This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

Anomalously strong jet stream off the Arctic coast of Alaska

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-17 (GOES-West) Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) include contours of AK-NAM40 model Max Wind isotachs — and showed the flow associated with an anomalously-strong jet stream, with its axis located just off the Arctic coast of Alaska on 03 December 2022.Plots of Utqiagvik (Barrow, PABR) rawinsonde data from 1200 UTC... Read More

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with and without contours of AK-NAM40 model Max Wind isotachs [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-17 (GOES-West) Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) include contours of AK-NAM40 model Max Wind isotachs — and showed the flow associated with an anomalously-strong jet stream, with its axis located just off the Arctic coast of Alaska on 03 December 2022.

Plots of Utqiagvik (Barrow, PABR) rawinsonde data from 1200 UTC and 1800 UTC (below) showed that the peak wind speeds at 1200 UTC were 151.7 knots from 300 hPa to 351.6 hPa.

Plots of Utqiagvik (Barrow) rawinsonde data from 1200 UTC and 1800 UTC [click to enlarge]

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor images with contours of Moderate or Greater (MOG) Turbulence Probability within the 34-37 kft layer (below) did display areas of 10-50% probability just to the south of the jet axis (12 UTC winds/turbulence comparison) — and there were isolated Pilot Reports of light to moderate turbulence near the MOG contours over the northern Bering Sea. Real-time MOG Turbulence Probability products are available here.

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images, with contours of Turbulence Probability (within the 34-37 kft layer) and plots of Pilot Reports of turbulence  [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

View only this post Read Less

Landsat and GOES signatures of the Mauna Loa eruption

By Scott Bachmeier •

A timely overpass of Landsat-9 provided a 30-meter resolution “Natural Color” RGB image of the Mauna Loa eruption site at 2048 UTC on 02 December 2022 — as viewed using RealEarth (above). The signature of hot lava (varying shades of red to yellow) flowing from the volcano’s Northeast Rift Zone... Read More

Stepped zoom-in of Landsat-9 Natural Color RGB imagery at 2048 UTC [click to animate]

A timely overpass of Landsat-9 provided a 30-meter resolution “Natural Color” RGB image of the Mauna Loa eruption site at 2048 UTC on 02 December 2022 — as viewed using RealEarth (above). The signature of hot lava (varying shades of red to yellow) flowing from the volcano’s Northeast Rift Zone was very apparent — according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory morning Status Update, the lava flow front had advanced to within 2.7 miles south of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway (Saddle Road) that runs east-to-west across the Big Island of Hawai`i. In addition, a hazy volcanic plume could be seen moving westward.

The hot thermal signature of the lava flow was also evident in GOES-17 (GOES-West) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (below).

GOES-17 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images [click to play animated GIF]

Cursor-sampled values from the GOES-17 Shortwave Infrared image at 2046 UTC (below) showed that maximum 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperatures of the lava flow reached 138.71oC (the saturation temperature of GOES-17 ABI Band 7 detectors).

Cursor-sampled values from the GOES-17 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) image at 2046 UTC [click to enlarge]

The westward-moving volcanic plume had relatively high concentrations of SO2 (lighter shades of cyan to green), as seen in GOES-17 SO2 RGB images (below).

GOES-17 SO2 RGB images [click to play animated GIF]

 

View only this post Read Less

Blowing dust across parts of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) showed blowing dust (shades of tan) along and in the wake of a strong cold front that was moving southward across the High Plains on 02 December 2022.A Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB image valid at 1905... Read More

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site (above) showed blowing dust (shades of tan) along and in the wake of a strong cold front that was moving southward across the High Plains on 02 December 2022.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB image, valid at 1905 UTC [click to enlarge]

A Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB image valid at 1905 UTC (above) provided a higher-resolution view of the blowing dust. About an hour prior to this image time, the peak wind gust at Akron, Colorado was 59 knots (68 mph).  A larger-scale view of 3 consecutive VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 is shown below. The data used to create these VIIRS images were downloaded and processed using the SSEC/CIMSS Direct Broadcast ground station.

Sequence of VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

1-minute GOES-16 Dust RGB images (below) include plots of GOES-16 Derived Motion Winds (DMW) within the 775-900 hPa layer — these DMWs indicated that the airborne dust (brighter shades of pink in the RGB images) was moving southeastward at speeds of 40-52 knots (46-60 mph), in general agreement with the surface wind speeds.  This blowing dust reduced the surface visibility to 1-2 miles at some locations. Peak wind gusts across northeastern Colorado are listed here.

GOES-16 Dust RGB images, with GOES-16 Derived Motion Winds plotted in green and hourly surface reports plotted in yellow [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Of note was a second post-frontal pulse of blowing dust, which began in far northeastern Colorado after 21 UTC — this pulse of blowing dust was accompanied by a short-lived drop in dew point concurrent with an increase in wind speed, as observed at Sterling (KSTK, located about 40 miles north-northwest of Akron KAKO), Akron (KAKO) and Burlington (KITR) (below).

Plot of surface report data at Sterling, Colorado [click to enlarge]


Plot of surface report data at Akron, Colorado [click to enlarge]


Plot of surface report data at Burlington, Colorado [click to enlarge]

View only this post Read Less

Changes to Full Disk GOES-16 imagery in AWIPS

By Scott Bachmeier •

After 1800 UTC on 01 December 2022, changes were made to Full Disk GOES-16 (GOES-East) imagery that is distributed via the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) for AWIPS users (see the bottom section of this TOWR-S Communications). One change was the increase in spatial resolution of the ABI Band 13 “Clean” Infrared... Read More

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

After 1800 UTC on 01 December 2022, changes were made to Full Disk GOES-16 (GOES-East) imagery that is distributed via the Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN) for AWIPS users (see the bottom section of this TOWR-S Communications). One change was the increase in spatial resolution of the ABI Band 13 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) data from 6 km to the native 2 km (at satellite nadir) — as shown in an animation of imagery in the vicinity of a low pressure system located over northern Quebec, Canada (above). A toggle between those “before” (1800 UTC) and “after” (1810 UTC) images is available here.

GOES-16 Infrared imagery in the tropics (below) displayed convection along the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the East Pacific Ocean. A toggle between those “before” and “after” images is available here.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

Another GOES-16 Infrared example centered over southern British Columbia, Canada is shown below. A toggle between those “before” and “after” images is available here.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) [click to enlarge]

One other important change is that “Full Disk” imagery will only cover the Northern Hemisphere, as shown in an animation of GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (below).

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

View only this post Read Less

  • last_page First
  • Last last_page

Search blog