Data Assimilation of Himawari-8 Aerosol Observations: Asian Dust Forecast in June 2015

• Sekiyama Tsuyoshi Thomas

  Meteorological Research Institute Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University

• Yumimoto Keiya

  Meteorological Research Institute

• Tanaka Taichu Y.

  Meteorological Research Institute Japan Meteorological Agency

• Nagao Takashi

  Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

• Kikuchi Maki

  Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

• Murakami Hiroshi

  Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Abstract

Himawari-8 is a Japanese geostationary weather satellite that was launched in October 2014 and has been in operation since July 2015. Himawari-8 is equipped with an outstanding high-performance imager that has 16 spectral channels (3 for visible, 3 for near-infrared and 10 for infrared wavelengths) with a 10-minute observation interval. We retrieved aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from visible and near-infrared multispectral observations of Himawari-8 and assimilated the AOT data into a global aerosol forecast model with an ensemble Kalman filter system. The data assimilation result was validated by comparison with conventional products derived from polar-orbiting satellite aerosol observations (i.e., Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOT) of an Asian dust storm in June 2015. The Himawari-8 AOT data assimilation successfully produced an analysis and forecast of the Asian dust that was comparable or superior to those of the MODIS AOT data assimilation. The Himawari-8 aerosol product has a much higher temporal coverage than that of polar-orbiting satellites, which is promising for aerosol data assimilation. This study is a first step in the application of geostationary satellites for aerosol research.

Journal

• SOLA

  SOLA 12 (0), 86-90, 2016

  Meteorological Society of Japan

Keywords

• Atmospheric Science

Details

• CRID: 1390001205222255232
• NII Article ID: 130005138224
• DOI: 10.2151/sola.2016-020
• ISSN: 13496476
• Web Site: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/sola/12/0/12_2016-020/_pdf
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • Crossref
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed