Crittenburg Complex of wildfires in North Texas
GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top left), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top right), Fire Power (bottom left) and Fire Temperature (bottom right) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Power and Fire Temperature (above) displayed the smoke plumes and thermal signature of the Crittenburg Complex of wildfires that developed south-southwest of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas on 27 March 2022. Thermal signatures became evident around 1600 UTC or 11:00 am CDT; within 3 hours this fire was burning very hot, with 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperatures reaching 138.71ºC — the saturation temperature of ABI Band 7 detectors — as early as 1900 UTC. The Fire Temperature and Fire Power derived products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA.
GOES-16 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) showed that the smoke plume eventually drifted north-northeastward over parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.
GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and False Color RGB images at 2032 UTC is shown below. The images were downloaded and processed via the Direct Broadcast ground station at SSEC/CIMSS, and are available for AWIPS via LDM subscription.
Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and False Color RGB images at 2032 UTC [click to enlarge]
About 12 hours later, nighttime signatures of the Crittenburg Complex were still apparent in Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images (below). The lights just north of the fire (seen in Day/Night Band imagery) were likely due to firefighting assets in that area, working to slow the northward spread of the fire.
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images [click to enlarge]