Stereoscopic Views of a storm on the West Coast of the United States
GOES-16 (left) and GOES-17 (non-operational, right) Visible Imagery (0.64 µm) at 15-minute timesteps from 1500 to 2245 UTC on 14 January 2019 (Click to animate)
GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational
When GOES-17 was in the test position at 89.5 degrees W Longitude, GOES-16 and GOES-17 in satellite projections could be used to create stereoscopic imagery (example 1; example 2; example 3); the human brain could correct for any projection differences to create 3-dimensional imagery (as explained here, for example). Because GOES-17 is now in its operational position at 137.2 degrees W Longitude, the perspective differences are too great. However, a simple remap of the imagery to the same native projection (Mercator in this case) allows for the construction of animations that show three dimensions, as shown above for the storm making landfall over southern California on 14 January 2019. The coastlines of Washington and Oregon are apparent in the imagery, as is Baja California. Multiple cloud layers become apparent in the imagery.