The Mount Rinjani volcano in Indonesia began a period of eruptions on 25 October 2015; the ash plume became very apparent on Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from RealEarth on 03 and 04 October (above). The volcanic ash disrupted flights at Denpasar Airport in Bali (the red dot at... Read More

Cyclone Chapala continued its unusual approach towards Yemen on the southwestern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Early on 2 November, the storm has passed just north of the Island of Socotra and entered the Gulf of Aden. METOP-B overflew the storm at ~0615 UTC on 2 November; Visible and Infrared... Read More

Many of the islands in Indonesia have been shrouded in smoke for much of October. RGB composites from Himawari-8, above, for 0200 UTC on each day from 08-26 October 2015 testify to the dense smoke, especially over the island of Borneo. News reports suggest the haze will persist through the end of the year. This is in... Read More

GOES-15 (GOES-West) Infrared (10.7 µm) images (above; also available as an MP4 animation) displayed the formation of a ring of cold eyewall cloud-top IR brightness temperatures (in the -80 to -90º C range, violet colors) during the period of rapid intensification of Hurricane Patricia on 22 October 2015; the storm reached Category 5... Read More