Graphical Abstract

Otsuka, M., H. Seko, K. Shimoji, and K. Yamashita, 2018: Characteristics of Himawari-8 rapid scan atmospheric motion vectors utilized in mesoscale data assimilation. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 96B, 111-131.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2018-034 Graphical Abstract with highlights

Data assimilation experiments on a cold vortex event in June 2016 were conducted using AMVs derived from Himawari-8 2.5 min rapid scan imagery over Japan (RS-AMVs).
RS-AMVs in ALL experiment distinctly represent the wind field near the cold vortex over northern Japan with much denser data than hourly AMVs routinely computed from 10 min full disk scans (RTN-AMVs) in CNTL experiment, which also indicated the location of the vortex but less clearly with many fewer data (Fig. 1).
The wind forecasts in ALL improved slightly in early forecast hours before 12 hours in northern Japan, over which the vortex passed during the assimilation period. They also showed small improvements at low levels when averaged over the whole forecast period. (Fig. 2).