CIMSS (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) is now 40 years old, as it was established in 1980. From “about CIMSS: “… is a Cooperative Institute formed through a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1980. CIMSS operates as an institute within the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC)”.

The CIMSS mission includes three goals:

• Foster collaborative research among NOAA, NASA, and the University in those aspects of atmospheric and earth system sciences that exploit the use of satellite technology;
• Serve as a center at which scientists and engineers working on problems of mutual interest can focus on satellite-related research in atmospheric and earth system science;
• Stimulate the training of scientists and engineers in the disciplines involved in atmospheric and earth science.

The same image, but full resolution (11 MB).

Then and Now

The above image pair compare a NASA SMS from 1980 to an GOES-16 ABI true color composite from 2020. Both images are from July 14th. The GOES-16 data was generated using Geo2Grid software.

The data are via SSEC Data Services.

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Severe thunderstorms affected much of the Upper Midwest on 11 July 2020 — and 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed two separate clusters of thunderstorms that moved southeastward across Iowa, producing large hail and damaging winds (SPC Storm Reports). The initial round of storms produced a curved outflow boundary across central and eastern Iowa — and several orphan anvils could be seen forming along this outflow boundary before the second round of storms arrived. Numerous pulsing overshooting tops were evident within each of the storm clusters.

The corresponding GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images are shown below. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were around -70ºC.

For the second round of storms that developed in far southern Minnesota during the early afternoon hours, GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) include time-matched plots of SPC Storm Reports.

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Farther to the southwest, severe thunderstorms produced a north-to-south swath of large hail (up to 4.0 inches in diameter) and damaging winds across eastern Kansas (SPC Storm Reports). 1-minute GOES-16 Visible images (above) and Infrared images (below) showed these storms, whose pulsing overshooting tops eventually exhibited infrared brightness temperatures of -80ºC and colder (violet pixels).

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed Tropical Storm Fay as it moved northward and made landfall just northeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey (station identifier KACY) around 2100 UTC on 10 July 2020. The exposed low-level center was completely devoid of deep convection.

GOES-16 Visible images with plots of Derived Motion Winds (below) revealed a few wind targets with speeds of 50 knots or higher (red barbs), but those were located well east/northeast of the storm center.

In a sequence of GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) and Visible images (below), it could be seen that a tongue of dry air was wrapping into the southern and eastern portion of the circulation of Fay, moving directly over the low-level center (1201 UTC | 1501 UTC | 1801 UTC).

When Fay formed on the previous day, a Sea Surface Temperature analysis from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) showed that its center was located over the warm water of the Gulf Stream — but as it moved northward it quickly colder waters around 25ºC off the Delmarva Peninsula and New Jersey coasts.

Fay was the earliest-forming 6th (F-named) storm on record for the Atlantic Basin — and was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in New Jersey since Irene in 2011.

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GOES-16 (GOES-East) True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed widespread plumes of blowing dust and salt originating from Salar de Uyuni in southwestern Bolivia on 07 July 2020. These aerosol sources are located within an elevated plateau with altitudes of 11-12,000 feet (3.3-3.6 km) — and similar episodes of blowing dust/salt are not uncommon during the austral winter (reference).

A longer animation of GOES-16 Dust RGB images (below) showed the continued eastward transport of dust/salt plumes for a few hours after sunset.

A sequence of GOES-16 Natural Color RGB, Dust RGB and Split Window Difference (10.3 µm – 12.3 µm) images from AWIPS (below) provided a less detailed view of the plumes — the spatial resolution of Full Disk GOES imagery in AWIPS is reduced to 6 km.

Winds across that region increased on 07 July as an intensifying subtropical jet streak was passing just to the north/northeast, as shown in plots of 700 hPa geopotential height and integrated water vapor transport from this site (below). Clouds associated with this jet streak could be seen in the northern portion of the GOES-16 images above.

Plots of rawinsonde data from Antofagasta, Chile at 12 UTC on 06, 07 and 08 July (below) showed the increase in northwesterly 700 hPa winds to 40 knots on 07 July. Antofagasta is located about 300 miles southwest of the Salar de Uyuni region.

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