CIMSS Satellite Blog, CIMSS

Explosion of SpaceX Starship at the Starbase launch facility in Texas

By Scott Bachmeier • 18 June 2025

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images (above) showed thermal signatures of an explosion of SpaceX Starship at the Starbase launch facility in South Texas that occurred at 0401 UTC on 19 June or 11:01 PM CDT on 18 June 2025 (NASASpaceflight.com article).The resulting large fire was hot... Read More

5-minute GOES-19 Near-Infrared (0.87 µm, 1.61 µm and 2.25 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images, from 0356-0426 UTC on 19 June [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) Near-Infrared and Shortwave Infrared images (above) showed thermal signatures of an explosion of SpaceX Starship at the Starbase launch facility in South Texas that occurred at 0401 UTC on 19 June or 11:01 PM CDT on 18 June 2025 (NASASpaceflight.com article).

The resulting large fire was hot enough to be flagged as a Processed Fire by the GOES-19 Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm (FDCA), with a Fire Power value of 46.85 MW at 0401 UTC (below).

GOES-19 Near-Infrared (0.87 µm, 1.61 µm and 2.25 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images with an overlay (and cursor sample) of the FDCA Fire Power and Fire Mask at 0401 UTC on 19 June [click to enlarge]

The Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) also displayed GOES-19 Fire Detection polygons (below) — beginning at 0401 UTC, the time of the Starship explosion.

5-minute GOES-19 Microphysics RGB images with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons, from 0356-0426 UTC on 19 June [click to play MP4 animation]

A cursor probe of a GOES-19 NGFS Fire Detection pixel at 0401 UTC is shown below.

GOES-19 Microphysics RGB image with a cursor probe of a NGFS Fire Detection pixel at 0406 UTC on 19 June [click to enlarge]

In spite of its larger satellite viewing angle and less frequent 10-minute Full Disk scans over Texas, a distinct thermal signature (darker blue pixels) was still seen in a 0400 UTC GOES-18 (GOES-West) Microphysics RGB image (below). The 0400 UTC GOES-18 Full Disk scan was viewing southeastern Texas around 0402-0403 UTC. There were no Full Disk sector NGFS polygons plotted on the GOES-18 RGB images, due their processing being restricted to Alaska and western Canada (for now).

10-minute GOES-18 Microphysics RGB images, from 0350-0430 UTC on 19 June [click to play MP4 animation]

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Eruption of Lewotobi Laki-laki in Indonesia

By Scott Bachmeier • 17 June 2025

The Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in Indonesia erupted at 0935 UTC on 17 June 2025 — and the radiometrically-retrieved Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (above) indicated that some of the volcanic ash reached altitudes around 16.2 km (a 1645 UTC Darwin VAAC advisory listed ash to altitudes of FL530 or 53000 ft).The... Read More

Himawari-9 Ash Height product [click to play MP4 animation]

The Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano in Indonesia erupted at 0935 UTC on 17 June 2025 — and the radiometrically-retrieved Ash Height product from the NOAA/CIMSS Volcanic Cloud Monitoring site (above) indicated that some of the volcanic ash reached altitudes around 16.2 km (a 1645 UTC Darwin VAAC advisory listed ash to altitudes of FL530 or 53000 ft).

The corresponding Ash Loading product (below) showed that initially there were high levels of ash loading, which then decreased in time as the volcanic cloud expanded across the region.

Himawari-9 Ash Loading product [click to play MP4 animation]

Himawari-9 Ash RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) revealed that the volcanic cloud was composed of either primarily ash (shades of red), a mixture of ash and SO₂ (shades of yellow) or primarily SO₂ (shades of light green).

Himawari-9 Ash RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In a NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band image after sunset (below), the bright nighttime glow of the summit of still-erupting Lewotobi was very apparent — and a subtle hazy signature of the volcanic cloud (northwest, west and southwest of Lewotobi) was also evident.

NOAA-20 (mislabeled as NPP) VIIRS Day/Night Band image valid at 1647 UTC or 11:37 PM local time on 17 June [click to enlarge]

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Trout Fire in New Mexico produces a pyrocumulonimbus cloud

By Scott Bachmeier • 14 June 2025

5-minute CONUS sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images with an overlay of the FDCA Fire Mask derived product (above) showed that the Trout Fire in southwest New Mexico produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud late in the day on 14 June 2025. The pyroCb cloud... Read More

5-minute GOES-19 Red Visible (0.64 µm) images with an overlay of the Fire Mask derived product (left) and Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm, right) images, from 1606 UTC on 14 June to 0201 UTC on 15 June [click to play MP4 animation]

5-minute CONUS sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images and “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images with an overlay of the FDCA Fire Mask derived product (above) showed that the Trout Fire in southwest New Mexico produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud late in the day on 14 June 2025. The pyroCb cloud exhibited cloud-top 10.3 µm infrared brightness temperatures (IRBTs) in the -40s C (denoted by shades of blue to cyan) — a necessary condition to be classified as a pyroCb — beginning at 2236 UTC on 14 June. This was the first confirmed pyroCb in the US for the 2025 wildfire season.

The coldest pyroCb cloud-top IRBT was -44.71ºC at 0021 UTC on 15 June, with a corresponding Cloud Top Height derived product value of 37510.62 ft (below).

GOES-19 Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm) image with a cursor sample of the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature (white) along with the corresponding Cloud Top Height derived product (green) at 0021 UTC on 15 June [click to enlarge]

On rawinsonde data from El Paso, Texas (below) the air temperature of -44.71ºC occurred at an altitude around 11.0 km (36089.2 ft) — slightly above the surface-based air parcel Equilibrium Level (EL) — and somewhat lower than the 37510.62 ft value indicated by the GOES-19 Cloud Top Height derived product.

Plot of rawinsonde data from El Paso, Texas at 0000 UTC on 15 June [click to enlarge]

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GOES-19 Red Visible (0.64 µm) images + Fire Mask derived product (left) and Clean Infrared Window(10.3 µm, right) images, with an overlay of GOES-19 GLM Flash Extent Density (large light-purple pixels) and Flash Points (white dots) at 2311 and 2316 UTC on 14 June [click to enlarge]

There was a brief period of GLM-detected lightning activity associated with this pyroCb cloud, from both GOES-19/GOES-East (above) and GOES-18/GOES-West (below).

GOES-19/GOES-East Red Visible (0.64 µm) images + Fire Mask derived product (left) and Clean Infrared Window(10.3 µm, right) images, with an overlay of GOES-18/GOES-West GLM Flash Extent Density (large light-purple pixels) and Flash Points (white dots) at 2311, 2316 and 2326 UTC on 14 June [click to enlarge]

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5-minute GOES-19/GOES-East True Color RGB images, from 2101 UTC on 14 June to 0141 UTC on 15 June [click to play MP4 animation]

True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site showed the development and growth of the pyroCb, as viewed from GOES-19/GOES-East (above) and GOES-18/GOES-West (below). Note how lower-altitude smoke was gradually moving southward away from the Trout Fire location — some of this smoke later reduced the surface visibility to 5 miles at the Silver City/Grant County Airport (KSVC) after 1500 UTC on 15 June.

10-minute GOES-18/GOES-West True Color RGB images, from 2100 UTC on 14 June to 0130 UTC on 15 June [click to play MP4 animation]

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As the Trout Fire continued to burn into the subsequent nighttime hours, its bright glow in northeastern Grant County was very apparent in a NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image valid at 0847 UTC or 2:47 AM MST (below).

NOAA-20 (mislabeled as NPP) VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image valid at 0847 UTC on 15 June [click to enlarge]

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Blowing dust in Argentina

By Scott Bachmeier • 12 June 2025

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images along with the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived product from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) displayed a plume of blowing dust — which was originating from salt flats along the northern edge of Laguna Mar Chiquita in northern Argentina — being transported south-southwestward on 12... Read More

10-minute GOES-19 True Color RGB images (left) and Aerosol Optical Depth derived product (right), from 1500-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

10-minute Full Disk scan GOES-19 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images along with the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived product from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) displayed a plume of blowing dust — which was originating from salt flats along the northern edge of Laguna Mar Chiquita in northern Argentina — being transported south-southwestward on 12 June 2025. AOD values associated with this dust plume were as high as 1.0 (darker red enhancement).

GOES-19 Aerosol Optical Depth images that included plots of surface reports (below) showed that northeast winds at Cordoba (the METAR site just west of the blowing dust plume) were gusting to 27 knots (31 mph) at 1800 UTC.

10-minute GOES-19 Aerosol Optical Depth derived product with plots of METAR surface reports (cyan), from 1600-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play MP4 animation]

The GOES-19 Dust Detection derived product (below) also flagged this blowing dust feature.

10-minute GOES-19 Dust Detection derived product with plots of METAR surface reports (cyan), from 1600-2000 UTC on 12 June [click to play MP4 animation]

The strong northeast surface winds responsible for this blowing dust were caused by the pressure gradient between high pressure centered off the east coast of South America and a trough of low pressure across western/central Argentina (below).