One reason the “What the heck is this?” blog category was created was for situations when we struggle to provide a scientifically-sound explanation of interesting features seen on satellite imagery. Take for example the NOAA-17 AVHRR Infrared (10.8 µm) image (above): it shows what appears to be an elongated “warm... Read More

We created the “What the heck is this?” category just for the type of case that is shown here: GOES-13 visible images (above) displayed an interesting cluster of O-shaped clouds forming over the Eastern Pacific Ocean (near Isla Guadalupe, off the coast of Baja California) on Read More

We received the following question on 02 October 2008:Hello: I sometimes look at the GOES-12 vis nightime images even though they are usually devoid of any light of course. The 03:15 image tonight, however, is showing a meteor-type streak with a comet-like head and tail. I wonder, though, if GOES... Read More

Tony Cristaldi at the National Weather Service forecast office at Melbourne, Florida pointed out an interesting feature to us: a clockwise-rotating vortex over the Atlantic Ocean, located just north of the Equator off the northeast coast of Brazil. An animation of GOES-12 visible and 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (above; QuickTime animation)... Read More