GOES-14 SRSOR: Fires in northern California
GOES-14 3.9 µm shortwave IR (left) and 0.63 µm visible (right) images (click image to play animation)
McIDAS images of GOES-14 1-minute interval Super Rapid Scan Operations for GOES-R (SRSOR) 4-km resolution 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel data and 1-km resolution 0.63 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed a number of significant wildfires burning across parts of northern California on 21 August 2012. The largest and most intense fires exhibited pronounced “hot spots” (black to yellow to red color enhancement) on the shortwave IR imagery, with optically-thick smoke plumes on the corresponding visible imagery.
The GOES-14 satellite has been brought out of on-orbit storage to be tested in SRSOR mode through the end of October 2012, allowing it to provide images at 1-minute intervals for an extended period of time over special regions of interest (similar to the future GOES-R satellite, which will be capable of producing imagery at 30-second intervals over special sectors of interest).
During the previous night-time hours, a comparison of AWIPS images of 1-km resolution MODIS 3.7 µm data with the corresponding 4-km resolution GOES-15 3.9 µm shortwave IR data (below) demonstrated the value of improved spatial resolution for identifying the location of smaller fires, as well as more accurately assessing the location and shape of the more intense portions of larger actively burning fires.
MODIS 3.7 µm vs GOES-15 3.9 µm shortwave IR images