Earth as imaged by Himawari-8 at nearly solar noon over Japan (11:50:00 JST / 02:50:00 UTC) on April 12, 2017. An experimental yet relatively simple method for intuitive color correcting the full resolution imagery presented by NICT ScienceCloud has been applied to approximate how the planet would appear to our eyes.
SOUTH ASIA
Southeast Asia and the Tibetan Plateau are seen in this rotated view. Note the persistent haze at the foot of the Himalayan Range. The mountains and plateau restrict the movement of precipitation (as well as aerosols) from the south resulting in the rain shadow deserts of central Asia.
AUSTRALIA
From space the orange-red color of the sparsely populated interior of Australia is prominent. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre and the lake beds to the south appear as white areas north of Spencer Gulf. The color of these lakes can vary dramatically depending on aridity and algae content.
NORTHEAST ASIA
A sweeping view of northeast China at the bottom left, Korea, Japan, and the snow covered Kamchatka Peninsula at the top right. The darker areas in the north are the vast Siberian taiga. Crescent shaped Lake Baikal near the center left in the image appears largely frozen over. Smog and airplane contrails are visible over China.
MOON AND LIMB
Himawari-8 captured the Moon just as it was transiting behind Earth. In the original image the Moon was bisected by adjacent horizontal scan regions. The sections were realigned in post processing and small areas of missing data were filled in.
INDONESIA
The tropical forest islands of Indonesia appear somewhat gray and subdued because the green band on Himawari 8 is shifted towards blue and is less sensitive to peak chlorophyll reflectance. This could be compensated for by mixing a small amount from the near infrared "vegetation" band into the green channel. Unfortunately individual bands are not available from the source material used here.
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
In April large areas of northern Asia are still covered in winter snow. The nearly featureless Taklamakan Desert is seen near the limb north of the Tibetan Plateau and the more vivid Gobi Desert is further northeast. The sunglint at the bottom center of the image is now north of the equator, signaling the passing of the vernal equinox and the start of spring.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Antarctica is barely visible through the clouds at the extreme southern limb. The yellowish appearance of snow compared to the clouds is because the reflected light from the surface passes through more of the atmosphere, scattering out shorter wavelength blue light. Further to the north, New Zealand is almost completely obscured by a large weather system.
BLUE MARBLE
The entire disk of the Earth visible to Himawari-8 is illuminated, indicating approximately solar noon at the satellite's location. As the early astronauts remarked, heavily vegetated areas are much more difficult to discern than deserts. Their lower albedos mean the relative atmospheric illumination from Rayleigh scattering makes these regions appear more blue. Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for about 80% of the blue color of deep oceans as seen from space. Without this scattering the deep oceans would appear nearly black. The amount of cloud cover may actually be greater than is seen here due to the way the source image was originally processed.
CREDIT
Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT)
SOUTH ASIA
Southeast Asia and the Tibetan Plateau are seen in this rotated view. Note the persistent haze at the foot of the Himalayan Range. The mountains and plateau restrict the movement of precipitation (as well as aerosols) from the south resulting in the rain shadow deserts of central Asia.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
AUSTRALIA
From space the orange-red color of the sparsely populated interior of Australia is prominent. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre and the lake beds to the south appear as white areas north of Spencer Gulf. The color of these lakes can vary dramatically depending on aridity and algae content.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
NORTHEAST ASIA
A sweeping view of northeast China at the bottom left, Korea, Japan, and the snow covered Kamchatka Peninsula at the top right. The darker areas in the north are the vast Siberian taiga. Crescent shaped Lake Baikal near the center left in the image appears largely frozen over. Smog and airplane contrails are visible over China.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
MOON AND LIMB
Himawari-8 captured the Moon just as it was transiting behind Earth. In the original image the Moon was bisected by adjacent horizontal scan regions. The sections were realigned in post processing and small areas of missing data were filled in.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
INDONESIA
The tropical forest islands of Indonesia appear somewhat gray and subdued because the green band on Himawari 8 is shifted towards blue and is less sensitive to peak chlorophyll reflectance. This could be compensated for by mixing a small amount from the near infrared "vegetation" band into the green channel. Unfortunately individual bands are not available from the source material used here.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
In April large areas of northern Asia are still covered in winter snow. The nearly featureless Taklamakan Desert is seen near the limb north of the Tibetan Plateau and the more vivid Gobi Desert is further northeast. The sunglint at the bottom center of the image is now north of the equator, signaling the passing of the vernal equinox and the start of spring.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Antarctica is barely visible through the clouds at the extreme southern limb. The yellowish appearance of snow compared to the clouds is because the reflected light from the surface passes through more of the atmosphere, scattering out shorter wavelength blue light. Further to the north, New Zealand is almost completely obscured by a large weather system.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
BLUE MARBLE
The entire disk of the Earth visible to Himawari-8 is illuminated, indicating approximately solar noon at the satellite's location. As the early astronauts remarked, heavily vegetated areas are much more difficult to discern than deserts. Their lower albedos mean the relative atmospheric illumination from Rayleigh scattering makes these regions appear more blue. Rayleigh scattering is also responsible for about 80% of the blue color of deep oceans as seen from space. Without this scattering the deep oceans would appear nearly black. The amount of cloud cover may actually be greater than is seen here due to the way the source image was originally processed.
 |
| Credit: MSC of JMA / NICT - Modified by LoneSky. |
CREDIT
Meteorological Satellite Center (MSC) of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA)
National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT)
Thanks so much for sharing this information with online! The southern islands are extending from the southern islands. Thanda Island was in Southeast Asia and the Tibetan Plateau more beautiful than Pankyil.
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