Contrails along the Florida coast

By Scott Bachmeier • 18 December 2018

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm, middle) and Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm, bottom) images [click to play animation | MP4]

A pair of circular contrails was seen along the coast of the Florida Panhandle in GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) and Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm) images (above) on 18 December 2018. The contrail features were moving eastward at speed of 50-60 knots.

GOES-16 Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida (below) revealed significant contributions by radiation being sensed from levels peaking at either 424 hPa or 442 hPa with all 3 spectral bands — due to a shallow layer of mid-tropospheric moisture — with secondary higher-altitude weighting function peaks around the 300 hPa pressure level.

GOES-16 Water Vapor weighting functions derived using 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

Wind speeds from 12 UTC Tallahassee rawinsonde data (below) were 50 knots or greater above the 300 hPa layer, which suggests the contrails existed near that level — and the increased moisture at that high altitude allowed the contrails to persist for nearly 2.5 hours before dissipating.

Plot of 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Tallahassee, Florida [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Infrared and Water Vapor winds (source) also showed wind speeds of 50 or greater at higher altitudes in the general vicinity of these contrail features (below).

GOES-16 Infrared and Water Vapor winds [click to play animation]

Categories: GOES-16, Satellite winds

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Contrails along the Florida coast