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GOES-19 is now the operational GOES-East satellite

GOES-16 became the operational GOES-East back in December of 2017 (link). At 1510 UTC, GOES-19 replaced by GOES-16 as the operational GOES-East. GOES-16 is now the back-up satellite for GOES-East and GOES-West, and will presently move to the storage position at 105oW. The animation below from the CSPP Geosphere site shows GOES-16 and then GOES-19 true-color imagery. There... Read More

GOES-16 became the operational GOES-East back in December of 2017 (link). At 1510 UTC, GOES-19 replaced by GOES-16 as the operational GOES-East. GOES-16 is now the back-up satellite for GOES-East and GOES-West, and will presently move to the storage position at 105oW. The animation below from the CSPP Geosphere site shows GOES-16 and then GOES-19 true-color imagery. There is a subtle color change that occurs between 1456 and 1506 UTC; a very subtle change in the brightness in the blue band (Band 1 at 0.47 µm) is also present. (This color change is discernible in GeoColor at the CIRA SLIDER, as shown in this side-by-side view from 1456 UTC — GOES-16 on the left, GOES-19 on the right). NOAA Scientists are investigating this difference.

True-Color imagery from GOES-East, 1431-1531 UTC on 7 April 2025; GOES-16 through 1456 UTC; GOES-19 starting at 1506 UTC

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Thermal signatures of prescribed burn activity in the Flint Hills of Kansas, as viewed from GOES-16 and GOES-19

During what was the last full day of GOES-16’s duty as GOES-East, a comparison of Shortwave Infrared Images from GOES-16 and GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) (above) showed thermal signatures of prescribed burning in the Flint Hills area of eastern Kansas. These annual Springtime prescribed burns are performed by cattle ranchers in order to... Read More

Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from GOES-16 (left) and GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational, right), from 1401 UTC on 06 April to 0256 UTC on 07 April [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

During what was the last full day of GOES-16’s duty as GOES-East, a comparison of Shortwave Infrared Images from GOES-16 and GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) (above) showed thermal signatures of prescribed burning in the Flint Hills area of eastern Kansas. These annual Springtime prescribed burns are performed by cattle ranchers in order to remove thatch and weeds that compete with the native grasses, to improve the rangeland grasses for livestock grazing. Other examples of Flint Hills burning activity have been documented here on this blog.

GOES-16 Visible images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product (a component of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA) also depicted the areal coverage and diurnal behavior of the fire thermal signatures (below).

GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) images + GOES-16 Fire Mask derived product, from 1436 UTC on 06 April to 0031 UTC on 07 April [click to play MP4 animation]

The smoke plumes from this prescribed burning activity were better visualized using GOES-16 True Color RGB imagery from the CSPP GeoSphere site (below).

GOES-16 True Color RGB images, from 1431 UTC on 06 April to 0031 UTC on 07 April [click to play MP4 animation]

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Warm patch of water in Lake Michigan

Light winds and clear skies with High Pressure over the western Great Lakes fostered the development of a warm(ish) patch of water over central Lake Michigan on 6 April 2025. (This has happened before!) Light winds means little vertical mixing in the surface layer of the lake, and solar insolation can heat the water. The... Read More

VIIRS True Color Imagery over Lake Michigan, 1801 UTC on 6 April 2025, with Lake Surface Temperatures (degrees Fahrenheit) shown in regions of clear skies (click to enlarge)

Light winds and clear skies with High Pressure over the western Great Lakes fostered the development of a warm(ish) patch of water over central Lake Michigan on 6 April 2025. (This has happened before!) Light winds means little vertical mixing in the surface layer of the lake, and solar insolation can heat the water. The warmest temperature diagnosed by the ACPSO algorithm was 43oF, green in the enhancement used above.

GOES-16 Lake Surface Temperatures, below, show the temporal evolution of the warm eddy, with warmest temperatures between 1700 and 1900 UTC. A mid-lake temperature sensor warms 3 degrees during the day. In addition, lake breezes develop over coastal Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, just what one might expect in a light wind regime as the land becomes warmer relative to the still-cold lakes.

GOES-16 temperatures over Lake Michigan, 1601 – 2001 UTC on 6 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)

A timely Metop-C overpass on 6 April produced the ASCAT wind plot shown below (from this source). Very light winds were present over southern Lake Michigan.

Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) winds over the Great Lakes, 1449 UTC (Lakes Erie/Ontario/Huron) and 1629 UTC (Lakes Michigan/Superior) on 6 April 2023 (Click to enlarge)

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When you have an isolated thunderstorm, how can you tell that it’s not a volcanic eruption?

Brandon Aydlett, the Science and Operations Officer (SOO) at the NWS forecast office in Guam (where the National Weather Service day begins) relays the following message: Yesterday we received a call from a local radio noting something suspicious in IR imagery over the Philippines. Of course, it looked eerily like... Read More

Brandon Aydlett, the Science and Operations Officer (SOO) at the NWS forecast office in Guam (where the National Weather Service day begins) relays the following message:

Yesterday we received a call from a local radio noting something suspicious in IR imagery over the Philippines. Of course, it looked eerily like a volcanic eruption, of course, in a volcanically-active area

What steps might one take see if something is/is not a volcano? Consider the image below that the radio personality saw, from 1820 UTC on 2 April 2025. What is that isolated feature over the island of Samar in the central Philippines? If you saw that very cold cloud top, how might you decide if it’s a thunderstorm vs. a volcano?

Himawari-9 Band 13 Clean Window (10.4 µm) infrared imagery, 1820 UTC on 2 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)

NOAA-20 overflew the region shortly after 1700 UTC on 2 April, and a toggle between the Day Night Band imagery and the I05 infrared (11.45) imagery, below (from the NASA Worldview site), shows a very faint cloud signature (the waxing crescent moon was providing no illumination!), but a faint circulation can (just barely) be discerned in the Day Night band imagery.

NOAA-20 enhanced infrared I05 (11.45 µm) infrared imagery and Day Night Band visible (0.7 µm) imagery, 1700 UTC on 2 April 2025. The sub-satellite point of NOAA-20 is indicated (Click to enlarge)

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water fields, below, from 0000 UTC 1 April through 0000 UTC 3 April show a concentrated area of moisture moving towards/over Samar, arriving at about 1200 UTC on 2 April.

MIMIC Total Precipitable water over the Western Pacific, 0000 UTC 1 April – 0000 UTC 3 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)

ASCAT winds from Metop-B, shown below (source), also show a circulation moving towards the island of Samar.

ASCAT winds from Metop-B at 0017 UTC and 1305 UTC on 2 April 2025 (Click to enlarge); Note the circulation center at 12 N!

Himawari-9 provides animations (and multispectral observations) that might help differentiate between a thunderstorm and a volcano. The animations (clean window infrared and Ash RGB) below are from 1000 to 2000 UTC; at 2000 UTC the cold cloud tops are starting to warm. Structures in the warmest clouds in the Band 13 imagery show arcs that are consistent with the circulation detected by Metop-B ASCAT. The Ash RGB lacks the pink hues associated with volcanic ash (Ash RGB Quick Guide is here). So far, a lot of satellite indicators — from both geostationary and polar orbiters — argue against a volcanic event.

Himawari-9 Band 13 Clean Window (10.4 µm) infrared imagery, 1000-2000 UTC on 2 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)
Himawari-9 Ash RGB, 1000-2000 UTC on 2 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)

It’s not unheard of that tropical convection and volcanic eruptions coincide in this part of the Philippines. (Here’s the ash cloud from Pinatubo in 1991 mingling with the clouds of Typhoon Yunya, from this blog post; in Pinatubo’s case, the daytime imagery allowed for an easy visual distinction between the darker gray ash cloud and the brighter white cumulonimbus. This event on 2 April was at night.) However, neither the Tokyo VAAC nor Seismic monitoring nor imagery at the CIMSS VOLCAT site suggest any kind of volcanism.

Ash Retrieval information from SSEC VOLCAT site (link in text), 2100 UTC on 2 April 2025 (Click to enlarge)

Answer: This is a thunderstorm!


I am indebted to Brandon Aydlett, SOO at WFO GUM, for alerting me to this interesting case. He also sent along this pdf outlining what happened when he got the request. You’ll note that the blog post includes much of what he said.

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