Pyrocumulonimbus cloud over northern Paraguay
GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, center) and Infrared Window (10.35 µm, bottom) images [click to play animation | MP4]
Fires burning in far northern Paraguay on 29 September 2021 created a pyrocumulonimbus or pyroCb cloud — GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the pyroCB cloud, fire thermal anomalies or “hot spots” (clusters of red pixels) and cold cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures, respectively. The minimum 10.35 µm temperature was -47.6ºC at 1840 UTC. Note the relatively warm (darker gray) appearance of the pyroCb cloud in the 3.9 µm images — this is a characteristic signature of pyroCb cloud tops, driven by the smoke-induced shift toward smaller ice particles (which act as more efficient reflectors of incoming solar radiation).
A Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 1751 UTC as viewed using RealEarth (below) revealed cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures in the -60s C (shades of red). Surface temperatures at nearby sites had reached 38ºC (100ºF) by 18 UTC.
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 1751 UTC [click to enlarge]
South American pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fairly uncommon — since the first documented case in 2018, only 7 other pyroCbs have been identified over that continent.
Thanks to Mike Fromm, NRL, for alerting us to this latest pyroCb case. Additional information is available from Metsul.com.