The Himawari is a Japanese weather satellite that is used widely in areas such as meteorological research and forecasting. The Himawari is used most commonly for observation of the lower atmosphere; thus far it has almost never been used for upper atmosphere observation. My research team, however, has come up with a way of utilizing the Himawari in research on noctilucent clouds, which are clouds that form in the uppermost layer of the earth’s atmosphere. In our current project, we are aiming to apply new observations gained from the Himawari satellite to advance research on noctilucent clouds, which are an important barometer of global warming.
