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Space-X launch of the NASA Crew-4 Mission

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) images from all 16 ABI spectral bands (above) displayed thermal signatures of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket booster as the Crew-4 Mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on 27 April 2022. The low-altitude rocket condensation cloud was also evident, moving... Read More

GOES-16 images from all 16 ABI spectral bands [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) images from all 16 ABI spectral bands (above) displayed thermal signatures of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket booster as the Crew-4 Mission was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on 27 April 2022. The low-altitude rocket condensation cloud was also evident, moving slowly eastward away from the launch site.

GOES-16 Plume RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below) provided an integrated view that highlighted both the northeast-moving hot thermal signature of the rocket booster, and the low-altitude rocket condensation cloud that drifted eastward.

GOES-16 Plume RGB images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS/ASPB) [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

A toggle between Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images from GOES-16 (GOES-East) and GOES-17 (GOES-West) at 0755 UTC (below) showed a large eastward displacement of the booster rocket’s thermal signature in the GOES-17 image — due to parallax associated with the very large viewing angle from GOES-17.

Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images from GOES-16 and GOES-17 at 0755 UTC [click to enlarge]

16-panel display of all GOES-16 ABI spectral bands at 0753 UTC, with AWIPS cursor sampling values [click to enlarge]

A 16-panel display of all GOES-16 ABI spectral bands at 0753 UTC which includes AWIPS cursor sampling values (above) indicated that a slight reflectance value (1.75%) was detected for Band 2 (“Red” Visible, 0.64 µm) — but not for Band 1 (“Blue” Visible, 0.47 µm). However, with GOES-17 viewing the rear portion of the northeastward-ascending Falcon 9 rocket booster, a slight reflectance signal (0.13%) was also seen with the 0.47 µm spectral band (below).

16-panel display of all GOES-17 ABI spectral bands at 0753 UTC, with AWIPS cursor sampling values [click to enlarge]

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Prescribed burns in the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the thermal signatures of numerous prescribed burns across the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas on 26 April 2022. Although the majority of the fires burned only briefly, some exhibited very rapid increases in their 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperature... Read More

GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the thermal signatures of numerous prescribed burns across the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas on 26 April 2022. Although the majority of the fires burned only briefly, some exhibited very rapid increases in their 3.9 µm infrared brightness temperature — for example, the hottest fire went from 30oC to 98oC in 20 minutes, and another fire went from 12oC to 89oC in just 5 minutes.

Such prescribed burns occur every Spring in this region — other examples include April 2019 and April 2010 .

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Calf Canyon Fire produces a pyrocumulonimbus cloud

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed that the Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud on 22 April 2022. This large fire burned very hot, with 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperatures reaching 138.71ºC — the... Read More

GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed that the Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud on 22 April 2022. This large fire burned very hot, with 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperatures reaching 138.71ºC — the saturation temperature of ABI Band 7 detectors. Very strong winds contributed to the rapid intensification and spread of this wildfire — the peak wind gust at nearby Las Vegas (KLVS) was 74 mph (NWS Albuqueque PNS).

10.35 µm images indicated that the pyrocumulus cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures first reached the -40ºC pyroCb threshold at 2334 UTC (below).

 GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images at 2334 UTC [click to enlarge]

Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures subsequently cooled to a minimum of -53ºC around 0022 UTC — which corresponded to an altitude of around 11.7 km according to rawinsonde data from Albuquerque (below).

Plot of 00 UTC rawinsonde data from Albuquerque, New Mexico [click to enlarge]

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Hail swath in South Dakota

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Snow-Fog RGB and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images (above) showed subtle signatures of a swath of hail covering the ground (initial storm report) — shades of red in the RGB images. and darker shades of gray in the 1.61 µm images — in the wake of a severe... Read More

GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images, with time-matched Local Storm Reports of hail plotted in red [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) Day Snow-Fog RGB and Near-Infrared “Snow/Ice” (1.61 µm) images (above) showed subtle signatures of a swath of hail covering the ground (initial storm report) — shades of red in the RGB images. and darker shades of gray in the 1.61 µm images — in the wake of a severe thunderstorm that was moving northeastward across western South Dakota late in the day on 22 April 2022. The combination of fading daylight and high clouds (and their shadows) passing overhead restricted the amount of time that this hail swath signature could be seen.

A slightly modified version of the Day Snow-Fog RGB — created using Geo2Grid — provided more contrast, making the hail swath a bit easier to see (below).

GOES-16 Day Snow-Fog RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

The corresponding 1-minute GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (below) revealed that this severe thunderstorm exhibited a prominent Above-Anvil Cirrus Plume (reference | VISIT training).

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with time-matched Local Storm Reports of hail plotted in red [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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