First images from Himawari-8

18 December 2014 02:40 UTC

Region

Japan

Satellites

Himawari-8

Instruments

Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI)

Channels/Products

True Colour RGB

At 02:40 UTC on 18 December 2014, the first images from all 16 bands were captured by JMA's Himawari-8 next-generation geostationary meteorological satellite, which was launched on 7 October.

Last Updated

04 May 2023

Published on

18 December 2014

Himawari-8 (himawari is Japanese for sunflower) is one of the next generation of weather satellites, providing imagery of a higher resolution than was available before.

Himawari-8 carries the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) instrument, which is very similar to the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) which will be the primary instrument on GOES-R for imaging Earth’s weather, oceans and environment. AHI is able to view the Earth with 16 different spectral bands (compared to twelve on current MSG), six in the solar spectral range (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0km resolution) and ten in the infrared range (2km resolution).

Figure 1: Himawari-8's first true colour image taken on 18 December 2014 at 02:40 UTC. Credit: Japan Meteorological Agency

Snowstorm over Japan as seen by Himawari-8, 18 December 02:00 UTC (zoomed image) (Credit: — Figure 2: Snowstorm over Japan as seen by Himawari-8, 18 December 02:00 UTC (zoomed image) Credit: Japan Meteorological Agency

At the same time as Himawari-8 was producing it's first images, Japan was hit by a snowstorm. At least 11 people are reported to have died in northern and central parts of the country, where more than 200cm of snow fell.

The zoomed in image from Himawari-8 shows the cold air outbreak over eastern Asia (Siberia) towards the Pacific Ocean and Japan, which leads to numerous cloud streets over the Ocean and heavy snow showers over Japan (lake snow effect).

One may also observe how the south-east coastlines of the Japanese islands are protected from cold Asian winds during the winter period.