The success story of Himawari-8: Does R2O really mean “Risks to Overcome”?

Despite eight years of satellite proving ground activities and testbed demonstrations, integrating imagery from Japan's Himawari-8 satellite into National Weather Service (NWS) operations provided the first real opportunity to evaluate the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research to operations (R2O) readiness for new generation satellite data ahead of the launch of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R). The NWS Pacific Region had to assure that the technical systems were in place to support the enhanced data flow and that the field forecasters understood the use scenarios for the new spectral bands. The activity behind this charge culminated in November 2015 when operational meteorologists at the NWS field office in Guam received formal training from University of Wisconsin scientists, and imagery from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) was implemented into the local office Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) workstations. This presentation will provide a background on the R2O effort for Himawari, highlight risks and challenges that were overcome along the way, and outline the successful strategy for transitioning Himawari imagery to NWS operations, with practical implications for GOES-R and NOAA at large.