Vol. 13 No. 1, February 2023

RA II WIGOS Project Newsletter
DEVELOPING SUPPORT FOR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL AND
HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES IN SATELLITE DATA, PRODUCTS AND TRAINING

Contents of this issue
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12th Asia – Oceania Meteorological Satellite Users’ Conference (AOMSUC-12)
report1
Operational Satellite Switchover from Himawari-8 to Himawari-9
6Rapid Detection of Forest Fire by GK2A in KMA
6
FY-3E and FY-4B Data Released to International User
7
Members of the Coordinating Group10
From the Co-editors
10

12th Asia – Oceania
Meteorological Satellite Users’
Conference (AOMSUC-12) report
The 12th Asia – Oceania Meteorological
Satellite Users’ Conference (AOMSUC-12),
hosted by the Japan Meteorological Agency(JMA), was held online from 11th to 18th
November 2022 on the theme of Full Exploitationof Today’s Advanced Global Meteorological
Satellite Observing System, with the following
schedule:
1. Satellite data and product application training
Nov. 11th and 14th
Attendees: 123
2. 12th Asia – Oceania Meteorological Satellite
Users’ Conference (AOMSUC-12)
Nov. 15th – 17th
Attendees: 187- 1 -3. Joint RA II – RA V Coordination Meeting
Nov. 18th
Attendees: 83
・Total attendees registered for any conference:
205
Agenda and presentation materials:
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/en/aomsuc
12/presentations.html
The
AOMSUC-12(JMA)
secretariat
coordinated the agenda and schedule incollaboration with the International Conference
Steering Committee (ICSC, consisting ofrepresentatives from co-hosting organizations
and academic experts from each country), who
set the basic policy for the conference.

1. Satellite data and product application
training
Bodo Zeschke from Australia’s Bureau of
Meteorology Training Centre (BMTC), acting as
a liaison appointed by the ICSC co-chair, advised
the Secretariat on interactive online training
techniques to avoid one-way presentation. In thisregard, the Secretariat asked all instructors tocreate time for active discussions with allattendees, and also shared questionnaire
feedback from them.
On the first day, Dr. James Purdom (co-chair of
ICSC) and Dr. Bernie Connell (co-chair of theWorld Meteorological Organization (WMO) andthe Coordination Group for Meteorological
Satellites (CGMS) Virtual Laboratory (VLab – a
global network of specialized training centres andmeteorological satellite operators working
together to improve the use of data and products
from meteorological and environmental satellites
throughout WMO Member countries)) gave

keynotepresentations.
The
China
Meteorological Administration (CMA), the Korea
Meteorological Administration (KMA) and JMA,
provided training on the use of data from theirown satellites.
On the second day, presentations were givenby the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) on tropical
cyclone analysis, the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration (NOAA) on
inundation product creation, and the Indonesian
Agency for Meteorological, Climatological andGeophysical Agency (BMKG) on precipitation
estimates.
In Joint Australia-China VLab Centres of
Excellence Regional Focus Group interaction,
CMA and BoM reviewed the satellite image
viewer used by regional focus groups in the pastand efforts for analysis in collaboration with
relevant organizations for significant cases. The
Secretariat issued joint certificates of attendance
to trainees under the names of WMO, ICSC and
JMA jointly.

Figure 1. Group photo of Satellite data and product application training
2. The 12th Asia – Oceania Meteorological
Satellite User’s Conference (AOMSUC-12)
The opening ceremony featured commentsfrom JMA’s Director-General, WMO’s Assistant
Secretary General and the ICSC co-chair.
Attendees presented on and discussed mattersin sessions relating to six specialized themes.
- 2 -The Secretariat asked all presenters to submit
pre-recorded presentation files in advance tokeep the conference on time, and essentiallyplayed the files live with time for subsequent Q&A.
The session structure and particularly noteworthy
points were as noted below.

Session 1:
Space program and data access updates
Co-sponsor
organizations
gave
comprehensive reports on their efforts.
BoM reported on the development of satellite
data products (combined satellite precipitation
data, cloud analysis data and other information),
the vision for an Australian Earth Observation
roadmap, and other matters.
CMA presented on FY-4B, operational
geostationary satellite workings and FY-3E, as
well as early-morning operation of its polarorbiting satellite. The presentation also covered
high-frequency acquisition imager video anddrawing application using related data.
The European Organisation for the
Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites(EUMETSAT) reported on plans for the first
Imager Satellite of the Meteosat Third
Generation Program (MTG-I), which waslaunched on December 13th, 2022. EPS-SG
missions and a satellite application facility werealso covered.
JMA announced plans for the Himawari-8 to -9
switchover, scheduled to take place on
December 13th, 2022, and outlined its readinessfor a follow-on satellite to become operational in
FY2029 and an infrared sounder as a potential
payload sensor.
KMA reported on AI-based imagery for its GK2A geostationary meteorological satellite, anddetailed plans for its GEO-LEO satellite programin addition to LEO satellite technology with amicrowave sounder.
NOAA overviewed its current satellites andrelated plans, as well as reviewing major
partnerships and providing examples of its
products and applications of potential interest to
users in Asia and Oceania. These include the
Tonga volcanic eruption of 2022 and monitoringof large-scale fires and coral reef conditions.
Session 2:
JAXA's coordinated efforts for the earth
observation for environmental monitoring
The keynote presentation given by Dr. RikoOki from the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA)/Earth Observation Research- 3 -Center (EORC) covered product distribution of
the GCOM satellite series, contribution to
JMA/MRI’s database for localized heavy rainfall
in Japan, and satellite launch plans relating toEarthCare and GCOM-GW. Aspirations wereexpressed for product development based on
GSMaP data from RSMC Tokyo along withcollaborative activities between JAXA and JMA.
Session 3: Space weather
The keynote presentation given by Dr.
Mamoru Ishii of the National Institute ofInformation and Communications Technology(NICT) reported on the establishment of theCommittee for the Advancement of Space
Weather Forecasting under the Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications (MIC) andthe publication of related reporting in June 2022.
NICT also presented on the Charging andRadiation Monitoring for Space Weather(CHARMS) mission, simultaneous monitoring ofspace radiation, spacecraft charging on the next
Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite,
and international contribution to the developmentof space weather information services.
Session 4:
Application for weather analysis andnowcasting
The keynote presentation given by Dr. Jinho
Shin from KMA focused on convection initiation(CI), rapidly developing thunderstorms (RDTs),
typhoons and fog, which strongly affectnowcasting, and highlighted satellite products
generated by individual agencies. Updates andplans for KMA products were also provided.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison USA
presented on the current status and usage of theCommunity Satellite Processing Package, which
is widely used to decode satellite data.
BMKG reported on the accuracy of nowcastingin Indonesia using rainfall potential, enhanced
water vapor and rapidly developing cumulus area
(RDCA) products.
Kyushu University reported on thedevelopment of cirrus cloud detection via the
1.38 um band, which strongly details water vapor
absorption.

Session 5:
Application for land surface, sea surface, andclimate monitoring
The keynote presentation given by Dr. Mitch
Goldberg from NOAA highlighted theorganization’s useful GEO/LEO satellite data
products and services provided in relation toclimate crisis factors. These include global
products providing flood area extents forsituational awareness, drought products formonitoring of agricultural productivity, an
experimental automatic fire alarm system basedon AI machine learning, and ocean/coast
monitoring information.
BoM gave an outline and an update on its
application of solar irradiance data generally
used in the solar energy industry, which is rapidly
expanding in Australia, and presented validation
results along with key statistics for the Australianregion.
Session 6: Application for numerical weather
prediction
The keynote presentation given by Dr. Fiona
Isobel Smith from BoM reviewed the status ofsatellite radiance data assimilation in numerical
weather prediction (NWP) centres. The content
also referenced challenges relating to radianceobservations usually delivering high effects in
assimilation systems and the related criticaldependence of forecast skill.
Despite the challenges of holding theconference entirely online, 6 sessions and 72
presentations were provided. In its role as thenext host, KMA announced that AOMSUC-13 will
be held as an in-person event on Jeju Island or
Busan in Korea from November 3rd to 11th, 2023.

Figure 2. Group photo of AOMSUC-12- 4 -Figure 3. Group photo of JMA
3. Joint RA II - RA V Coordination Meeting
As part of WMO reorganization work, the Joint
Meeting of the RA II WIGOS Project and RA V
TT-SU for RA II and RA V NMHSs held until lastyear was reformed as the Joint RA II - RA V
Coordination Meeting.
The WMO Secretariat highlighted a newworking structure at its regional office in Region II(Asia) and Region V (South-West Pacific) andrelated operating plans, and reported on thecurrent status of a global survey on satellite datautilization. Commonalities and differences inregional responses, timings and methods ofsurvey result publication were also discussed. A
total of 10 Members (*) gave reports.
As a result of discussions at the 5th meeting of
the Expert Team on Space Systems andUtilization (ET-SSU-5) held in September 2022,
representatives from RA I (Africa) and RA III(South America) attended the conference todiscuss activities, satellite utilization and othermatters.
BoM, CMA, KMA and BMKG subsequently
reported on recent training activities. BMKG
expressed its willingness to be registered as a
training Centre of Excellence (CoE) in VLab, andpresented on its training facilities and training
implementation performance.
(*) Members submitting reports:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Myanmar, Qatar, Singapore, Thailand,
VietnamFigure 4. Group photo of Joint RA II - RA V Coordination Meeting- 5 -Operational Satellite Switchoverfrom Himawari-8 to Himawari-9

Himawari-8, and conducts observation from thesame orbital position (140.7°E) with the sameobservation sequence.

The Japan Meteorological Agency switched
operation from its Himawari-8 satellite to its
Himawari-9 unit on 13th December 2022.
Himawari-9 carries the same Advanced
Himawari Imager (AHI) sensor equipment as

Rapid Detection of Forest Fire by
GK2A in KMA
1. Satellite products for forest fire at KMA
National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC)
of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA)
has been producing space based various
information that can be used in the fields such as
weather forecast, ocean, environment, and land
surface using Geo-KOMPSAT-2A (GK2A)
satellite since 2019. GK2A’s Advanced
Meteorological Imager (AMI) observes the earth
with 16 channels included visible, near-infrared,
and infrared wavelengths every 10 minutes for
Full Disk (FD) and every 2 minutes for Extended
Local Area (ELA) over east Asian area and for

For technical details, see
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/en/oper/swit
chover.html(Reiko HARADA, JMA)

Local Area (LA) over Korean peninsula withspatial resolutions of 1 km for visible and 2 km for
infrared channels.
As one of the space based monitoring elements
for disaster prevention in the KMA, a monitoring
system using forest fire detection with GK2A
named as Forest Fire (FF) is in operation withother products such as Fire Risk, Fire Radiative
Power, and so on.
The fundamental principles of the forest fire
detection using the GK2A is based on the
difference of brightness temperature between
near-infrared and infrared channels. So, GK2A
FF retrieval is produced using 4 channels (0.64,
0.87, 3.8, and 11.2 ㎛) observation data and alsousing cloud detection information, topography
information as an auxiliary data.

Figure 1. Australian wildfires detected by GK2A observations in 2020
2. Rapid detection product for forest fire with
GK2A
In order to extinguish forest fires quickly and to
reduce damage out of the fire disaster, it is- 6 -necessary to detect forest fire quickly. For thisreason, KMA developed new Forest Fire which
was produced every 10 minutes in previous
operation system, to be newly informed every 2minutes to detect rapidly only for east Asia since2022.
The 2-minute Forest Fire system was effective
to detect the fires quickly compared with 10minute detection over Korean peninsula in 2022.
It shows the results that forest fire was detected
2 to 10 minutes earlier than 10-minute detection

system.
The more information about Forest Fire using
GK2A observation: Visit the website
http://nmsc.kma.go.kr(Jae-Young Byon, KMA)

Figure 2. Forest fire detection time comparison between 10-minute FF and 2-minute FF

FY-3E and FY-4B Data Released toInternational User
1. INTRODUCTION
On 1st December 2022, China
Meteorological
Administration(CMA)
announced to release two new Fengyun
meteorological satellites data, FY-3E and FY4B, to international users. According to the
WMO Unified Data Policy (Cg Ext 2021) andCMA’s data policy, international users canobtain data and products through various
ways, including Fengyun satellite data center
website, CMACast, GTS, direct broadcasting
system, and so on. CMA also provide
Fengyun-3
preprocessing
softwarepackages for Fengyun-3E data direct
broadcasting system. Based on bilateralagreement between CMA and otherorganizations, Fengyun-3E and Fengyun-4B
will be listed into the exchange catalog. CMA
will continue to promote the international
application of Fengyun satellites as an action
to contribute to disaster preparedness andresponse to climate change.
- 7 -2. INTRODUCTION TO FY-3E
FY-3E, the world's first early-morning-orbit
meteorological satellite for civil use, waslaunched successfully at the Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Center on 5 July 2021. FY-3E is the fifth
satellite, among the second generation of theChinese meteorological satellites, in a near-polar,sun-synchronous orbit (hereafter referred to as
the polar). It is the first early morning orbit
meteorological satellite for civil use in the world.
Filling in the observing gap in the early morning,
FY-3E will join FY-3C and FY-3D to realize thecoverage of early morning, morning, andafternoon orbits. They will provide global data
coverage for numerical weather prediction(NWP) at 6-hour intervals, and effectively ramp
up global NWP accuracy and time efficiency,
which is of great significance to improving the
global earth observation system.
There are 11 instruments onboard the
Fengyun-3E satellite, as listed in Table 3.
Specifically, only one instrument, the Microwave
Humidity Sounder-II (MWHS-II), is identical to theone flown on the Fengyun-3D mission. The threebrand-new instruments include the dualfrequency wind radar (WindRad), the solar
spectral irradiance monitor(SSIM), and the solar
X-ray and extreme ultraviolet imager(X-EUVI).
Seven improved instruments consist of: themedium resolution spectral imager with low-lightcapability(MERSI-LL),
themicrowave
temperaturesounder(MWTS-III),thehyperspectral infrared atmospheric sounder(HIRAS-II), the global navigation satellite systemoccultation sounder with a reflectometry
technique(GNOS-II), the solar irradiance monitor(SIM-II), the space environment monitor (SEM),
and the ionospheric photometer with three view
angles (Tri-IPM). Table 1 shows the main
characteristics of the onboard instruments.

Table 1. Instruments onboard the FY-3E and their primary characteristics.
Instruments

Spectral range

Spatial Resolution

Primary Purpose
dynamic range imaging, land surface

MERSI-LL

0.5–12.5 μm

0.25–1 km

temperature/sea surface temperature,atmospheric precipitable water
Numerical weather forecast, atmospheric

HIRAS-II

650–2550 cm−1.

14 km

temperature and humidity profiles, surface
temperature, atmospheric composition,
greenhouse gases, dust, cloud cover, etc
Atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles,

MWHS-II

89−190 GHz

15−30 kmassimilation in NWP and reanalysis,
precipitation detection

MWTS-III23.8−57 GHz
1575.42,

GNOS-II

1227.6,
1561.098,
1268.52 MHz

33 km
25 km (GNSS-R),
1–3 km (ion-RO), 150–
300 m (atm-RO)

Atmospheric temperature profile

Atmospheric profile, wet atmospheric profile,electron density profile, sea surface wind speed
Sea surface wind vector including wind speed

WindRAD5.4, 13.256 GHz

10 km, 20 km

SIM-II

0.2–20 μm−

Total solar irradiance

SSIM

165–1650 nm−

Solar spectra irradiance

X-EUVI

0.6–8.0 nm; 19.5 nm−

Tri-IPM

135.6 nm; 150–160 nm

32 km

OI and N2 LBH airglow radiation intensity

SEM-II30 eV– 300 MeV−

development of radiation belt models, space

and wind direction, sea ice

Full disk solar X-ray and ultraviolet images, toenhance the forecasts of space weather

Satellite security designs, scientiﬁc studies,
weather monitoring, and disaster warning

3. INTRODUCTION TO FY-4B
China sent the meteorological satellite intoplanned orbit from the Xichang Satellite LaunchCenter in Sichuan Province on June 3, 2021.
FY-4B, which is the first of China's newgeneration meteorological satellites ingeostationary orbit, is used for weather analysis
and forecasting, and environmental and disaster- 8 -monitoring. Fengyun-4B has updated payloads
and improved performance based on Fengyun4A. Fengyun-4B has added a few new functions
such as the water vapor detection channels in
the geostationary orbit radiation imager andimproved the spectrum of some channels.
Fengyun-4B, together with Fengyun-4A, will
form a dual-satellite network, jointly conducting

high-frequency monitoring of the atmosphereand clouds to obtain atmospheric verticalinformation from clear skies and thin cloudareas.
The payloads of FY-4B satellite include:
Advanced Geostationary Radiation
Imager(AGRI), Geostationary Interferometric
Infrared Sounder(GIIRS), Geostationary Highspeed Imager(GHI) and Space Environment

Monitoring Instrument Package(SEP). FY-4B
adds new water vapor detection channels in its
radiation imager, improved spectrum detection
capabilities, and is capable if providing moreaccurate atmospheric radiation and temperatureand humidity profiles. Fengyun-4B also has a"newly equipped fast imager" with a resolution of
about 250 meters, to better monitor typhoons,rainstorms, and other extreme weather events.

Table 2. Instruments onboard the FY-4B and their primary characteristics.
Instruments

Spectral range

AGRI

0.45-13.6μm

Spatial Resolution

Primary Purpose

Visible / near-infrared:0.5-1km

Cloud, atmosphere and surface

Infrared:2-4 km

Long wave:680-1130cm-1

GIIRS

Visible: 1km

Medium wave:1650-2250 cm-1

Infrared:12 km

Visible:0.55-0.90μm

detection, etc
Hyperspectral atmospheric radiationand temperature and humidity profile,etc

0.445-0.495 m;
0.52-0.57μm;

GHI

0.62-0.67μm;
1.371-1.386μm;

Panchromatic:250m
Visible/ near-infrared: 500km
Infrared:2 km

1.58-1.64μm;

Typhoon, rainstorm, mesoscaledisastrous weather, etc

10.3-12.5μm;
Provide direction of high, medium
and low energy particles and

SEP

−

−

popularize space magnetic field
information for space weather early
warning and forecast

4. RESULT
According to the evaluating results of FY-3E
and FY-4B on-orbit data, new instrumentsshows good performance and can be used inweather forecasting, NWP modeling and climate
analysis. With all kinds of data distributionmeans, CMA will share baseline data and new
products of these new satellites to international
users via internet, DB station, CMACast systemand other means. More evaluation results and- 9 -scientific research results are welcome to feedback to us. More information can be found on
the National Satellite Meteorological Satellite(NSMC) website (http://www.nsmc.org.cn). The
evaluation result will be published and reported
by NSMC during CGMS-51, FYSUC 2023,
AOMSUC-12 and other conference.
(XIAN Di and JIA Xu, CMA)

Members of the Coordination Group

From the Co-editors

JAPAN (Co-coordinator)
Mr. Kotaro BESSHO
Senior Supervisor for Satellite Operations
Satellite Program Division
Information Infrastructure Department
Japan Meteorological Agency

The co-editors invite contributions to thenewsletter. Although it is assumed that the major
contributors for the time being will be satellite
operators, we also welcome articles (shortcontributions of less than a page are fine) from all
RA II Members, regardless of whether they are
registered with the WMO Secretariat asmembers of the WIGOS Project CoordinatingGroup. We look forward to receiving yourcontributions to the newsletter.
(Dohyeong KIM, KMA, and Kotaro BESSHO,JMA)REPUBLIC OF KOREA (Co-coordinator)
Dr. Dohyeong KIM
Senior Researcher
Satellite Planning Division,
National Meteorological Satellite Center
Korea Meteorological Administration

RA II WIGOS Project Home Page
http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jmaeng/satellite/ra2wigosproject/ra2wigosproje
ct-intro_en_jma.html

CHINA
Mr. Di XIAN
Director, Office of S&T and International
Cooperation
National Satellite Meteorological Center
China Meteorological Administration

Editorials and Inquiries
Kotaro BESSHO (Mr.)
Senior Supervisor for Satellite Operations
Satellite Program Division
Information Infrastructure Department
Japan Meteorological Agency
3-6-9 Toranomon, Minato city,
Tokyo 105-8431, Japan

INDIA
Dr. Sunil Kumar PESHINHead of Satellite Division
India Meteorological Department
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Ms. Tatiana BOURTSEVA
Chief, Information Department
SRC Planeta, Roshydromet

Tel: +81-3-6758-3900 (ex. 3302)
Email: kbessho@met.kishou.go.jp

Dr. Oleg POKROVSKIY
Principal Scientist, Main Geophysical Observatory
ROSHYDROMETEUMETSAT (Observer)
Dr. Paolo RUTI
Chief Scientist
EUMETSAT

Dohyeong KIM (Dr.)
Senior Researcher
Satellite Planning Division,
National Meteorological Satellite Center
Korea Meteorological Administration
64-18 Guam-gil, Gwanghyewon, Jincheon,
Chungbuk, 365-830, Republic of Korea
Tel: +82-43-717-0205
Fax: +82-43-717-0210
Email: dkim@kma.go.kr(Editor-in-chief of this issue: Kotaro BESSHO)- 10 -