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Tropical Cyclone Michuang has formed in the Indian Ocean. Michuang, which means strength or resilience, is situated in the Bay of Bengal on 2023-12-04. Michuang’s center is currently about 48 km from the east coast of the Indian subcontinent. But the bands of the system have already caused major storm... Read More
Tropical Cyclone Michuang has formed in the Indian Ocean. Michuang, which means strength or resilience, is situated in the Bay of Bengal on 2023-12-04. Michuang’s center is currently about 48 km from the east coast of the Indian subcontinent. But the bands of the system have already caused major storm surges in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In cities such as Chennai, India, schools are closing and air travel has been put on a pause. Two fatalities are associated with the flooding and high winds. Thousands have been asked to evacuate. The storm is forecast to make landfall on 2023-12-05 at approximately 12Z and may arrive with gusts as high as 68 miles per hour.
RealEarth provides a global infrared product that has full-earth coverage. Watch an animation of infrared data as Tropical Cyclone Michuang develops over the past 48 hours. At infrared wavelengths, users can watch the system develop and organize into its cyclonic structure.
The Global Infrared product on RealEarth showing Tropical Cyclone Michuang every two hours over 48 hours, from 2023-12-02 at 18Z to 2023-12-04 at 18Z. Recreate this animation on RealEarth.
Another product that can be used to investigate the moisture in Tropical Cyclone Michuang is the MIMIC Total Preciptable Water product (MIMIC-TPW). MIMIC-TPW uses several sensors operating at microwave frequencies to estimate the total precipitable water field. Taking a look at the product below, Michuang is associated with a large area of high TPW values. It is no surprise that this storm is causing major rains and flooding.
The MIMIC – Total Precipitable Water product over the past 24 hours over the Indian Ocean. Strong TPW amounts are associated with Tropical Cyclone Michuang, which is touching the east coast of India.
JMA Himawari-9 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the ash-laden (darker shades of gray) volcanic cloud produced by an eruption of Mount Marapi that began at 0754 UTC on 03 December 2023. The final advisory issued by the Darwin VAAC estimated that ash extended to 50000 ft (15.2 km).A radiometrically retrieved Volcanic Ash... Read More
JMA Himawari-9 True Color RGB images, from 0750 UTC to 1050 UTC on 03 December [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
JMA Himawari-9 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid(above) showed the ash-laden (darker shades of gray) volcanic cloud produced by an eruption of Mount Marapi that began at 0754 UTC on 03 December 2023. The final advisory issued by the Darwin VAAC estimated that ash extended to 50000 ft (15.2 km).
A radiometrically retrieved Volcanic Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (below) indicated that maximum ash heights were in the 14-16 km range.
Volcanic Ash Height derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
In addition, the volcanic cloud had high levels of Ash Loading, consisting of particles having a large Ash Effective Radius (below). Significant ash fall occurred in a number of nearby villages.
Volcanic Ash Loading derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
Volcanic Ash Effective Radius derived product [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
In Himawari-9 False Color RGB images that incorporated the 8.5 µm spectral band (below), brighter shades of green indicated a mixture of SO2 and Ash within the volcanic cloud.
Himawari-9 False Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water (TPW) images (above) showed severe thunderstorms that developed along a cold front that moved north-northeast across Argentina and Uruguay on 01-02 December 2023. Pulses of thunderstorm overshooting tops occasionally exhibited infrared brightness temperatures in the -85 to -90ºC range (brighter white... Read More
1-minute GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images combined with the Total Precipitable Water derived product (in cloud-free areas), from 0900 UTC on 01 December to 1200 UTC on 02 December [click to play MP4 animation]
1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water (TPW) images (above) showed severe thunderstorms that developed along a cold front that moved north-northeast across Argentina and Uruguay on 01-02 December 2023. Pulses of thunderstorm overshooting tops occasionally exhibited infrared brightness temperatures in the -85 to -90ºC range (brighter white pixels embedded within black-enhanced cloud regions). North of the advancing front, TPW values were in the 2.0 to 2.3 inch range (lighter shades of violet), while TPW values decreased to the 0.5 to 0.7 inch range (lighter shades of blue) behind the front.
At Montevideo (METAR site SUAA, located along the southern coast of Uruguay), thunderstorms produced a peak wind gust of 54 knots (62 mph) at 1615 UTC on 01 December (below) — along with rainfall of 80 mm (3.15 in) in a 6-hour period, resulting in significant flooding.
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water derived product at 1615 UTC on 01 December, with cursor sampling of the METAR at SUAA [click to enlarge]
Farther to the west over northern Argentina, strong winds from a convective outflow boundary (just ahead of the cold front) produced blowing dust that reduced the surface visibility at Rosario (SAAR), Santa Fe (SAAV) and Parana (SAAP) (below).
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water derived product at 1518 UTC on 01 December, with cursor sampling of the METAR at SAAR [click to enlarge]
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water derived product at 1810 UTC on 01 December, with cursor sampling of the METAR at SAAV [click to enlarge]
GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) + Total Precipitable Water derived product at 1825 UTC on 01 December, with cursor sampling of the METAR at SAAP [click to enlarge]
Low clouds within the north-northeast moving convective outflow boundary were apparent in GOES-16 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below).
1-minute GOES-16 True Color RGB images, from 1700 UTC to 1900 UTC on 01 December [click to play MP4 animation]
In July 2022, significant flooding affected metropolitan St. Louis as multiple convective cells trained through the area. (This blog post contains clean window imagery for 26 July portion of the two-day event; the St Louis WFO also discussed the event). This WPC discussion describes the atmospheric setup on 25 July. A retrospective model run for this flooding event was created... Read More
In July 2022, significant flooding affected metropolitan St. Louis as multiple convective cells trained through the area. (This blog post contains clean window imagery for 26 July portion of the two-day event; the St Louis WFO also discussed the event). This WPC discussion describes the atmospheric setup on 25 July.
A retrospective model run for this flooding event was created using a WRF simulation. The model had 2-km resolution and data were output every 15 minutes. The WRF data were input into a CRTM to convolve the spectral response function at 5.15 micrometers — the novel water vapor channel that is planned for the GeoXO Imager (the follow-on to GOES-R’s ABI) that is planned for launch in the mid-2030s. Weighting functions that compare the 5.15 µm channel with GOES-R channels at 6.19 µm, 6.95 µm and 7.3 µm (for approximately the same atmosphere), below, show much more information from the boundary layer (850 mb and below) sensed by a satellite that detects energy at 5.15 µm compared to longer wavelengths. The image below was created from this image for 5.15 and this image for GOES-R Bands 8-10.
Weighting Functions for satellite-sensed energy at 6.2 µm (left), 6.9 µm, 7.2 µm and 5.15 µm (right) over a Midlatitude Summer Atmosphere (Click to enlarge)
What does the model output tell you? Consider the toggle below. The 5.15 µm imagery shows a region of cooler temperatures (yellow in the enhancement used vs. orange to the north and south) over Nebraska and Kansas into Missouri as highlighted by the blue arrows; a similar distribution is apparent in the 7.3 µm imagery — blue in the enhancement from Kansas/Nebraska into Missouri vs. yellow to the north and south. The cooler brightness temperatures mean that the height of the moisture layer detected is higher in the atmosphere; a likely reason for this moisture distribution is that more moisture is present in this corridor just to the north of a stationary front.
Modeled brightness temperatures at 0000 UTC on 25 July 2022; 5.15 µm (left) and 7.3 µm (right) (Click to enlarge)
How do the fields change as convection starts to initiate? That is shown in the animation below that covers the times 0000 UTC to 0515 UTC on 25 July 2022. In particular, the 5.15 µm imagery, with a signal that includes more information from lower in the boundary layer, can detect the low-level development of convection over Kansas and Missouri at earlier times than occurs in the 7.3 µm imagery. Compare the cooler brightness temperatures especially between 0230 UTC and 0400 UTC over Kansas and Missouri. The 0345 UTC image, shown below the animation, shows significant 5.15 µm cooling in/around Kansas City (northeast Kansas/western Missouri) that is not as apparent in the 7.3 µm imagery. The lowest-level ‘water vapor’ imagery at 5.15 µm is giving a heads up for convective development about 90 minutes before it appears in the 7.3 µm imagery.
Modeled brightness temperatures from 0000 – 0515 UTC on 25 July 2022; 5.15 µm (left) and 7.3 µm (right) (Click to enlarge)Modeled brightness temperatures at 0345 UTC on 25 July 2022; 5.15 µm (left) and 7.3 µm (right) (Click to enlarge)
The mp4 animation below shows four water vapor channels from the model simulation every 15 minutes from 0000 UTC – 2345 UTC on 25 July. In addition to the earlier detection of developing convection over central Kansas/Missouri mentioned above, note how the convection initially over southern Missouri dissipates as it moves into regions with warmer brightness temperatures (where low-level moisture is perhaps not quite so abundant). Surface features are visible over Wyoming in the 5.15 µm, especially as the surface warms during the day, indicating information from the surface could be sensed in addition to information related to the distribution of water vapor. Keep in mind these types of very dry regions are not likely candidates for convective initiation. Regions with moderate to high amounts of low-level moisture are less suspectible to this type of surface contamination, making the 5.15um band very useful for early detection of severe storms.
Estimated brightness temperatures from model output, 0000 UTC – 2345 UTC on 25 July 2022. 5.15 µm (upper left), 7.3 µm (upper right), 6.19 µm (lower left), 6.95 µm (lower right)
Thanks to Zhenglong Li, Nate Miller and Mat Gunshor, CIMSS for these images! For more information on GeoXO, click here.
