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Tropical Storm Bill in the Atlantic Ocean

By Scott Lindstrom •

True-color imagery derived from GOES-16, above, shows a low-level cyclonic circulation associated with then Tropical Depression #2 to the east of Cape Hatteras over the western Tropical Atlantic. The satellite imagery suggests strong southwesterly shear: ongoing deep and vigorous convection is far removed to the east and northeast of the... Read More

GOES-16 True-Color imagery showing Tropical Depression #2 over the western Atlantic Ocean, 2001 – 2331 UTC on 14 June 2021 (Click to animate)

True-color imagery derived from GOES-16, above, shows a low-level cyclonic circulation associated with then Tropical Depression #2 to the east of Cape Hatteras over the western Tropical Atlantic. The satellite imagery suggests strong southwesterly shear: ongoing deep and vigorous convection is far removed to the east and northeast of the near-surface circulation visible in the imagery. Indeed, a shear analysis from the CIMSS Tropical page, below, shows values in excess of 50 knots over the storm. Despite the strong shear, this depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Bill at 0300 UTC on 15 June 2021.

850-200 mb wind shear, 0000 UTC on 15 June 2021 (Click to enlarge)

Scatterometry winds helped with the intensity determination.  The 2328 UTC 14 June overpass, below, shown in a toggle with the ABI Band 13 infrared imagery, shows the circulation with 40-knot winds on the south side.  Included in the image is the 1056 UTC 15 June image, showing the quick northeastward progress of the storm, and also showing the degradation in the storm’s symmetry.

Scatterometry winds, 2328 UTC on 14 June and GOES-16 ABI clean window infrared (Band 13, 10.35 µm)  imagery, along with the 1056 UTC 15 June clean window infrared imagery (click to enlarge)

Suomi-NPP overflew the storm at 0626 UTC on 15 June. The Day Night Band imagery, below, overlain on top of derived ACSPO SSTs and toggled with the VIIRS I05 11.45 µm window channel imagery (obtained from the Direct Broadcast site at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), show evidence of lightning northeast of the storm center. SSTs within the core of the Gulf Stream are 81 F.  The core of the storm at 0626 UTC as depicted in the infrared imagery below is far more symmetric than in either of the two times, 2326 UTC on 14 June, and 1056 UTC 15 June, in the toggle above.

Suomi-NPP VIIRS Day Night Band visible (0.70 µm) imagery overlain on top of ACSPO SSTs toggled with VIIRS I05 (11.45 µm) infrared imagery, 0626 UTC on 15 June 2021 (Click to enlarge)

Refer to the National Hurricane Center website for more information on Bill.

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Chemtool facility fire in Rockton, Illinois

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Power and Fire Temperature derived products (above) showed the dark black smoke plume and thermal signature of a fire from an explosion at the Lubrizon Corporation Chemtool facility at Rockton in far northern Illinois on 14 June 2021. The thick smoke plume obscured... 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) [click to play animation | MP4]

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) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Power and Fire Temperature derived products (above) showed the dark black smoke plume and thermal signature of a fire from an explosion at the Lubrizon Corporation Chemtool facility at Rockton in far northern Illinois on 14 June 2021. The thick smoke plume obscured the satellite’s view of the fire point source much of the time, preventing the continuous derivation of Fire Power and Fire Temperature products (and masking the thermal anomaly in the Shortwave Infrared images).

However, a comparison of Shortwave Infrared images from GOES-17 (GOES-West) and GOES-16 (below) revealed that the western satellite’s viewing angle allowed the thermal anomaly of the fire source (hot black-enhanced pixel) to be seen for a longer time period — even after the dark smoke plume had become well established.

Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from GOES-17 (left) and GOES-16 (right) [click to play animation | MP4]

Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images from GOES-17 (left) and GOES-16 (right) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) images with plots of pilot reports (below) indicated that the smoke existed at altitudes of 2500 to 3000 feet, but was not restricting the surface visibility at sites that were downwind of the fire.

GOES-16 Near-Infrared "Vegetation" (0.86 µm) image, with plots of pilot reports and airport ceilings and visibility [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) images, with plots of pilot reports (yellow) and airport ceilings and visibility (cyan) [click to enlarge]

Closer views of GOES-16 Near-Infrared “Vegetation” images created using Geo2Grid (below) showed the southward transport of dark smoke as the fire continued to burn into the afternoon hours.

GOES-16 Near-Infrared "Vegetation" (0.86 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) images (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS) [click to play animation | MP4]

Due to the very dark character of this particular smoke plume, it showed up much better against the more reflective surface in 0.86 µm imagery (compared to 0.64 µm “Red” Visible imagery), as seen in the image toggle below.

GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared "Vegetation" (0.86 µm) images at 1516 UTC (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS) [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Near-Infrared “Vegetation” (0.86 µm) images at 1516 UTC (credit: Tim Schmit, NOAA/NESDIS) [click to enlarge]

The dark smoke plume was also evident in various GOES-16 RGB combinations, such as True Color, Day Land Cloud, and Day Snow Fog (below). True Color RGB images showed that the smoke eventually drifted over far western Indiana.

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

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

GOES-16 Day Land Cloud RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 Day Land Cloud RGB images [click to play animation | MP4]

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

GOES-16 Day Snow Fog RGB images (credit: Tim Schmit/NOAA/NESDIS) [click to play animation | MP4]

 

 

 

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Near-surface winds over the south Pacific Ocean

By Scott Lindstrom •

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) winds from RCM1 (RADARSAT Constellation Mission 1) over the south Pacific Ocean, from this site, show a gradient in wind speeds between 165 W and 168 W. Are there other ways to view this type of wind change over the open ocean?GOES-17 Derived Motion wind vectors, below,... Read More

SAR Winds over the South Pacific, latitude/longitudes as indicated, at 0544 UTC on 14 June 2021 (click to enlarge)

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) winds from RCM1 (RADARSAT Constellation Mission 1) over the south Pacific Ocean, from this site, show a gradient in wind speeds between 165 W and 168 W. Are there other ways to view this type of wind change over the open ocean?

GOES-17 Derived Motion wind vectors, below, showing 0500 UTC wind speeds between 950 and 800 mb (a different level than the near-surface winds from the SAR data), from Real Earth, below, do not clearly show the difference in winds over this same domain.

GOES-17 Enhanced window infrared (10.3 µm, Band 13) and 950-800 mb winds, 0500 UTC on 14 June 2021 (click to enlarge).  Note that the latitude lines shown are 19.5, 22 and 24.5 South.  The cold cloud top feature near the edge of this scene is also apparent at the beginning of the animation below.

GOES-17 Shortwave infrared imagery from the same time in that region, below, shows consistent westward motion at low levels (it’s hard to distinguish from this animation if the low-level wind speeds change across the domain; the cloud motions are all similar) with eastward motion aloft (that, is: considerable shear!)

GOES-17 3.9 µm imagery over the South Pacific, latitudes/longitude lines shown, from 0500 to 0600 UTC on 14 June 2021 (Click to enlarge)

SAR winds can give information over the open ocean that is difficult to find in other places.

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“Ring” Solar eclipse shadow moving across northern North America

By Tim Schmit •

Early on June 10th, 2021 there was a solar eclipse for the northern portions of the globe. This was not a total, but annular (or “ring”) solar eclipse. Satellite instruments, such as NOAA’s ABI on GOES-16 (East) can monitor the shadow of the moon as it falls on the Earth.... Read More

Early on June 10th, 2021 there was a solar eclipse for the northern portions of the globe. This was not a total, but annular (or “ring”) solar eclipse. Satellite instruments, such as NOAA’s ABI on GOES-16 (East) can monitor the shadow of the moon as it falls on the Earth. There are several recent examples from December 2020 (South America), June 2020 (southern Asia), December 2019 (central Pacific), July 2019 (southern hemisphere), January 2019 (Asia) and August 2017 (central US).

GOES ABI

The shadow cast on the Earth could be seen from NOAA’s GOES-16 (East) ABI. This included both the visible and near-infrared spectral bands, and the ABI band 7 (at 3.9 micrometers).

A time animation of NOAA’s GOES-16 ABI band 3 (0.86 micrometers) on June 10, 2021.
A time animation of the cooling associated wit the shadow on the Earth’s surface can be seen in this GOES-16 ABI band 7 (3.9 micrometers) animation.
A time animation of the Full Disk view showing the CIMSS true color spectral composite on June 10, 2021. This product does not employ a Rayleigh correction.

There are other similar loops are posted on many web pages, such as this one from UW/SSEC. This page is a collection of those links.

The 10 UTC composite Full Disk GOES-16 image from June 10, 2021.

A larger image of the GOES-16 10 UTC Full Disk composite shown above.

The shadow from the moon could also been seen from NOAA’s GOES-17 (West) ABI on June 10, 2021.

A more zoomed in GOES-17 view.

AWIPS animation (mp4) of the CIMSS Natural Color RGB from both GOES-16 and GOES-17.

The same loop as above, but as an animated gif. Thanks to Scott.

Japan’s AHI

Japan’s AHI near-infared (band 4 centered at 0.86 micrometers) imagery on June 10, 2021.

While it’s subtle, the shadow could also be seen in Japan’s AHI.

HEO (highly elliptical orbit)

A satellite was recently launched by Russia into a highly elliptical orbit (Molniya). The satellite (Arctica) is in a commissioning phase, but some imagery from the 10-band imager of the eclipse shadow was released.

Google translation: An annular happened today #???????? Suns — For the first time in half a century, it was accessible for observation from Russia; it was best seen from Yakutia and Chukotka. Russian satellites #??????? and #???????? were able to capture this astronomical phenomenon from orbit.

Ground-based Image

A image from Chris Draves over Lake Mendota (Madison, WI).

Background

This map of the eclipse path shows where the June 10, 2021, annular and partial solar eclipse will occur. Times are UTC.
Credits: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/Ernie Wright.

Credits

NOAA GOES-16 ABI data are via the University of Wisconsin-Madison SSEC Satellite Data Services. Thanks Scott Bachmeier, CIMSS for the AWIPS animation.

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