Attention

For NMHSs only

JMA provides HimawariCloud accounts to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in the Himawari-8/9 coverage area.

Introduction

JDDS landline service intends to support users of former operational MTSAT series as an interim measure until users become ready to receive Himawari-8/9 imagery via HimawariCloud or HimawariCast. Himawari-8/9 imagery distributed via JDDS is described in Table 1.

Table 1: Himawari-8/9 imagery distributed via JDDS
Format Product area Interval Notes
HRIT Full disk Every 30 minutes
  • Number of bands: 5 (VIS: 1; IR: 4)
  • Spatial resolution: VIS: 1km; IR: 4km
  • Divided into the northern and the southern half of the disk
  • Archived using tar and compressed using gzip
JPEG Full disk Every hour
  • Number of bands: 4 (VIS: 1; IR: 3)
Various regions
(cut out from full disk)		 Every 30 minutes

Detailed information on the transition from MTSAT-2 to Himawari-9 is given below. Current JDDS users should note the details carefully.

1. Transition schedule

With the start of Himawari-8’s operation on 7 July 2015. And JMA switch operation from its Himawari-8 to its Himawari-9 unit on 13 December 2022.
We began parallel distribution of satellite data via JDDS as shown in Table 2 to support user readiness for Himawari-8/9.

Table 2: Schedule for transition from MTSAT-2 to Himawari-9
Format Phase 1
(17 June 2015 –)		 Phase 2
(7 July 2015 –)		 Phase 3
(March 2016 –)		 Phase 4
(13 December 2022 –)
HRIT (MTSAT-2) Distribution Distribution - -
JPEG (MTSAT-2) Distribution - - -
HRIT (Himawari-8) Distribution Distribution Distribution -
JPEG (Himawari-8) Distribution Distribution Distribution -
HRIT (Himawari-9) - - - Distribution
JPEG (Himawari-9) - - - Distribution

Phase 1
Commencement of parallel distribution for MTSAT-2 and Himawari-8 imagery in HRIT and JPEG format (17 June 2015)

Phase 2
Termination of MTSAT-2 imagery (JPEG) distribution at 02 UTC coinciding with the start of Himawari-8’s period of operational service (7 July 2015)

Phase 3
Termination of MTSAT-2 imagery (HRIT) distribution (March 2016)

Phase 4
Commencement of distribution for Himawari-9 imagery in HRIT and JPEG format (13 December 2022)

2. Differences in parallel distribution

The specifications of Himawari-8/9 HRIT and JPEG files are similar to those of their MTSAT-2 counterparts. The slight differences are shown in the table below.

HRIT
MTSAT-2 Himawari-8/9
Distribution frequency 48/day (northern half disk)
32/day (southern half disk)		 48/day (Northern half disk)
48/day (Southern half disk)
File name (mmss) “mmss” represents the exact observation start time. “mmss” is set to “5000” or “2000” to represent the observation start time.
JPEG
MTSAT-2 Himawari-8/9
Distribution frequency 24/day (full disk)
Various (others)		 24/day (full disk)
48/day (others)
File name (mmss) “mmss” represents the exact observation start time. “mmss” is set to “0000” or “3000” to represent the observation end time.

Contact

Contact details for issues and inquiries:

Satellite Program Division, Japan Meteorological Agency
E-mail: