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

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above)  revealed the presence of mesovortices within the eye of Category 3 Hurricane Larry in the central Atlantic Ocean on 06 September 2021.

View only this post Read Less

NOAA‘s GOES-16 and GOES-17 ABI observed the Firefly Aerospace’s maiden flight from Vandenberg Air Force base.

GOES-16 ABI 16-panel captured the before and after the anomaly (explosion approximately 2.5 minutes after launch). Loop: (animated gif) (mp4).

The parallax effect is very evident comparing GOES-17 and GOES-16 ABI views. Loop: (animated gif) (mp4). What is shown is a multi-spectral “rocket plume” RGB. More about parallax can be explored using this webapp.

These loops were made using McIDAS-X or UW GEO CSPP geo2grid software with data via the UW/SSEC Data Services.

View only this post Read Less

Tropical Storm Larry has formed in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean. The large-scale view of the tropical Atlantic, shown above, taken from CSPP Geosphere (direct link to the imagery) shows Larry west of Africa. Tropical depression Kate is also apparent, and that storm again has convection near its center as shear there has relaxed. Kate is also moving towards a region with cooler sea surface temperatures.

The animation above shows a brownish color to the True Color imagery, suggestive of dust in the atmosphere, and a Sahara Air Layer analysis from the CIMSS Tropical Website, below, shows a strong signal just north of Larry (click here for the most recent image).

The toggle below shows the Air Mass RGB and low-level water vapor infrared imagery both show a dry signature where the SAL analysis has a strong signature. Note how Tropical Depression Kate is near a signal in the Air Mass RGB — but rather than dry air as in a SAL, this is associated with a Potential Vorticity anomaly, as suggested in this toggle between the Air Mass RGB and a pressure analysis on the 1.5 PVU surface (from the UKMET model).

Larry is forecast to stay south of the dry air, and forecast to become a strong storm (Shear values near the storm are small, based on the 1300 UTC analysis). For more details, refer to the National Hurricane Center.

View only this post Read Less

Day Night Band imagery collected from the VIIRS-Today website, above, shows night-time snapshots of the Caldor Fire (discussed previously here, here and here on this blog) as it formed and moved towards Lake Tahoe in August 2021. On 31 August, the last day of the animation, the fire was close enough to the city of South Lake Tahoe that evacuation orders for that town have been issued.

The longer animation, below, shows the evolution of the Caldor Fire and the Dixie Fire complex as well (and is an update to this blog post).

VIIRS imagery can also be used to outline burn scars from the fire. The ‘False Color’ RGB image below, from 30 August 2021 (from this url at VIIRS Today), depicts just how large the burn scar (the brownish region in the imagery) from the Dixie Fire is.

View only this post Read Less