Medicane Ionas after Greece

September 21st, 2020 |

VIIRS Daily True-Color images, 18-21 September 2020 (Click to animate)

What did the Medicane that hit Greece do afterwards?  VIIRS True-color imagery, above, taken from the NASA WorldView site, show an intact feature moving along the northern coast of Africa on 20-21 September towards the Nile Delta.  The amount of cloudiness is in general declining as it moves into a drier environment.  Total Precipitable Water (TPW) from the MIMIC website shows the general drying surrounding the storm.

MIMIC hourly estimates of Total Precipitable Water from 00 UTC on 17 September to 14 UTC on 21 September 2020 (Click to animate)

Rick Kohrs, SSEC/CIMSS, supplied the True-Color multi-day animation from Meteosat-11 imagery below. (Updated on 23 September to include date annotations)

Meteorsat-11 True-Color Imagery over the Mediterranean sea, 15-21 September 2020 (Click to animate)

Posted in Meteosat, Other Satellites, VIIRS | No Comments »

Blowing dust off the coast of Namibia and South Africa

August 7th, 2020 |

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

A sequence of 3 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 as visualized using RealEarth (above) showed plumes of blowing dust moving off the coast of Namibia and South Africa on 07 August 2020.

EUMETSAT Meteosat-11 Visible (0.6 µm) images (below) displayed the motion of the dust plumes during the daytime hours.

Meteosat-11 Visible (0.6 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Meteosat-11 Visible (0.6 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

A plot of surface data from Luderitz, Namibia (station identifier FYLZ) is shown below; it indicated that winds gusted to 36 knots (41 mph) at 08 UTC.

Plot of surface data from Luderitz, Namibia [click to enlarge]

Plot of surface data from Luderitz, Namibia [click to enlarge]

H/T to Santiago Gassó for bringing this event to our attention.

Posted in Meteosat, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Fire signatures following a large explosion in Beirut, Lebanon

August 4th, 2020 |

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm), Near-Infrared (1.61 µm and 2.25 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.75 µm) and Active Fires product (credit: William Straka. CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm), Near-Infrared (1.61 µm and 2.25 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.75 µm) and Active Fires product (credit: William Straka. CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

A sequence of Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm), Near-Infrared (1.61 µm and 2.25 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.75 µm) and Active Fires product at 2335 UTC on 04 August 2020 (above) showed nighttime reflective and thermal signatures of the fire that was burning about 8.5 hours following a large explosion that occurred at 1508 UTC in Beirut, Lebanon.

Plots of Spectral Response Functions (SRFs) for similar spectral bands on the GOES-R series ABI instrument (1.61 µm, 2.24 µm and 3.9 µm) are shown below — note that the 1.61 µm and 2.24 µm SRF curves are located close to the peak emitted radiance of very hot features such as large fires.

Plots of Spectral Response Functions for GOES-R series ABI 1..61 µm, 2.24 µm and 3.9 µm spectral bands [click to enlarge]

Plots of Spectral Response Functions for GOES-R series ABI 1..61 µm, 2.24 µm and 3.9 µm spectral bands (credit: Mat Gunshor, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

EUMETSAT Meteosat-8 Visible (0.8 µm) images (below) showed a subtle signature of the explosion cloud as it slowly spread out to the northwest, west and southwest before sunset. Station identifier OLBA is Beirut  Rafic Hariri International Airport.

Meteosat-8 Visible (0.8 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Meteosat-8 Visible (0.8 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Posted in Fire detection, Meteosat, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal

May 18th, 2020 |

Meteosat-8 Infrared Window (10.8 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Meteosat-8 Infrared Window (10.8 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

EUMETSAT Meteosat-8 Infrared Window (10.8 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Amphan during the period when it was rapidly intensifying to a Category 5 storm (ADT | SATCON) by 06 UTC on 18 May 2020. In fact, Ampham became the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Bay of Bengal basin.

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images as viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of Amphan shortly before the time of its peak intensity.

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

On the following night, toggles between VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 (below) showed a subtle signature of mesospheric airglow waves propagating northward away from the center of Cyclone Amphan.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images (credit: William Straka, CIMSS) [click to enlarge]

Posted in Meteosat, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | No Comments »

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