2.5-minute rapid scan JMA Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed Category 5 Super Typhoon Goni in the West Pacific Ocean on 30 October 2020. The images revealed a very small “pinhole eye”, surface mesovortices within the eye and a trochoidal motion — all characteristics of a tropical cyclone... Read More

Multi-spectral views from Himawari-8’s “Target Sector” that provides 2-minute imagery, above, show weakening Typhoon Chan-hom south of Japan. The Typhoon shows a sheared structure, with the surface circulation southwest of the main convection, a shift that is especially evident in the Band 5 1.61 µm channel that differentiates between low... Read More

JMA Himawari-8 True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the gray to tan hues of a narrow west-to-east oriented volcanic ash cloud following an eruption of Mount Sinabung on 10 August 2020.A sequence of Terra MODIS False Color RGB, Ash Probability, Ash Loading, Ash Height and Ash Effective Radius products from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below)... Read More

JMA Himawari-8 Ash Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the nearly continuous volcanic cloud emanating from Nishinoshima during the 1-week 25 July to 01 August period (faster animations are also available: gif | mp4). Brighter shades of pink in the Ash RGB images suggest a higher concentration of... Read More