUKI
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Hidetaka TANIGUCHI
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Hiroaki TSUCHIYAMA
Volcanology Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Daisaku UESAWA
Meteorological Satellite Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, Kiyose, Japan
Hironobu YOKOTA
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan
Ryo YOSHIDA
Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency, Chiyoda, Japan

Keywords: geostationary meteorological satellite, Himawari, satellite meteorology

JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
Supplementary material

2016 Volume 94 Issue 2 Pages 151-183

DOI https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2016-009

Details

Abstract

Himawari-8/9—a new generation of Japanese geostationary meteorological satellites-carry state-of-the-art optical sensors with significantly higher radiometric, spectral, and spatial resolution than those previously available in the geostationary orbit. They have 16 observation bands, and their spatial resolution is 0.5 or 1 km for visible and near-infrared bands and 2 km for infrared bands. These advantages, when combined with shortened revisit times (around 10 min for Full Disk and 2.5 min for sectored regions), provide new levels of capacity for the identification and tracking of rapidly changing weather phenomena and for the derivation of quantitative products. For example, fundamental cloud product is retrieved from observation data of Himawari-8 operationally. Based on the fundamental cloud product, Clear Sky Radiance and Atmospheric Motion Vector are processed for numerical weather prediction, and volcanic ash product and Aeolian dust product are created for disaster watching and environmental monitoring. Imageries from the satellites are distributed and disseminated to users via multiple paths, including Internet cloud services and communication satellite services.

Corresponding author

Register with J-STAGE for free!