Impact Assessment of Himawari-8 AHI Data Assimilation in NCEP GDAS/GFS with GSI

AbstractAs the first of the next-generation geostationary meteorological satellites, Himawari-8 was successfully launched in October 2014 by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and placed over the western Pacific Ocean domain at 140.7°E. It carries the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), which provides full-disk images of Earth at 16 bands in the visible and infrared domains every 10 min. Efforts are currently ongoing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)/Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) to assimilate Himawari-8 AHI radiance measurements into the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation analysis system (GSI). All software development within the GSI to allow for assimilation of Himawari-8 AHI radiance has been completed.This study reports on the assessment of AHI preassimilation data quality by comparing observed clear-sky ocean-only radiances t...