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2.5-minute rapid scan JMA Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed rapidly-intensifying Category 4 Typhoon Hinnamnor as it moved across the West Pacific Ocean (southeast of Japan) on 29 August 2022. Mesovortices within the eye were faintly evident though breaks in patchy high clouds overhead.2.5-minute Himawari-8 Infrared (10.4 µm) images (below) revealed... Read More
JMA Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
2.5-minute rapid scan JMA Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed rapidly-intensifying Category 4 Typhoon Hinnamnor as it moved across the West Pacific Ocean (southeast of Japan) on 29 August 2022. Mesovortices within the eye were faintly evident though breaks in patchy high clouds overhead.
2.5-minute Himawari-8 Infrared (10.4 µm) images (below) revealed a few pulses of convection which exhibited cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -80°C and colder (violet pixels).
JMA Himawari-8 Infrared (10.4 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
A DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 2142 UTC from the CIMSS Tropical Cycones site (below) also depicted the well-defined eye and eyewall structure.
DMSP-17 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 2142 UTC [click to enlarge]
===== 30 August Update =====
Himawari-8 Infrared (10.4 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
On the following day, Himawari-8 Infrared (10.4 µm) images (above) showed the well-defined eye and surrounding eyewall as Hinnamnor reached Category 5 intensity at 1200 UTC. An eyewalll replacement cycle began around 2100 UTC, leading to a slight decline in intensity (to Category 4) and a deteriorating eye structure.
Post-sunrise Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) images (below) better showed how close the eye passed to the Japanese islands of Kitadait?jima (RORK, where winds gusted to 98 knots) and Minamidait?jima (ROMD, where winds gusted to 69 knots).
JMA Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
In a toggle between nighttime Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images valid at 1717 UTC, viewed using RealEarth(below), the Day/Night Band image displayed a bright lightning streak just southwest of the eye — showing clouds within the eyewall being illuminated by intense lightning activity; cloud-top gravity waves were evident southeast of the eye in the Infrared image.
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) and Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images valid at 1717 UTC [click to enlarge]
NASA was supposed to launch its Artemis rocket to the moon this morning, at 8:33 AM EDT (12:33 UTC) from Cape Canaveral, FL. However, an engine problem caused NASA to scrub the launch for today. Even if all technical aspects of the launch were “go”, developing convection near Cape Canaveral might have posed a... Read More
NASA was supposed to launch its Artemis rocket to the moon this morning, at 8:33 AM EDT (12:33 UTC) from Cape Canaveral, FL. However, an engine problem caused NASA to scrub the launch for today. Even if all technical aspects of the launch were “go”, developing convection near Cape Canaveral might have posed a problem for the rocket launch.
ProbSevere LightningCast, an AI model developed by CIMSS and NOAA, uses GOES-R ABI images to predict lightning in the next 60 minutes. It was predicting elevated probabilities of lightning near Kennedy Space Center prior to the start of the launch window, reaching nearly 60% by 12:31 UTC. Lightning was eventually observed by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper by 13:11 UTC.
Figure 1: GOES-East Day-Land-Cloud-Convection RGB, LightingCast contours, and GLM flash-extent density (blue boxes). The red circles represent 5-mile and 10-mile range rings around Kennedy Space Center. Figure 2: A time series of the LightningCast probability of lighting and GLM-observed lighting near Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, FL.
Tools like LightningCast can help convert the rich information from GOES-R ABI into actionable information, helping decision-makers protect life and property. In this case, LightingCast could hypothetically be used to help protect billions of dollars of equipment, as well as the lives of NASA personnel preparing the launch pad. While this is a hypothetical case, experimental LightningCast output has been used routinely by the National Weather Service to provide guidance on lighting initiation and to inform their impacts-based decision support to key events and partners.
Seismic activity has been ongoing in August 2022 beneath the island of Ta’u to the east of American Samoa. (USGS has published a variety of information on this swarm of Earthquakes: link 1; link 2; link 3); See also these two recorded Facebook Live presentations from the NWS WSO office in Pago Pago:... Read More
False Color imagery over the American Samoa sector, 1610 UTC on 25 August 2022 (Click to enlarge)
Seismic activity has been ongoing in August 2022 beneath the island of Ta’u to the east of American Samoa. (USGS has published a variety of information on this swarm of Earthquakes: link 1; link 2; link 3); See also these two recorded Facebook Live presentations from the NWS WSO office in Pago Pago: (August 22nd and August 17th). Volcano updates fro Ta’u can also be viewed here.
The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) that has responsibility for this region of the south Pacific is Wellington NZ. Click here for a pdf that shows all VAAC boundaries.
Should an eruption occur (NOTE: An eruption is not expected in the near term!), what kind of satellite information will be useful? The Volcanic Cloud Monitoring website (link) from CIMSS includes imagery over various sectors on Earth, sorted by VAAC. For American Samoa, and adjacent regions, Choose ‘Satellite Imagery’ and under the ‘Sector’ menu, and then choose, under the Wellington VAAC subsection, ‘American Samoa (750 m)’ Both GOES-17 / GOES-18 and Himawari view the region, but GOES-17/GOES-18 sub-satellite points are closer to American Samoa and will provide better resolution views. (NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP as polar orbiters will provide the highest spatial resolution data, but have poor temporal resolution). You can choose various image types at the website: quantitative estimates of Ash Loading, Ash Height, Ash Loading, Ash Reflectivity, Single-channel Brightness Temperatures (or Reflectivity), and various Red/Green/Blue composites. Note that this website has an extensive explanatory section (under the ‘Tutorials’ tab) to help you understand what you’re seeing in the imagery. The GOES-18 false-color image red/green/blue image, above, is the from the website. An eruption is not occurring, nor detected, in the image.
Various websites also allow views of Satellite Imagery over the region. For example, the CSPP Geosphere site includes True-Color imagery (day) and Night time Microphysics (night) by default, but also allows a user to view single channels. (Direct link, see an example below) There is also a NOAA/NESDIS site that includes some RGBs and each of the individual bands; the CIRA Slider also includes imagery over the south Pacific.
Night Microphysics RGB near American Samoa, 1700 UTC on 25 August 2022 (Click to enlarge)
Wind direction will be important if an eruption occurs (this is at present unlikely!!) to know as that will control the dispersion of any gases. The windy.com website will provide this with this link.
This blog entry is meant to be a resource should an eruption occur. (Note: that is not expected!) For more information, please refer to the USGS website, and the American Samoa Facebook page.
GOES-7 Infrared (11.35 um) images (above) showed Hurricane Andrew making landfall along the southeast coast of Florida — as a Category 5 storm — around 0831 UTC on 24 August 1992. At that time, the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of the eyewall region were around -75ºC. These images were created... Read More
GOES-7 Infrared (11.35 um) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]
GOES-7 Infrared (11.35 um) images (above) showed Hurricane Andrew making landfall along the southeast coast of Florida — as a Category 5 storm — around 0831 UTC on 24 August 1992. At that time, the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of the eyewall region were around -75ºC. These images were created using archived data from SSEC Satellite Data Services.
More information on Andrew can be found in this video produced by NWS Miami for the 25th anniversary of the storm.
