Direct Broadcast antennae give timely full-resolution imagery from various Low-Earth-Orbit satellites as they move within the view of the satellite received. Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) software takes the downloaded signal and produces imagery (or AWIPS-ready files). The toggle above shows VIIRS (Visible-Infrared Imaging Scanning Radiometer) and ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) data from... Read More

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) + Fire Power derived product (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the thermal signature associated with the Tiger Island Fire in far western Louisiana on 22 August 2023. A combination of mandatory and voluntary evacuations were... Read More

5-minute GOES-18 (GOES-West) images of Day Land Cloud Fire RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Temperature RGB and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) with an overlay of Fire Power derived product (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) (above) showed thermal signatures associated with wildfires on the island of Maui in Hawai`i during the afternoon... Read More

Deadly fires on the island of Maui occurred in an environment favorable to fire development: dry and windy. What kind of satellite data could be used to assess those conditions? Sentinel-1A overflew the western Hawai’ian islands near sunset on 8 August 2023 (that is, at 0440 UTC on 9 August), as shown above. Widespread 30-knot winds... Read More