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Hurricane Matthew

By Scott Lindstrom •

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) imagery, 1115 UTC on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) imagery, 1115 UTC on 30 September 2016″

Early morning visible imagery over Matthew, above, from GOES-13, shows a circular storm with many overshooting tops and no apparent eye. However, Microwave imagery, below, from GCOM at about 0620 UTC, shows an eye structure beneath the clouds. (Information on AMSR-2 is here; Imagery was produced using Polar2Grid, part of CSPP, the Community Satellite Processing Package). Matthew is forecast to turn north and move over the Greater Antilles, threatening Jamaica, Hispaniola and Cuba from Sunday to early Tuesday. More information is available at the National Hurricane Center website.

GCOM AMRS-2 Brightness Temperatures at 36.5 and 89.0 GHz, 0620 UTC on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]

GCOM AMRS-2 Brightness Temperatures at 36.5 and 89.0 GHz, 0620 UTC on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]”

One benefit of Polar2Grid is that it puts different satellite imagery on the same grid, and therefore an animation of Polar data can be produced. The 10.8 µm window channel animation below has imagery from the AVHRR on METOP-A (1349 UTC) and METOP-B (1441 UTC) (Imagery from NOAA-18 (1030 UTC) was projected onto a different grid). A Visible image toggle using data from METOP-A and METOP-B is here.

10.8 µm brightness temperatures from AVHRR on METOP-A (1349 UTC) and METOP-B (1441 UTC) on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]

10.8 µm brightness temperatures from AVHRR on METOP-A (1349 UTC) and METOP-B (1441 UTC) on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]”


===== Update, 1800 UTC =====
Visible imagery from GOES-13 (below) shows the development of an eye. Matthew continues its motion to the west-southwest in between Colombia and Hispaniola.

GOES-13 Visible 0.63 µm Imagery, 1345-1715 UTC on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]

GOES-13 Visible 0.63 µm Imagery, 1345-1715 UTC on 30 September 2016 [Click to enlarge]”

===== Update, 22 UTC 01 October =====

GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation]

According to the NHC, Hurricane Matthew reached Category 5 intensity around 00 UTC on 01 October (public advisory |  discussion). An animation of GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images from 09 UTC on 30 September to 18 UTC on 01 October, above, showed the evolution of cold cloud-top brightness temperatures surrounding the small eye during the period of rapid intensification (SATCON)  on 30 September – 01 October.

Interestingly, the center of what had since been downgraded to a Category 4 Matthew did a circular loop during the daylight hours of 01 October, as seen in a 2-panel comparison of GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images, below.

GOES-13 0.63 µm Visible (left) and 10.7 µm Infrared Window (right) images [click to play animation]

GOES-13 0.63 µm Visible (left) and 10.7 µm Infrared Window (right) images [click to play animation]

One important point about the location of Matthew:


It is because of this southerly location that the storm was not adequately sampled within the CONUS scan sector (which was being provided with imagery as often as every 5-7 minutes, since GOES-13 was in Rapid Scan Operations mode) — so imagery of Matthew was only available every 30 minutes from the Northern Hemisphere scan sector. Once GOES-R becomes operational, a full disk scan can be performed as freqently as once every 5 minutes, which would provide much better sampling for an important tropical cyclone such as Matthew.

Categories: GOES-13, GOES-R, Metop, Other Satellites, POES, Tropical cyclones