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GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (above) revealed the formation of a standing wave cloud along the Minnesota shoreline of Lake Superior on 19 January 2022. This cloud feature was formed by a vertically-propagating internal gravity wave that resulted from the interaction of strong post-cold-frontal northwesterly winds with the topography of the shoreline... Read More
GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (above) revealed the formation of a standing wave cloud along the Minnesota shoreline of Lake Superior on 19 January 2022. This cloud feature was formed by a vertically-propagating internal gravity wave that resulted from the interaction of strong post-cold-frontal northwesterly winds with the topography of the shoreline — the terrain quickly drops from an elevation of about 2000 feet above sea level (over northeastern Minnesota) to about 600 feet above sea level (over Lake Superior) in a very short distance.
In a toggle between GOES-16 Water Vapor and Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window images at 1811 UTC (below), the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -40ºC (lime green enhancement).
GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) and Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images at 1811 UTC [click to enlarge]
A northwest-to-southeast oriented cross section of RAP40 model fields along line segment F-F’ (below) showed a deep pocket of positive Omega (upward vertical motion, yellow to red colors) that corresponded to the cloud band along Minnesota’s Lake Superior shoreline. Note that this Omega feature was vertically tilted in an “upshear” direction (toward the northwest), and extended upward to the 500 hPa pressure level. The depth and magnitude of this positive Omega decreased with time, leading to the dissipation of the standing wave cloud.
RAP40 model cross sections along Line F-F’ [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Snow-Fog RGB images (above) displayed widespread streamers of blowing snow (pale shades of white) across much of North Dakota and far northwestern Minnesota on 18 January 2022. Blowing snow was lofted from the surface by elongated horizontal convective rolls that developed in the wake of a strong cold frontal passage —... Read More
GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB images, with surface reports plotted in yellow [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
GOES-16 (GOES-East)Day Snow-Fog RGB images (above) displayed widespread streamers of blowing snow (pale shades of white) across much of North Dakota and far northwestern Minnesota on 18 January 2022. Blowing snow was lofted from the surface by elongated horizontal convective rolls that developed in the wake of a strong cold frontal passage — surface winds gusted to 58 knots (67 mph) at Garrison in western North Dakota, and the surface visibility was reduced to zero at several locations. An arctic air mass behind the cold front helped the surface temperature drop to -22º F at Willow City, ND the following morning.
A more uncluttered view — without plots of surface reports — is shown below (Interstates and major highways are plotted in gray). Some secondary highways were closed due to the ground blizzard conditions.
GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
A large amount of Saharan Dust has been blowing off of the African continent for the past several days. The dust is moving to higher latitudes reaching as far north as southern Ireland. These strong dust events heavily affect air quality in the Canary Islands and a yellow alert is... Read More
A large amount of Saharan Dust has been blowing off of the African continent for the past several days. The dust is moving to higher latitudes reaching as far north as southern Ireland. These strong dust events heavily affect air quality in the Canary Islands and a yellow alert is still in effect in the archipelago. The event is known locally in the Canaries as “La Calima.” The dust is predicted to continue moving toward northwest Europe.
Daytime true color images of the dust transport are shown for 1/16, 1/17, and 1/18 from 0900 UTC to 1800 UTC. These true-color images were taken from RealEarth, a free data visualization web tool.
GOES-16 data on 1/16/22 from 0900 to 1800 UTC showing daytime true color imagery.GOES-16 data on 1/17/22 from 0900 to 1800 UTC showing daytime true color imagery.GOES-16 data on 1/18/22 from 0900 to 1800 UTC showing daytime true color imagery.
The GOES-16 Dust RGB product shows plumes of dust (magenta) still coming off the coast of west Africa and thick clouds (orange) associated with plumes farther north.
GOES-16 Dust RGB product on 1/18/22 from 1920 to 2110 UTC.
JMA Himawari-8 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the rapid expansion of a volcanic cloud following an explosive eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha`apai on 15 January 2022. An abrupt shock wave was also evident, which propagated radially outward in all directions.The volcanic cloud also exhibited a striking appearance in... Read More
JMA Himawari-8 True Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
JMA Himawari-8 True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid(above) showed the rapid expansion of a volcanic cloud following an explosive eruption of Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha`apai on 15 January 2022. An abrupt shock wave was also evident, which propagated radially outward in all directions.
The volcanic cloud also exhibited a striking appearance in GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below), with a pronounced arc of cloud-top gravity waves along its eastern edge as the bulk of the cloud material drifted westward. Pulsing concentric shock waves were also seen in the infrared imagery.
GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
The explosive nature of the eruption could be seen by examining 10-minute GOES-17 Visible and Infrared images during the first 30 minutes (below) — only 20 minutes after the 0400 UTC eruption onset, the infrared cloud-top brightness temperature had already cooled to -100ºC (placing it in the lower stratosphere).
GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, left) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm, right) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
Beginning at 0705 UTC, a GOES-17 Mesoscale Domain Sector was positioned over the region, providing imagery at 1-minute intervals — Infrared images during the period 0705-1200 UTC are shown below. The crescent-shaped area of “bow shock wave” ripples persisted, due to the robust and dense volcanic cloud acting as an obstacle to the easterly winds within the stratosphere. The 1-minute imaging was also able to capture the brief pulse of an overshooting top which exhibited an infrared brightness temperature of -105.18ºC at 0841 UTC (zoomed-in animation: GIF | MP4) — which could be a record cold cloud-top temperature, as sensed from a geostationary satellite (see this blog post).
GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
A plot of 1-minute GOES-17 overshooting top infrared brightness temperatures (IRBTs) along with 10-minute Full Disk GOES-17 and Himawari-8 IRBTs (below) showed that the brief cold 0841 UTC overshooting top (and its rapid collapse) occurred between the times of routine 10-minute Full Disk scans — highlighting the value of rapid scan 1-minute imagery.
Plot of 1-minute GOES-17 overshooting top infrared brightness temperatures (IRBTs), along with 10-minute Full Disk GOES-17 and Himawari-8 IRBTs [click to enlarge]
VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP, viewed using RealEarth(below), also showed the region of cloud-top gravity waves (with minimal parallax compared to GOES-17) .
VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP [click to enlarge]
Plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Nandi, Fuji [click to enlarge]
Satellite-based lidar and limb sounder data indicated that the volcanic cloud reached maximum altitudes around 30-32 km — well into the lower stratosphere, where easterly winds existed according to 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Nandi, Fiji (above). The westward drift of most of the volcanic cloud as seen in a Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image (below) lined up well with wind barbs at 30 hPa (an altitude of 23.78 km on the Nandi NFFN sounding).
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) image, with 30 hPa wind barbs plotted in violet and rawinsonde sites plotted in yellow [click to enlarge]
GOES-17 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) Time Difference images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
Propagation of the volcanic shock wave across the Pacific Ocean could be followed in GOES-17 (GOES-West) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) Time Difference images (above). As the shock wave continued to propagate farther eastward across North/South America and then the Atlantic Ocean, the wave front could be seen in GOES-16 (GOES-East) Water Vapor Time Difference images (below). As the shock wave moved across southern Wisconsin, a brief rise/fall couplet in surface air pressure just prior to 1500 UTC (9:00 am CDT) was evident in plots from the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences building rooftop tower (as well as the personal weather station of the author of this blog post).
GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) Time Difference images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
Pseudo-color visible view of the wave front from the #TongaVolcano
We've been looking into the Tonga eruption in more detail. Our latest data says that the main volcanic 'umbrella' reached 35km altitude – but some points (such as the image below) may have reached 55km altitude! Shocking altitudes that show just how violent this eruption was. https://t.co/AaL4td8MIbpic.twitter.com/55Im0Yvcub
CALIPSO observations from 16 Jan reveal stratospheric aerosols up to ~32 km, produced by the second eruption (on 04:10 UTC on 15 Jan). pic.twitter.com/U7njBp9UZu
