Current Status and Plans of Operational Wind Products at JMA/MSC
The JMA’s newest geostationary meteorological satellites, Himawari-8 and -9, are being operated for a meteorological mission and its backup. Both satellites are located around 140.7 degrees east longitude and cover the area from eastern Asia to the western Pacific Ocean.
JMA switched the roles of Himawari-8 and -9 on December 13, 2022. Currently, JMA uses Himawari-9 as its operational satellite, and Himawari-8 is used as a backup for Himawari-9’s mission. The AMVs from Himawari-9 and those calculated from Himawari-8 show statistically almost the same error characteristics and spatial coverage.
JMA plans to upgrade the AMV in late 2022. These changes include support for the new BUFR template, dissemination of AMVs every 30 minutes, addition of a cloud height uncertainty indicator, and elimination of QI with forecast. support for the new BUFR template will be made independently of and ahead of other changes.
JMA is currently investigating the specifications for the successor satellites to Himawari-8/9 and how the data will be used. Data from infrared sounders on geostationary meteorological satellites and the temperature and water vapor fields obtained from them may be useful for retrieving three-dimensional winds. In this presentation, the status of those studies will also be reported.
