EWS-G1 « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Cyclone Batsirai makes landfall in Madagascar

February 5th, 2022 | Scott Bachmeier

EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm, right) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 — formerly GOES-13 — Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai making landfall as a Category 3 storm along the eastern coast of Madagascar on 05 February 2022.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of Batsirai at 1045 UTC.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Posted in EWS-G1, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | Comments Off on Cyclone Batsirai makes landfall in Madagascar

Cyclone Batsirai reaches Category 4 intensity

February 3rd, 2022 | Scott Bachmeier

EWS-G1 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 (formerly GOES-13) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai in the South Indian Ocean — just north of the island nations of Mauritius and Réunion — during the time period it was classified as a Category 4 intensity storm (00 UTC on 02 February to 15 UTC on 03 February 2022). Note that the small-diameter eye became notably larger by the end of the animation.

A DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) displayed evidence that Batsirai had recently completed an eyewall replacement cycle (ERC), with the faint signature of the original small-diameter eye surrounded by the new large-diameter eye. This ERC process — seen in a 48-hour MIMIC-TC animation — initiated Batsirai’s gradual decline in intensity.

DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image [click to enlarge]

EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm) images (below) showed that the small eye was initially cloud-filled, but eventually cleared during the day on 02 February — to reveal the possible existence of eye mesovortices (although such features are difficult to diagnose using 30-minute images) .

EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Posted in DMSP, EWS-G1, Microwave, Tropical cyclones | Comments Off on Cyclone Batsirai reaches Category 4 intensity

Cyclone Batsirai in the South Indian Ocean

January 27th, 2022 | Scott Bachmeier

US Space Force EWS-G1 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 (formerly GOES-13) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai in the South Indian Ocean as it rapidly intensified from a Tropical Storm at 06 UTC to Category 2 storm (at 12 UTC on 27 January) and briefly exhibited a pinhole eye — and then rapidly collapsed back to Tropical Storm intensity by 00 UTC on 28 January 2022 (SATCON).

EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm) images (below) also displayed the rapid formation of a pinhole eye.

US Space Force EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

A map of Sea Surface Temperature from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) showed that Batsirai had been moving over relatively warm water during its period of rapid intensification.

Sea Surface Temperature, with the track of Cyclone Batsirai [click to enlarge]

Posted in EWS-G1, Tropical cyclones | Comments Off on Cyclone Batsirai in the South Indian Ocean

Cyclone Shaheen makes landfall in Oman

October 3rd, 2021 | Scott Bachmeier

US Space Force EWS-G1 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 (formerly GOES-13) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed
Hurricane Shaheen weakening to a Tropical Storm shortly after it made a rare landfall along the coast of Oman on 03 October 2021. The storm exhibited an eye at times as it was a Category 1 Hurricane over the Gulf of Oman. This was likely the first tropical cyclone to make landfall along that coastal portion of Oman since 1890 (Wikipedia).

Meteosat-8 Infrared images, with contours of deep-layer wind shear from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) indicated that the storm was moving through an environment of low shear.

Meteosat-8 Infrared images, with contours of deep-layer wind shear [click to enlarge]

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the Category 1 Hurricane at 0927 UTC.