1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Fire Temperature RGB images — created using Geo2Grid (above) depicted thermal signatures from several Los Angeles area wildfires from 7th January to 10th January 2025. Most notable were the 2 larger signatures from the initial Palisades Fire (near the coast, which started at 1824 UTC on 7th January) and later the Eaton Fire (farther inland, to the northeast) — with a few smaller and more short-lived fire signatures (such as from the Hurst Fire, Sunset Fire and Kenneth Fire) also seen during that 4-day period. The bright yellow pixels highlighted the hottest portion of the fires. Passing clouds occasionally masked or partially obscured the thermal signatures of some fires.

1-minute GOES-18 True Color RGB images from the CSPP GeoSphere site during the daytime hours on 7th-10th January (below) displayed pronounced smoke plumes from the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire during those 4 days (along with lesser smoke plumes from smaller fires).

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CIMSS Scientists are adding more Level 2 GOES products (from both GOES-East and GOES-West) to Geosphere. The animation above shows Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) (on the left) and True Color imagery (on the right). The images highlight smoke from fires near Los Angeles on 9 January 2025. The individual AOD and the True Color fields are also shown below. Aerosol Watch (link) also shows GOES-16/GOES-18 AOD fields.

AOD is computed only in regions that are presumed cloud-free. In regions where the smoke is very thick, such as in the westernmost smoke plume, AOD is not computed because the algorithm is likely misinterpreting the thick smoke as cloud.

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For now, AOD and Land Surface Temperature fields are available only at the test CSPP Geosphere site. Cloud Top Height/Cloud Top Temperature are available at both urls. The CSPP Geosphere site is at https://geosphere.ssec.wisc.edu/#coordinate:0,0; .

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Due to a lack of radar coverage over American Samoa, WSO Pago Pago requested 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector coverage over the islands during a prolonged period of heavy rainfall risk. GOES-18 (GOES-West) Clean Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) displayed areas of deep convection that moved near and over the American Samoa island of Tutuila (where Pago Pago NSTU is located) on 9th January 2025 — which produced periods of moderate to heavy rainfall (leading to flash flooding and landslides, prompting the issuance of Flash Flood Warnings; Pago Pago received 3.19 inches of rainfall that day), strong winds (gusting 45 mph at Pago Pago, which led to flight cancellations) and power outages across parts of the islands. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -80ºC (shades of white embedded within dark black regions).

The GOES-18 Infrared image at 2100 UTC (below) included cursor samples of the Cloud Top Temperature, Cloud Top Height and Rain Rate Level 2 derived products for an area of convection that was approaching the island of Tutuila.

These thunderstorms and strong winds developed as Tropical Disturbance TD04F was located southwest of American Samoa (Fiji Meteorological Service surface analyses: 0300 UTC  | 1230 UTC | 2100 UTC), in addition to the South Pacific Convergence Zone being oriented NW to SE across the Samoan Islands.

A toggle between plots of rawinsonde data from Pago Pago (below) depicted an atmosphere with deep moisture throughout the troposphere (Total Precipitable Water values of 2.45-2.49 in) and modest instability (CAPE values of 1242-1642 J/kg, and Lifted Index values of -3ºC).

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Screen captures of VIIRS Day night imagery from NASA Worldview, above, show the distinct signature of light emitted from fires on 8 January. Three separate fires are apparent. The toggle below compares the views early on 7 and 8 January.

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Day Night Band Imagery from early on 9 January 2025, shown below in a toggle with VIIRS I04 (3.74 µm) shortwave infrared imagery shows two main fire areas, the Eaton and Palisades fires, have strong visible light signatures and strong shortwave infrared signatures as well. On 9 January, the faint outline of a smoke plume is apparent over the Pacific Ocean to the south of Malibu and west of Manhattan Beach.

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