Areas of low cloudiness (such as stratus and/or fog) at night can be important aviation hazards, but they are sometimes difficult to identify simply by examining standard IR imagery. A comparison of 1-km resolution MODIS 11.0 µm and 4-km resolution GOES-12 10.7 µm “IR window” images (above) does not give... Read More

Fog that formed in the Gulf of Maine on Tuesday July 8th developed when relatively moist air moved from the continent over the cooler ocean waters and was cooled from beneath by conduction to the dewpoint. In other words, Advection Fog.An obvious question arises from the loop: Why does the... Read More

Given the rather large satellite viewing angle (or “zenith angle”) of geostationary satellites positioned over the Equator, one would think that the imagery would not be of much value over places such as far northern Alaska. However, a forecast discussion issued by Fairbanks, Alaska mentioned the utility of GOES visible... Read More

An AWIPS image of the MODIS Sea Surface Temperature (SST) product (above) revealed that the water temperatures were still quite cool across much of the western Great Lakes on 01 June 2008. Several days later, a northward surge of warm and humid air brought daytime temperatures into the 80s F with dew... Read More