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2022 Satellite Highlights via Polar-Orbiting Imagery

By Margaret Mooney •

This post features 2022 highlights from a polar-orbiting perspective, with a focus on U.S. scenes, most acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) flying on the Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 satellites. Also in 2022: NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) launched the JPSS-2 satellite, renamed NOAA-21. First light imagery from this exciting fleet addition is featured in November.

The top two images from January capture mesovortices on Lake Michigan, with False Color helping reveal snow cover and lake ice.

January 2022 – VIIRS True Color view of the Great Lakes Region
January 2022 – VIIRS False Color view of the Great Lakes Region

But the big global event in January was the Hunga-Tonga Volcano eruption in the South Pacific, also viewed by VIIRS.

January 2022 – VIIRS IR view of cloud-top gravity waves associated with the Hunga-Tona volcano eruption on January 15th, click on the image for a Suomi-NPP/NOAA-20 toggle.

Scroll down for additional satellite imagery from each month in 2022 …

February 2022 – VIIRS Day Night Band imagery leverages moonlight to reveal a snow storm track and lake-effect clouds.
March 2022 – VIIRS True Color imagery captures a mid-latitude cyclone offshore the U.S. West Coast
April 10 – VIIRS Day Night Band view of the Aurora Borealis from the VIIRS Imagery Viewer
April 22 – VIIRS Day Night Band View of the Aurora Borealis from the VIIRS Imagery Viewer
May 2022 – Lunar Eclipse composite image from NOAA. The full moon illuminates Day Night Band swaths but “blackouts” occur when Earth’s shadow blocks moonlight during Atlantic Ocean and South America overpasses for the May 16th total lunar eclipse.
June 2022 – This True Color USA composite on the summer solstice from VIIRS Today shows tranquil summer weather and persistent High pressure over the southwest.
July 2022 – VIIRS Shortwave IR (3.74 µm) showed the hot thermal signature of the McKinney Fire in California on July 31st
July 2022 – VIIRS Day Night Band showed the bright glow of flames associated with the McKinney Fire in California on July 31st
August 2022 – VIIRS lake surface temperatures depicted an upwelling event of cold waters on the western side of Lake Michigan on August 10th.
September 2022 – Category 4 Hurricane Ian headed toward Florida on September 27th via VIIRS True Color.
September 2022 – VIIRS IR reveals cold cloud-top temperatures near -83ºC (shades of purple) with Hurricane Ian on September 27th.
October 2022 – VIIRS True Color captured wildfires in Oregon and Washington on October 16th with smoke flowing north into Canada.

The JPSS-2 satellite launched from from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 10, 2022, just before 2am Pacific time. Once in orbit it was renamed NOAA-21, the third in a series of advanced polar-orbiting satellites. Data was being received on Earth less than 2 weeks later!

November 2022- First Light global composite from NOAA-21’s ATMS sensor released on November 22.
November/December 2022 – First Light VIIRS True Color global composite from NOAA-21 downloaded via CIMSS Direct Broadcast.

Meanwhile Mauna Loa erupted on the Big Island of Hawaii for the first time in 38 years on November 27th 2022. VIIRS provided regular insights into the extended volcanic event which lasted until December 13th.

November 2022 – NOAA-20 VIIRS IR (3.74 µm) view of the Mauna Loa eruption acquired on November 28th.
November 2022 – VIIRS Day Night Band depiction of hot lava from Mauna Loa and the smaller glow from Kilauea on November 30th.

December wrapped up the year with an Arctic Blast in the east and an Atmospheric River aimed at the west coast. Polar-orbiting satellites tracked both events.

December 2022 – Trans-Pacific Atmospheric River tracked by microwave sensors on multiple polar-orbiting satellites.
December 2022 – An Arctic Blast during the holidays depicted by data collected by the CrIS and ATMS instruments.
December 2022 – Historic lake-effect snow associated with the Arctic Blast via VIIRS True and False Color imagery on 12/25.

This collection is merely a sampling of polar-orbiting satellite applications. Tune in to future blog posts and CIMSS social media for additional imagery from the JPSS fleet in 2023, including more NOAA-21 imagery!

And, be sure to check out our 2022 review from a geostationary perspective, and NOAA’s Top Satellite Images from 2022.

Categories: General interpretation, JPSS-1, NOAA-20, NOAA-21, POES, Suomi NPP, VIIRS