Internal Waves in the Banda Sea

By Scott Lindstrom • 30 October 2015

Himawari-8 Band 3 Visible (0.64 µm) images from 29 October [click to play animation]

Himawari-8 (Imagery courtesy of JMA) captured the northward march of three sets of Internal Waves in the Banda Sea in late October, as shown above (MODIS True Color Imagery showed the waves as well). Because the internal waves affect the ocean surface, sun glint can make them visible via methods described here. The fine spatial and temporal resolution of Himawari-8 (0.5 km for Band 3/0.64µm, 10-minute imagery) allows for a good description of the northward speed of the waves: approximately 10 km/hour.

MTSAT-2 (scheduled to become the backup satellite on Friday 4 December 2015 as Himawari-8 takes over operational duties; MTSAT-1 is to be decommissioned that day because of fuel limitations) and COMS-1 also viewed the waves, as shown below. Sun glint allowed MTSAT-2 to view only three scenes (3:32, 4:32 and 5:32 UTC). COMS-1, above the Equator at 128º E, farther west than MTSAT-2 (at 145º E), viewed the waves earlier (because sunglint was present over the scene earlier). Both MTSAT-2 and COMS-1 visible channels have nominal resolution of only 1 km.

MTSAT-2 Visible (0.73 µm) images from 29 October, 0232-0632 UTC [click to play animation]

COMS-1 Visible (0.675 µm) images from 29 October, 0100-0630 UTC [click to play animation]

Hat Tip to Mike Ziobro, NWS Guam, for showing us these very interesting waves!

Categories: COMS, Himawari-8, MTSAT