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

Lake Erie ice floes

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed widespread ice coverage in Lake Erie on 06 February 2022. Increasing southerly/southwesterly winds were helping to open numerous ice leads, resulting in the north/northeastward drift of large ice floes across much of the eastern 3/4 of the lake. A few large ice leads even... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with surface wind barbs plotted in cyan and wind gusts plotted in red [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed widespread ice coverage in Lake Erie on 06 February 2022. Increasing southerly/southwesterly winds were helping to open numerous ice leads, resulting in the north/northeastward drift of large ice floes across much of the eastern 3/4 of the lake. A few large ice leads even opened up in the thicker ice that occupied the far western 1/4 of the lake — which stranded 18 people from getting back to the shore near Catawba Island, Ohio, requiring their rescue by Coast Guard helicopter and air boat (media report).

A sequence of 3 VIIRS True Color RGB images from Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 viewed using RealEarth (below) offered a closer look at the ice leads opening up in the vicinity of Catawba Island around the time that the rescue event became necessary.  

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

View only this post Read Less

Actinoform clouds near Bermuda

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images (above) displayed actinoform clouds (reference) near Bermuda on 05 February 2022. The light shades of green exhibited by the narrow cloud bands within the actinoform features suggested that they were beginning to glaciate — and as one of those cloud bands (associated... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images [click to play animated GIF |MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images (above) displayed actinoform clouds (reference) near Bermuda on 05 February 2022. The light shades of green exhibited by the narrow cloud bands within the actinoform features suggested that they were beginning to glaciate — and as one of those cloud bands (associated with a dissipating actinoform feature) moved across the island of Bermuda, it briefly produced light rain showers at the airport (TXKF). It should be noted that this is an unusual location to see actinform clouds; most examples tend to form over the Pacific Ocean.

A toggle between GOES-16 Visible and RGB images at 1401 UTC is shown below.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB images at 1401 UTC [click to enlarge]

Another example of actinoform clouds producing precipitation — over the Pacific Ocean, near Hawai`i — can be seen here.

Thanks to Margaret Mooney (CIMSS) for bringing these features in the Atlantic to our attention:

View only this post Read Less

Cyclone Batsirai makes landfall in Madagascar

By Scott Bachmeier •

US Space Force EWS-G1 — formerly GOES-13 — Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai making landfall as a Category 3 storm along the eastern coast of Madagascar on 05 February 2022.Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using... Read More

EWS-G1 Visible (0.63 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm, right) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

US Space Force EWS-G1 — formerly GOES-13 — Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Batsirai making landfall as a Category 3 storm along the eastern coast of Madagascar on 05 February 2022.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images viewed using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of Batsirai at 1045 UTC.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images [click to enlarge]

View only this post Read Less

Satellite signatures of widespread ice accretion

By Scott Bachmeier •

In a sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images (above), areas that received a significant accretion of ice — via sleet and/or freezing rain/drizzle from a significant winter storm — appeared as darker shades of gray to black in the 1.61 µm... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

In a sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images (above), areas that received a significant accretion of ice — via sleet and/or freezing rain/drizzle from a significant winter storm — appeared as darker shades of gray to black in the 1.61 µm images and as darker shades of red in the RGB images on 04 February 2022. 

A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared (1.61 µm) is shown below, and provided a higher-resolution view of the darker ice accretion signature at 1942 UTC.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared (1.61 µm) images [click to enlarge]

===== 05 Februray Update =====

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images [click to play animated GIF |MP4]

On the following day, clouds had cleared from much of the central US — enabling the areal coverage of this ice accretion signature to be seen across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky (above). A comparison of GOES-16 “Red” Visible, Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” and Day Snow-Fog RGB images at 1501 UTC (below) showed how this darker ribbon of ice accretion was located along the southern edge accumulating snowfall produced by the winter storm.

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) and Day Snow-Fog RGB images at 1501 UTC [click to enlarge]

A closer view centered on the Missouri-Illinois-Kentucky-Tennessee border region (below) showed (1) the subtle effects of topography on resultant snow/ice accumulation, and (2) the darker appearance on Snow/Ice and RGB images in some areas that appeared to be bare ground in the Visible images (due to the clear/translucent nature of any sleet and/or freezing rain on the surface). Unfortunately, a portion of that satellite scene was also affected by a major tornado outbreak about 2 months prior to this winter storm.     

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm), Day Snow-Fog RGB and Topography images at 1501 UTC [click to enlarge]

View only this post Read Less

  • last_page First
  • Last last_page

Search blog