1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) + Fire Power derived product (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the thermal signature associated with the Tiger Island Fire in far western Louisiana on 22 August 2023. A combination of mandatory and voluntary evacuations were issued for parts of the Singer and Merryville areas in Beauregard Parish.

A cursor sample of GOES-16 Visible + Fire Power and Shortwave Infrared images at 2306 UTC (below) revealed that the Tiger Island Fire exhibited a maximum 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperature of 138.71ºC — which is the saturation temperature of the GOES-16 ABI Band 7 detectors) at 2306 UTC — and Fire Power values exceeded 2300 MW at times.

A toggle between NOAA-20 (mis-labelled as NPP) Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images valid at 0746 UTC on 23 August (below) showed the thermal signature and nighttime glow of the wildfire.

GOES-14 was temporarily brought out of storage for its annual instrument testing and evaluation — which allowed a “old vs. new” comparison of this wildfire, using 15-minute GOES-14 and 1-minute GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared images (below). The images are displayed in the native projection of each satellite.

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This recent blog post highlighted an Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-2) product showing estimates of Sea Ice concentration at high spatial resolution. This followup post shows the product on a different day in 2022. The MODIS True-Color imagery below, from March 22, 2022, shows ice in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean surrounding Alaska. The red arrows highlight a large lead north of Russia, and an area of open water near the coast in Bristol Bay. Note also the irregular edge to the sea ice in the Bering Sea, and shore-fast ice along the northern edge of Kuskoskim bay. (An Alaskan map here (source) might help with geographic names)

Ice Concentration from microwave data from the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS; on Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 at the time; NOAA-21 now also carries ATMS) and AMSR-2 is shown below. The better resolution from the AMSR-2 imagery allows a much better depiction of the open lead north Russia, the open water over northern Bristol Bay, the ragged southern edge of the ice sheet, and the shore-fast ice. This product continues to be evaluated by the Alaskan Ice Desk.

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Thanks to Tom Greenwald, SSEC/CIMSS, for the imagery in this post

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Metop-B and Merop-C overflew the same region of the tropical western Pacific to the east of Guam on 21 August 2023, as shown above (imagery dowloaded from the ‘manati’ website). Metop-C imagery is from 1041 UTC, Metop-B from 1128 UTC. There are two wind maxima in both plots, centered near 13^oN, 156^oE and near 18^oN, 155^oE, and highlighted by the blue arrows in the toggle above. What can you infer from just these plots? The stronger winds are likely associated with convection, and the convection near 18^oN (the northern convection, vs. the southern convection near 13^oN) might be more long-lasting, given its proximity to the shear line (denoted by the red line in the toggle). The 1030 UTC image, below, shows the deep convection associated with these wind events.

Does the southern convection seems less long-lived than the northern convection? Hard to tell from just this two-plus-hour animation below.

Himawari-9 imagery from the Pacific Island 1 sector at this website, from 21 August 2023, below, does show persistent convection near the shear line (the invest 90W according to JTWC); the southern convection is not as long-lived.

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The best way to interpret a single satellite data source is to incorporate other satellite data into the analysis!

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GOES-18 (GOES-West) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (above) included plots of 1-hour Precipitation Accumulation — which showed rainfall associated with the northward spread of moisture across the Southwest US as Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall in Baja California on 20 August 2023. A similar animation with plots of 6-hour Precipitation Accumulation is available here. There were numerous daily rainfall records set, with widespread reports of flash flooding across parts of southern California and southern Nevada.

?DEATH VALLEY RECORD ALERT

Yesterday (August 20, 2023), Death Valley National Park observed 2.20" of precipitation at the official gauge near Furnace Creek.

This breaks the previous all time wettest day record of 1.70", which was set on August 5, 2022. #CAwx #DeathValley pic.twitter.com/pU0zM4Fbeq

— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) August 21, 2023

Hourly images of the MIMIC-TPW product (below) also showed the northward transport of abundant tropical moisture ahead of Hilary.

New record maximum Total Precipitable Water (TPW) values were established for 1200 UTC soundings on 20 August at both San Diego, California and Las Vegas, Nevada (below).

 

In addition, the all-time record maximum 0000 UTC sounding Total Precipitable Water (TPW) value of 2.38 inches was tied at San Diego, California (below).

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