DMSP « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Hurricane Bud

June 12th, 2018 | Scott Bachmeier

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

East Pacific Hurricane Bud peaked at Category 4 intensity (ADT | SATCON) around 06 UTC on 12 June 2018 (just 4 days after Hurricane Aletta reached the same intensity) — and a GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mesoscale Sector was positioned over the storm about an hour before that time, providing “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images at 1-minute intervals (above).

A post-sunrise comparison of 1-minute GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images is shown below.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, left) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, right) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Ocean Heat Content and Sea Surface Temperature analyses, with the track of Hurricane Bud ending at 12 UTC on 12 June [click to enlarge]

As mentioned in the NHC discussion at 15 UTC, Bud was beginning to move over water having lower values of Ocean Heat Content and Sea Surface Temperature (above), which would lead to rapid weakening — in fact, an erosion of the northern eyewalll was seen in DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave imagery at 1105 UTC (below).

DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image [click to enlarge]

Posted in DMSP, GOES-16, Microwave, Tropical cyclones | No Comments »

Hurricane Aletta

June 7th, 2018 | Scott Bachmeier

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, left) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, right) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Tropical Storm Aletta was upgraded to Hurricane Aletta at 21 UTC on 07 June 2018. As was the case on 06 June, a GOES-16 Mesoscale Domain Sector centered over the tropical cyclone provided 1-minute data — and an eye eventually became apparent on “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) imagery (above).

DMSP-15, DMSP-17 and GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) imagery from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) showed an increase in organization of the eye structure as the day progressed.

DMSP-15 SSMI Microwave image [click to enlarge]

DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave image [click to enlarge]

GPM GMI Microwave image [click to enlarge]

===== 08 June Update =====

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Aletta went through a period of rapid intensification (ADT | SATCON), reaching Category 4 status by 15 UTC on 08 June. 1-minute GOES-16 Infrared (10.3 µm) images (above) showed the eye becoming more well-defined during the pre-dawn hours.

After sunrise, GOES-16 Visible images (below) initially hinted at the presence of mesovortices within the eye of Aletta.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, left) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, right) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Aletta had been moving over relatively warm water and within an environment characterized by low values of deep-layer wind shear (below) — both of which were favorable factors for intensification. An animation of the deep-layer wind shear over the East Pacific Ocean during 06-07 June is available here.

Sea Surface Temperature and Deep-Layer Wind Shear products [click to enlarge]

Aletta peaked in intensity later in the day on 08 June (ADT | SATCON) — as pointed out by NHC “This is also consistent with GOES-16 measurements of increased inner-core lightning observed to be occurring to the east of the eastern eyewall, which some research suggests corresponds to a halting of the intensification process”. GOES-16 Infrared (10.3 µm) imagery with GLM Group Density counts are shown below.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) with GLM Group Density counts [click to play MP4 animation]

Posted in DMSP, GOES-16, Lightning, Microwave, Other Satellites, Satellite winds, Tropical cyclones | No Comments »

Cyclone Kelvin makes landfall in Australia

February 18th, 2018 | Scott Bachmeier

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm, right) images, with hourly surface plots at Broome [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm, right) images, with hourly surface plots at Broome, Australia [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Kelvin as it made landfall in Western Australia as a Category 1 storm on 18 February 2018. Kelvin continued to intensify shortly after making landfall, with estimated winds of 80 gusting to 100 knots — and a distinct eye feature could be seen in the Visible and Infrared imagery (as well as Broome radar data).

A longer animation of Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (below) revealed a very large convective burst as Kelvin meandered near the coast early on 17 February — periodic cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -90 ºC or colder were seen. After making landfall, the eye structure eventually deteriorated by 18 UTC on 18 February.

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images, with hourly surface plots [click to play MP4 | Animated GIF also available]

The MIMIC-TC product (below) showed the development of Kelvin’s compact eye during the 17 February – 18 February period; the eye was well-defined around the time of landfall (2147 UTC image on 17 February), and persisted for at least 18 hours (1556 UTC image on 18 February) until rapidly dissipating by 21 UTC.

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave imagery [click to enlarge]

Himawari-8 Deep Layer Wind Shear values remained very low — generally 5 knots or less — prior to, during and after the landfall of Kelvin, which also contributed to the slow rate of weakening. In addition, an upward moisture flux from the warm/wet sandy soil of that region helped Kelvin to intensify after landfall; land surface friction was also small, since that portion of Western Australia is rather flat.

Himawari-8 Water Vapor images, with Deep Layer Wind Shear product [click to enlarge]

The eye of Cyclone Kelvin could also be seen in Terra MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS True-color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, viewed using RealEarth (below). The actual times of the Terra and Suomi NPP satellite overpasses were 0154 UTC and 0452 UTC on 18 February, respectively.

Terra MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS True-color RGB images [click to enlarge]

Posted in DMSP, Himawari-8, MODIS, Other Satellites, RealEarth Web Map Server, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Satellite winds, Suomi NPP, Terra, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | No Comments »

Cyclone Gita in the South Pacific Ocean

February 12th, 2018 | Scott Bachmeier

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm, bottom) images, with hourly plots of surface reports [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Gita as it moved toward Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean during 11 February – 12 February 2018. The tropical cyclone reached Category 4 intensity (ADT | SATCON) near the end of the animation period.

A longer animation of Himawari-8 Infrared images (below) revealed that the center of Gita moved just south of the main island of Tongatapu. Surface observations from Fua’Amotu (NFTF) ended after 0735 UTC.

Himawari-8 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images, with hourly surface plots [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave imagery (below) showed that Gita underwent an eyewall replacement cycle after moving to the southwest of Tongatapu — a small eyewall was replaced by a larger eyewall, which was very apparent in DMSP SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) images at 1533 and 1749 UTC.