Overview of AHI and the Lesson

NOTE: This short lesson is meant to be taken after going through COMET’s GOES-R ABI: Next Generation Satellite Imaging lesson since it provides context and important background information. This is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive lesson!

A new era in environmental satellites began in October 2014 when Japan’s Himawari-8 attained geostationary orbit. The satellite hosts a 16-channel Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), which provides a preview of the future geostationary imagers to be launched by the United States, China, Korea, and EUMETSAT from 2016 to around 2019.

All of these imagers will have 16 channels, except for China’s Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI), which will have 14. Most of the imagers will provide true color imaging capability, except for the U.S.’ Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) and China’s AGRI.

The AHI on Himawari images the Earth five times faster than the current MTSAT-2 and GOES 13-15 imagers. It has three times the spectral coverage and a four-fold improvement in spatial resolution.

This brief lesson provides an overview of the AHI on Himawari and highlights its differences from the U.S. GOES-R ABI. The lesson covers the following:

• The improved capabilities in spectral coverage, spatial resolution, and imaging interval of the AHI over the predecessor MTSAT-2 imager
• The differences in spectral coverage and scan strategy between AHI and GOES-R ABI, and the impact on products
• How AHI data and products will benefit forecasters in the Alaska region, Pacific Region, and CONUS (Contiguous United States)