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Pyrocumulonimbus clouds in Bolivia

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, middle) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed the formation of 2 pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds that were created by a fire complex in northeastern Bolivia on 22 October 2023. The coldest cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperature of the first (larger) pyroCb was around -56ºC (lighter shade of red), followed by a second (smaller) pyroCb exhibiting a minimum 10.3 µm brightness temperature around -47ºC (brighter shade of cyan). Surface analyses indicated that a large area of low pressure was expanding northward from northern Argentina to eastern Bolivia during the day — which likely brought an influx of warmer temperatures across eastern Bolivia (potentially creating a more favorable fire environment).

GOES-16 daytime True Color RGB and Nighttime Microphysics RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below) revealed a morning smoke plume drifting south-southeastward away from the fire burn scar (it is unclear whether this was a wildfire, or an intentional fire  meant to clear trees for agricultural purposes) a few hours prior to pyroCb formation.

GOES-16 daytime True Color RGB and Nighttime Microphysics RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

This is likely the third confirmed case of a South American pyroCb (the first being on 29 January 2018, and the second on 18 August 2019) — in addition, it’s one of the very few pyroCb events documented so far in the tropics.

Categories: Fire detection, GOES-16, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images