Satellite signatures of solar farms across Minnesota
GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm), Near-Infrared “Cloud Particle Size” (2.24 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Fire Temperature RGB images along with Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area derived products (above) showed reflectance and thermal signatures of sunlight reflecting off large arrays of solar panels at solar farms across southern/central Minnesota on 23 June 2021. These bright/warm signatures were more pronounced from larger solar farms — with the warmest being exhibited by a solar farm southeast of Redwood Falls in southwestern Minnesota (Shortwave Infrared: 50.6ºC / Fire Temperature: 853.9 K / Fire Power: 126.8 MW).The Fire Temperature / Fire Power / Fire Area derived products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm (FDCA).
Previous blog posts discussing solar farm signatures can be found here, here and here.