VIIRS « CIMSS Satellite Blog

Offshore transport of glacial silt from Southeast Alaska

April 25th, 2021 | Scott Bachmeier

GOES-17 CIMSS Natural Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 (GOES-West) CIMSS Natural Color RGB images (above) depicted a large offshore surge of airborne glacial silt from Southeast Alaska on 25 April 2021. During the preceding week, abnormally warm and dry conditions across much of Southeast Alaska (Juneau | Ketchikan | Sitka | Yakutat) promoted significant snow melt which exposed a great deal of surface glacial silt.

The leading edge of the aerosol could also be seen in GOES-17 Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) images (below). The presence of a very dry air mass over the region (rawinsonde data: Yakutat | Annette Island) allowed some of the lower-tropospheric aerosol to be sensed by this spectral band.

GOES-17 Near-Infrared “Cirrus” (1.37 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) provided a clearer view of the areal coverage of glacial silt moving westward off the coast.

GOES-17 True Color RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

With ample illumination from the Moon (which was in the Waxing Gibbous phase, at 96% of Full), the emergence of airborne particles off the Southeast Alaska coast was seen in a Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image at 1221 UTC (below).

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image [click to enlarge]

Posted in GOES-17, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Suomi NPP, VIIRS | No Comments »

Tropical Cyclone Joba makes landfall in Tanzania

April 24th, 2021 | Scott Bachmeier

US Space Force EWS-G1 Infrared (10.7 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 Infrared (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Tropical Cyclone Jobo as it moved west-northwestward across the Indian Ocean during the 23-24 April 2021 period, eventually making landfall in Tanzania as a weakening Tropical Depression. Jobo was traversing warm sea surface temperatures during its westward trek.

A sequence of VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP as viewed using RealEarth (below) provided higher-resolution views of the various stages of convection associated with Jobo during the 22-24 April period.

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

Posted in EWS-G1, NOAA-20, RealEarth, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | No Comments »

Rapid intensification of Super Typhoon Surigae

April 16th, 2021 | Scott Bachmeier

JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation]

2.5-minute interval rapid scan JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed Typhoon Surigae undergoing rapid intensification (ADT | SATCON) to become a Category 4 storm as of 18 UTC on 16 April 2021.

A DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) displayed a well-defined eye, with distinct spiral bands feeding into the eyewall.

DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1944 UTC [click to enlarge]

After sunrise, Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) showed the relatively compact eye, with hints of low-level mesovortices within the eye.

JMA Himawari-8 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

===== 17 April Update =====

JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

The prolonged period of rapid intensification continued overnight, and as of 12 UTC on 17 April Surigae had become a Category 5 Super Typhoon — 2.5-minute interval rapid scan Himawari-8 Infrared images (above) showed the well-defined eye as the storm tracked northwestward across the Philippine Sea (just east of the Philippines). A faster animation (GIF | MP4) helped to highlight the trochoidal motion (wobble) of the eye — a behavior often seen with intense tropical cyclones. The 21 UTC advisory from JTWC listed sustained winds of 165 knots (and objective intensity estimates from ADT and SATCON were around 170 knots), making Surigae the only tropical cyclone on record to reach that intensity during the month of April.

Year and date of all 165kt tropical cyclones on record around the world. pic.twitter.com/JLUwjceapf

— Sam Lillo (@splillo) April 17, 2021

An animation of Himawari-8 Infrared images with an overlay of deep-layer wind shear (below) indicated that Surigae was moving through a region of low to moderate wind shear; the storm was also moving across very warm water (SST + OHC).

Himawari-8 Infrared images, with contours of deep-layer wind shear at 18 UTC [click to enlarge]

Around the time that Surigae was reaching its peak intensity, a Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image several hours before sunrise (below) revealed concentric mesospheric airglow waves (reference) propagating away from the energetic Category 5 tropical cyclone.

Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image [click to enlarge]

In closer view of time-matched Himawari-8 Infrared and Suomi NPP Day/Night Band images (below), a cluster of bright DNB pixels highlighted the presence of lightning activity along the inner edge of the northern eyewall.

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images [click to enlarge]

Posted in DMSP, Himawari-8, Lightning, Microwave, Satellite winds, Suomi NPP, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS | No Comments »

Cold cloud tops associated with Tropical Storm Surigae in the West Pacific

April 15th, 2021 | Scott Bachmeier

JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

2.5-minute interval rapid scan JMA Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) revealed intermittent cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -100ºC and colder (red pixels embedded within yellow-to-black inner cores) — with the coldest being -101.7ºC at 1342 UTC — within the Central Cold Cover (CCC) pattern of Tropical Storm Surigae on 15 April 2021.

A zoom-in of NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) imagery at 1644 UTC as viewed using RealEarth (below) also showed 2 clusters of red -100ºC and colder pixels, with a minimum of -103.6ºC (incidentally, the coldest pixels on the 1644 UTC Himawari-8 Infrared image were -96ºC). About an hour and 15 minutes after this NOAA-20 image, Surigae was upgraded to a Category 1 typhoon (the first typhoon of the 2021 season in the West Pacific basin).

NOAA-20 VIIRSI Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 1644 UTC [click to enlarge]

NOAA-20 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) image at 1644 UTC [click to enlarge]

A plot of 12 UTC rawinsonde data from Yap Island showed that the coldest air temperature was -84.7ºC at 100 hPa (16.7 km) — so an overshooting top of -100ºC or colder indicated a significant vertical ascent above the tropopause.