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Satellite signatures of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion at Cape Canaveral, Florida

By Scott Bachmeier •

During “static fire” pre-launch testing of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida just after sunset on 28 May 2026, a malfunction caused a significant explosion (which occurred around 0100 UTC on 29 May).  The cloud that resulted from this explosion exhibited a distinct... Read More

Multi-panel display showing all 16 ABI spectral bands of GOES-19, from 0046-0201 UTC on 29 May [click to play MP4 animation]

During “static fire” pre-launch testing of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida just after sunset on 28 May 2026, a malfunction caused a significant explosion (which occurred around 0100 UTC on 29 May).  The cloud that resulted from this explosion exhibited a distinct cold signature in GOES-19 (GOES-East) ABI spectral bands 07-16, as it drifted east-northeast away from the Florida coast.

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Anomalously deep polar low pressure system north of Greenland, and ice breakup in northeastern Baffin Bay

By Scott Bachmeier •

CIMSS research scientist Rich Dworak sent along a sequence of NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band images (above) that included satellite-derived Atmospheric Motion Vectors — which depicted an anomalously deep polar low just north of Greenland during the 25-26 May 2026 period.Another feature of interest seen in the Day/Night Band imagery was the breakup... Read More

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images with an overlay of satellite-derived Atmospheric Motion Vectors during the 25-26 May period (courtesy Rich Dworak, CIMSS) [click to play animated GIF]

CIMSS research scientist Rich Dworak sent along a sequence of NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band images (above) that included satellite-derived Atmospheric Motion Vectors — which depicted an anomalously deep polar low just north of Greenland during the 25-26 May 2026 period.

Another feature of interest seen in the Day/Night Band imagery was the breakup of ice in the northeastern portion of Baffin Bay — which was also evident in a Blended Ice Concentration product from the VIIRS Enterprise Ice Products site (below). The ice-free North Water Polynya was also very apparent.

Blended Sea Ice Concentration images on 25 May and 26 May [click to enlarge]

According to products from the Canadian Ice Service on 25 May (below), the Ice Concentration was only 1/10th to 3/10ths across much of the northern part of Baffin Bay, with large areas of <1/10th ice concentration (having an Ice Stage classification of Icebergs) within the North Water Polynya.

Ice Stage and Ice Concentration on 25 May [click to enlarge]

The Ice Concentration Departure From Normal was substantially negative (shades of red) in northern and northeastern/eastern portions of Baffin Bay (below).

Ice Concentration Departure From Normal on 25 May [click to enlarge]

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Pyrocumulonimbus clouds in the Northwest Territories, as detected by GOES-18 and GOES-16

By Scott Bachmeier •

10-minute Full Disk scan Visible, Shortwave Infrared and Infrared Window images from GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-16 (above) showed a wildfire in Canada’s Northwest Territories that produced multiple pulses of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds late in the day on 23 May 2026. Each of the pyroCb clouds exhibited slightly warmer signatures (darker... Read More

Visible images (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared images (3.9 µm, middle) and Infrared Window images (10.3 µm, bottom), from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-16 (right), from 1930 UTC on 23 May to 0300 UTC on 24 May [click to play animated GIF]

10-minute Full Disk scan Visible, Shortwave Infrared and Infrared Window images from GOES-18 (GOES-West) and GOES-16 (above) showed a wildfire in Canada’s Northwest Territories that produced multiple pulses of pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds late in the day on 23 May 2026. Each of the pyroCb clouds exhibited slightly warmer signatures (darker shades of gray) in the Shortwave Infrared images, due to enhanced solar reflection off the smaller smoke-filled ice crystals of their anvil tops — in addition to cold Infrared Window brightness temperatures in the -50s C (shades of red).

In a comparison of Day Land Cloud Fire RGB images from the 2 satellites — created using Geo2Grid (below), the wildfire’s thermal signature (shades of pink to red) was often obscured from the far western view of GOES-18 by pyro-convection; however, during many of those instances the thermal signature could be seen in GOES-16 imagery (since that satellite was positioned farther to the east, at 104.7 W longitude, during its annual test period).

Day Land Cloud Fire RGB images from GOES-18 (left) and GOES-16 (right), from 2000 UTC on 23 May to 0100 UTC on 24 May [click to play MP4 animation]

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Satellite signatures of the SpaceX Starship Flight Test 12 launch

By Scott Bachmeier •

The SpaceX Starship Flight Test 12 was launched from the Starbase facility at 2230 UTC on 22 May 2026 — and 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 and GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the Super Heavy rocket booster condensation cloud as it drifted away from the South Texas coast and... Read More

True Color RGB images from GOES-16 (left) and GOES-19 (right), from 2226-2331 UTC on 22 May [click to play MP4 animation]

The SpaceX Starship Flight Test 12 was launched from the Starbase facility at 2230 UTC on 22 May 2026 — and 5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 and GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the Super Heavy rocket booster condensation cloud as it drifted away from the South Texas coast and eastward across the Gulf of Mexico. Enhanced forward scattering from the GOES-19 satellite perspective led to a more hazy appearance of those images (GOES-16, positioned more closely overhead at 104.7 W longitude during its annual test period, was therefore not as affected by forward scattering at that time of day).

GOES-16 Rocket Plume RGB imagery (below) captured a vivid high-altitude signature of the trail of superheated water vapor (shades of yellow to lime green in the 2231 UTC image) in the wake of the Super Heavy rocket booster shortly after launch. The eastward drift of the lower-altitude rocket booster condensation cloud (darker shades of reddish-brown) was also apparent.

GOES-16 Rocket Plume RGB images, from 2226-2331 UTC on 22 May [click to play MP4 animation]

A toggle between the 2231 UTC GOES-16 Rocket Plume RGB and True Color RGB images (below) revealed that there was no corresponding signature of the high-altitude superheated water vapor trail in the True Color image — but a signature of the lower-altitude rocket booster condensation cloud appeared in both images, immediately off the coast. During the 22:31:19 UTC CONUS Sector image, GOES-16 was actually scanning the area of the rocket plume at 22:32:23 UTC — when the Super Heavy booster was at an altitude of around 50 km in the Stratosphere.

GOES-16 Rocket Plume RGB and True Color RGB images at 2231 UTC on 22 May [click to enlarge]

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