Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR channel image (click image to play animation)

AWIPS II images of 375-meter resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR channel images (above; click image to play animation) captured an example of a “Bennett Island cloud plume” off the north coast of Siberia on 13-14 February 2013. Minimum IR brightness temperature values reached -51 C during the early stages of plume development. Due to the orientation of the AWIPS II Northern Hemisphere map projection, the images were rotated 90 degrees to the left, so that North was approximately toward the top of the images. Full-resolution (375-meter) VIIRS data are now being distributed to Alaska Region AWIPS II users.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR image with GFS190 500 hPa wind barbs

A VIIRS IR image with an overlay of GFS190 model 500 hPa winds (above) showed a generally light southeasterly flow of 10-20 knots across the region. This was in good agreement with rawinsonde data (below) from the Chokurdah, Russia site (located south of Bennett Island, over northern Siberia).

Chokurdah, Russia rawinsonde data plot

Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR images (click image to play animation)

AWIPS II images of 375-meter resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm IR channel data (above; click image to play animation) revealed a surprising amount of sea ice motion in the vicinity of Barrow, Alaska (station identifier PABR) during the 30-hour period between 12:14 UTC on 24 January and 18:30 UTC on 25 January 2013. Large sea ice features with several ice leads and fractures can be seen moving southward against the land-fast ice to the east of Barrow — while to the west of Barrow, strong winds were helping to break the sea ice into smaller ice floes and transport them rapidly westward.

Suomi NPP VIIRS imagery is now being broadcast at the full native 375-meter resolution over the new “POLARSAT” NOAAPORT SBN channel (currently only available for the Alaska Region), for display in the next generation of AWIPS (AWIPS II).