1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (above) showed a glaciating (brighter shades of green) to glaciated (pale shades of yellow) lake effect snow (LES) band streaming inland off Lake Erie on 17 November 2023. There were 4 brief periods of lightning activity seen just south of the Buffalo,... Read More
10-minute Full Disk GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed that a wildfire complex in southern Brazil produced a series of 4-5 pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds on 13 November 2023. The coldest pyroCb cloud-top 10.3 µm brightness temperature was -74.4ºC at 1530 UTC.Regarding the wildfire... Read More
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed Hurricane Otis as it approached the coast of Mexico, making landfall near Acapulco (Acapulco International Airport, METAR identifier MMAA, is located about 16 miles southeast of the city center) around 0625 UTC on 25 October 2023. During the 11-hour time period shown,... Read More
The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) has been flying on the International Space Station since 2017 to extend LIS observations that began with the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM). This provides for nearly global observations optical detection of lightning. On 11 October and 12 October, two passes of the LIS, shown below, observed Typhoon Bolaven: the ascending pass from 2124 to 2134 UTC on... Read More
