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Walmart Distribution Center fire near Indianapolis

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm). Fire Power and Fire Temperature products (above) displayed signatures of a fire at the Walmart Distribution Center in Plainfield, Indiana on 16 March 2022. The fire was first detected at 1646 UTC, and an hour later the 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperature reached 74.1ºC... Read More

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top left), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top right), Fire Power (bottom left) and Fire Temperature (bottom right) products [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm). Fire Power and Fire Temperature products (above) displayed signatures of a fire at the Walmart Distribution Center in Plainfield, Indiana on 16 March 2022. The fire was first detected at 1646 UTC, and an hour later the 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared brightness temperature reached 74.1ºC at 1746 UTC — the maximum derived Fire Temperature value was 580.74 K, and Fire Power values peaked at 433.72 MW (the Fire Temperature and Fire Power derived products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm FDCA).

GOES-16 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site are shown below; the initial cloud of dark black smoke began to move across the Indiana/Ohio border around 23 UTC.

GOES-16 True Color RGB images [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

A sequence of VIIRS True Color RGB, False Color RGB and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP are shown below. These VIIRS images were acquired and processed by the Direct Broadcast ground station at SSEC/CIMSS — and are available for display in AWIPS via a Unidata LDM subscription.

VIIRS True Color RGB, False Color RGB and Shortwave Infrared (3.74 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP [click to enlarge]

The eastern edge of the smoke plume passed over Indianapolis Eagle Creek Airport (KEYE), located about 5 miles north-northeast of the fire — since the smoke had been lofted to altitudes of 7,000-10,000 feet, it did not affect the surface visibility at that site.

Time series of surface observation data from Indianapolis Eagle Creek Airport [click to enlarge]

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Ice on Lake Superior

Ice coverage on Lake Superior has reached a seasonal peak. The image above shows VIIRS true-color imagery from Suomi-NPP (taken from the VIIRS Today website). Mostly clear skies over most of Superior on 14 March allowed for better estimates of ice cover on that day from VIIRS (more clouds were present on... Read More

Ice coverage on Lake Superior has reached a seasonal peak. The image above shows VIIRS true-color imagery from Suomi-NPP (taken from the VIIRS Today website). Mostly clear skies over most of Superior on 14 March allowed for better estimates of ice cover on that day from VIIRS (more clouds were present on 15 March).

Ice-cover mapping from NOAA’s GLERL (The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory), shown below (from this website) also shows extensive ice cover over Lake Superior. (Blue regions indicate open water.)

Great Lakes Ice Cover analysis, 14 March 2022 (Click to enlarge)

The analysis below (also from the GLERL site, at this link) shows how the ice cover has varied over the course of the winter over Superior. The present maximum is the largest ice extent of the season — and the ice cover is greater than normal. Ice cover over Superior typically peaks in early March.

Lake Superior Ice Coverage, winter 2022 (Click to enlarge)

When clouds are present (and when they are not!), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery (available in near-real time at this website) gives very high-resolution information about ice formation on Lakes. The image below shows the Normalized Radar Cross Section (NRCS) from 15 March 2022 just before 1200 UTC. Open water is indicated (flat black surfaces) just east of the Keewenaw Peninsula, just east of Isle Royale, in a strip along the western shore of the lake, and in a large region in central Lake Superior to the east of the tip of the Keewenaw Peninsula.

Synthetic Aperture Radar NRCS imagery from the RADARSAT Constellation Mission Satellite 2 (RCM2) over Lake Superior ,

NOAA/STAR does have a Great-Lakes specific SAR website that includes imagery mapped to all 5 Great Lakes. (Link). The mp4 animation below, using images from that website, shows the 11 most recent Lake Superior images of NRCS, ending at ca. 1200 UTC on 15 March. A lot of the views include Duluth Harbor.

NRCS imagery over Lake Superior, 11-15 March 2022 (Click to enlarge)

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Turbulence associated with an orographic banner cloud over Montana

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images along with a Turbulence Probability product (above) showed the formation of a banner cloud in northwestern Montana on 14 March 2022 — this orographic cloud feature appeared to be anchored to the Lewis Range and Sawtooth Range, which rise to elevations of 8,000-9,000 feet. The Probability of... Read More

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images + plots of pilot-reported turbulence, with and without an overlay of Turbulence Probability [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images along with a Turbulence Probability product (above) showed the formation of a banner cloud in northwestern Montana on 14 March 2022 — this orographic cloud feature appeared to be anchored to the Lewis Range and Sawtooth Range, which rise to elevations of 8,000-9,000 feet. The Probability of Moderate or Greater (MOG) Turbulence correctly peaked at values of 70-80% during the course of the day in the general vicinity of the banner cloud — including around the time of a pilot report of Moderate Turbulence at 38,000 feet at 1341 UTC.

A GOES-16 Cloud Top Height derived product (below) indicated that the banner cloud tops were in the 37,000-40,000 feet range (darker blue enhancement) — the altitude of many pilot reports of turbulence that day.

GOES-16 Cloud Top Height derived product, with plots of pilot-reported turbulence [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

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GOES-T now GOES-18

On March 14, 2022 NOAA‘s GOES-T becoming GOES-18 (once the satellite obtained the geostationary orbit). Let’s celebrate both pi day and GOES-18 with a look back at the launch. GOES-17 ABIGOES-17 ABI provided 30-sec imagery, as shown in these blog posts by Scott Bachmeier and Bill Line. Of course GOES-17 ABI was... Read More

On March 14, 2022 NOAA‘s GOES-T becoming GOES-18 (once the satellite obtained the geostationary orbit). Let’s celebrate both pi day and GOES-18 with a look back at the launch.

GOES-17 ABI

GOES-17 ABI provided 30-sec imagery, as shown in these blog posts by Scott Bachmeier and Bill Line. Of course GOES-17 ABI was continuing to provide Contiguous US and Full Disk scans.

The GOES-17 ABI Full Disk CIMSS true color composite image from March 1, 2022 with a 21:40 UTC start time.

The above image is *highly* sub-sampled, roam around this full resolution (very large) GOES-17 full disk image. In this full resolution image, can you zoom and roam to see the GOES-T rocket plume?

GOES-17 ABI 30-sec imagery of the GOES-T launch: visible bands, CIMSS true color and true color.

The above loop, as mp4 and animated gif.

GOES-16 ABI

A few animations from 30-sec GOES-16 ABI, including ABI band 2, CIMSS true color, true color and the day-time ‘rocket plume’ RGB.

30-sec GOES-16 ABI imagery, including ABI band 2 (high resolution visible), CIMSS true color, true color and the day-time ‘rocket plume’ RGB.

The mp4 is also posted (and animated gif). These loops were made with the UW-SSEC geo2grid software.

Figure from the GOES-R series Data Book on the concept of obtaining the geostationary orbit.

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