During a 4-hour period on 17 March 2015, NOAA/NESDIS conducted a test of two special GOES-15 (GOES-West) Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) sectors for the Alaska Region. From 16:00 to 18:00 UTC, the test was conducted for the “Sitka” sector (above) — and GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel images over a... Read More

AWIPS images of 4-km resolution resolution GOES-15 (GOES-West) 6.5 µm water vapor channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of a patch of mountain wave or “lee wave” clouds immediately downwind of the higher elevations of the western Transverse Ranges in southern... Read More

According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, an eruption of the Pavlof Volcano began around 01:50 UTC on 13 November 2014. A comparison of nighttime images of Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band (DNB) and 3.74 µm shortwave IR data at 13:07 UTC... Read More

McIDAS images of GOES-15 Visible (0.63 µm) data (above) showed the hazy signature of a plume of re-suspended volcanic ash originating from the region of the Novarupta volcano in Alaska, moving southeastward over the Shelikof Strait toward Kodiak Island on 29 September 2014. The Read More