Effective use of the Himawari-8 data on the broad and synoptic scales

General comments

Can better see the flow in the atmosphere and then link this to appropriate Conceptual Model(s)
Further information including case study animations etc. can be obtained by clicking on those points highlighted in bold.

Forecasters prefer the "smoother" animation of rapid scan (10 minute) satellite data on the Broadscale.
Useful in the initial Forecaster familiarisation. Using rapid scan animated satellite imagery is an efficient way to quickly locate the "weathermakers" and to obtain an initial feeling regarding the intensity trends and the temporal "vigorousness" in the activity of individual weather systems. This can save a lot of time on shift.
Can better monitor interaction between Synoptic features such as Tropical Cyclone and broadscale shear, Tropical Cyclone and an amplifying upper trough, interaction between Polar and Subtropical Jets etc. in the rapid scan imagery.
Modulation of convection by Tropical Waves can be better monitored.
Broadscale Shear is better defined.

Using rapid scan animated satellite imagery is an efficient way to quickly locate the "weathermakers" and to obtain an initial feeling regarding the intensity trends of individual weather systems. The lifecycle of the features ie. the stage in the development and rate of development can be examined on the Synoptic scale.
Influence of a shortwave feature entering a region, in particular the location of jets embedded within the shortwave features. Local isotach maxima embedded within the upper flow can be better defined. The location of these can be better monitored in the 10 minute satellite imagery.
Jets at different levels can be detected by the different water vapour channels of Himawari-8.
Better monitoring of Tropical Cyclone, Tropical Storm, Tropical low pressure system motion and development by inspecting cloudtop features in the satellite data.
Better monitoring of the development of convection along low level convergence zones.
Rotating Synoptic scale features, especially with weak cloud signatures (eg. upper lows) are better defined in the rapid scan imagery.

Satellite data can also have an important role in the verification of model analyses and prognoses on different scales (water vapour and atmospheric flow, weather in the infrared and visible imagery and vertical motion etc.)

(to be added soon)