This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

GOES-16: Earth Day 2017

By Scott Bachmeier •

Full Disk images of all 16 bands of the GOES-16 ABI {click to enlarge]

Full Disk images of all 16 bands of the GOES-16 ABI {click to enlarge]

** The GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing testing. **

To commemorate Earth Day 2017, Full Disk images using all 16 spectral bands on the GOES-16 ABI instrument at 17:25:22 UTC on 22 April are displayed above. One feature that was prominent in most of the shorter-wavelength bands — which are able to sense a good deal of radiation/reflectance from the Earth’s surface — was the large area of sun glint near the center of the images (over the Pacific Ocean, just west of Panama/Costa Rica). The westward migration of this sun glint signature could be followed on an animation of Visible (0.64 µm) images (below). GOES-16 remained in a Mode 4 scan strategy during much of the day (until 1930 UTC), providing Full Disk images every 5 minutes.

GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

Taking a closer look at a portion of the Amazon River in Brazil, a comparison of Blue Visible (0.47 µm), Red Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared Vegetation (0.86 µm) band imagery (below) highlighted the ability of the 0.86 µm images to discriminate between land and water (water appears very dark). This makes 0.86 µm imagery useful for identifying and monitoring areas of inland flooding.

GOES-16 Visible (0.47 µm and 0.64 µm) and Near Infrared (0.86 µm) images [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Visible (0.47 µm and 0.64 µm) and Near Infrared (0.86 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Categories: GOES-16