Himawari-8 AHI Proves “Instrumental” in Preparations for Enhanced GOES-R ABI Imagery Applications

The launch in 2014 of Japan's Himawari-8 marks the first of a new generation of geostationary satellites that promise to revolutionize imagery applications from the geostationary orbit. The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) provides 16 spectral bands in the visible, near-infrared, and thermal infrared portions of the optical spectrum, enabling multi-spectral techniques useful for feature enhancement in value-added imagery that were previously relegated to low-earth orbiting sensors such as the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Many of these future-focused applications have been demonstrated to National Weather Service forecasters for several years as part of the GOES-R Satellite Proving Ground as a way of preparing them for anticipated capabilities. Invariably, the positive feedback received from these users with regard to the quality of the imagery products has been tempered by the lack of regular updates, relegating the use principally to ad-hoc analysis or training materials. In this presentation we showcase examples of these applications, previously unavailable to GOES, as previewed for the first time in high temporal resolution (10 min) from AHI. Himwari-8 is being used as a proxy for the translation and refinement of MODIS/VIIRS heritage algorithms. We will detail these refinements in the context of true color imagery for GOES-R—the first such geostationary capability since the fleeting views from ATS-3 in 1967 as reported by Suomi and Parent.