Archive for September, 2008

Subtropical Storm Laura

Monday, September 29th, 2008
GOES-12 IR image + QuikSCAT winds

GOES-12 IR image + QuikSCAT WindSat wind vectors

An image of the GOES-12 10.7 µm IR channel (with an overlay of QuikSCAT WindSat wind vectors) from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (above) revealed that wind speeds were near 50 knots within a curved band of deep convection located just to the east of the center of Subtropical Storm Laura on 29 September 2008.

Animations of the GOES-12 10.7 µm IR channel and visible channel images (below) showed the curved band of deep convection developing further and wrapping around the northern and then the western quadrants of the storm during the hours that followed; small-scale swirls were also seen on the visible imagery, rotating around the low-level center of Laura.

GOES-12 10.7 µm IR images

GOES-12 10.7 µm IR images

GOES-12 visible images

GOES-12 visible images

Laura was eventually classified as a Tropical Storm on the following day (30 September).

Hurricane Kyle: the transition to extratropical

Sunday, September 28th, 2008
GOES-12 water vapor images

GOES-12 6.5 µm water vapor images

GOES-12 6.5 micrometer “water vapor channel” imagery (above) revealed a pronounced warming/drying signature (darker orange colors) as Hurricane Kyle was beginning the transition to an extratropical system on 28 September 2008. GOES-12 water vapor brightness temperatures were as warm as 268º K (-5.15º C) at 16:45 and 17:02 UTC — and the rapid trend of warming/drying suggested that strong subsidence was occurring in that region.

A comparison of the 4-km resolution GOES-12 and the 1-km resolution MODIS water vapor channel data (below) yielded similar brightness temperature values within the core of the warm/dry region (-5.1º C on MODIS, -7.5º C on GOES-12).

GOES-12 6.5 µm and MODIS 6.7 µm water vapor images

GOES-12 6.5 µm and MODIS 6.7 µm water vapor images

Curiously, the GOES-12 sounder total column ozone product (animation) did not exhibit a high ozone feature co-located with the warm/dry pocket seen on the water vapor imagery (below) — if this dry air were due to a stratospheric intrusion or a tropopause fold, ozone values would normally increase to the 350-400 Dobson Unit range (green to red colors).

AWIPS images of GOES-12 water vapor and total column ozone

AWIPS images of GOES-12 water vapor and total column ozone