Fire detection « CIMSS Satellite Blog

“Hot spot” from the fire that caused the deadly I-75 crashes in Florida?

January 29th, 2012

POES AVHRR 3.74 µm shortwave IR image

Thick smoke from a 62-acre brush fire that was burning in the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park just southwest of Gainesville, Florida (station identifier KGNV) was blamed for causing a deadly multiple-vehicle crash along Interstate 75 at around 07:45 UTC (3:45 am local time) on 29 January 2012. Detection of the fire “hot spot” on shortwave IR satellite imagery was difficult due to the relatively small size of the fire, and the fact that some thin cirrus clouds were drifting over the region. However, evidence of what could be the fire hot spot was seen on a 06:58 UTC AWIPS image of 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 3.74 µm data (above), with an IR brightness temperature (BT) of +9 C at the darker black pixel that is circled.

The fire “hot spot” was a bit easier to see on a 06:53 UTC McIDAS image of 375-meter resolution Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm data (below). The darker black pixel that is circled exhibited an IR brightness temperature of +24.7 C.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR image

Posted in AVHRR, Fire detection, POES, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Blowing dust in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma

January 22nd, 2012

GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

A large outbreak of blowing dust developed in the wake of a cold frontal passage across parts of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma on 22 January 2012. At Lubbock, Texas winds gusted to 60 mph, and surface visibility was reduced to 0.5 mile. The strongest wind gust was 77 mph, farther to the north in the Texas panhandle region (NWS Lubbock summary). Early in the day, the consolidation of numerous smaller blowing dust plumes into a single large blowing dust “cloud” could be seen on 1-km resolution GOES-15 (GOES-West) 0.63 µm visible channel images (above; click image to play animation).

Later in the day, due to a more favorable forward scattering angle, the areal extent of the airborne blowing dust could be better seen on 1-km resolution 0.63 µm visible channel images from the GOES-13 (GOES-East) satellite (below; click image to play animation). The leading edge of the primary large dust plume began to move northeastward over Oklahoma, while a number of smaller dust plumes could be seen moving southeastward across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandle regions behind a secondary cold front. Note that the GOES-13 satellite had been placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) mode, providing images as frequently as every 5-10 minutes.

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

A 250-meter resolution MODIS true color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image from the SSEC MODIS Today site (below, viewed using Google Earth) displayed even greater detail in the structure of the blowig dust plume at 20:02 UTC.

Aqua MODIS true color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image (displayed using Google Earth)

There was also a bit of smoke mixed in with the blowing dust, due to a few small wildfires that were burning across the region. Three small wildfire “hot spots” (dark black to yellow pixels) could be seen on an AWIPS image of 1-km resolution MODIS 3.7 µm shortwave IR data at 20:00 UTC (below).

MODIS 3.7 µm shortwave IR image

Over southern Oklahoma at 21:23 UTC a pilot reported that at an altitude of 9000 feet the flight level visibility was zero due to blowing dust (below).

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel image + Aircraft pilot report

Posted in Air quality, Aviation, Fire detection, GOES-13, GOES-15, Google Earth, MODIS, Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images | No Comments »

Wildfires burning in Chile

January 2nd, 2012

GOES-12 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (click image to play animation)

As a result of prolonged drought and a mid-summer heat wave across southern Chile, a number of wildfires were burning in parts of the region on 01 January – 02 January 2012 (surface analysis). GOES-12 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (above; click image to play animation) showed a number of fire “hot spots” (yellow to red color enhancement) between Concepcion (station identifier SCIE) and Chillan (station identifier SCCH) from the late afternoon on 01 January until the early morning hours on 02 January.

During the subsequent daytime hours, GOES-12 0.63 µm visible channel images (below; click image to play animation) revealed a long hazy smoke plume that was drifting northwestward out over the adjacent Pacific Ocean. As daytime heating increased, cumulus clouds with a few thunderstorms could also be seen developing farther inland over the higher terrain of the Andes Mountains.

GOES-12 0.63 µm visible channel images (click image to play animation)

Rawinsonde data from Santo Domingo (station identifier SCSN) at 12 UTC indicated that southeasterly winds existed near the top of the deep temperature inversion, between 741 hPa (2.6 km) and 700 hPa (3.1 km) — so this is likely the approximate altitude of the smoke plume seen drifting toward the northwest on the GOES-12 visible satellite imagery.