JMA Himawari-8 AHI “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed the development of a pyrocumlonimbus (pyroCb) cloud produced by bush fires northwest of Sydney, Australia (station identifier YSSY) on 22 November 2019 (surface analyses). In the 3.9 µm images, hot thermal signatures of the bush fires (darker black to red pixels) were apparent; in addition, the cloud tops of the pyroCb cloud appeared warmer (darker gray) than surrounding convective cloud tops. The pyroCb exhibited cloud-top 10.4 µm brightness temperatures colder than -40ºC.

VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 as viewed using RealEarth are shown below. Cloud-top 11.45 µm brightness temperatures of the pyroCb were in the -70 to -75ºC range on the later 0407 UTC Suomi NPP image.

View only this post Read Less

A sequence of GOES-16 (GOES-East) Fire Temperature RGB, Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area products (above) displayed signatures of widespread fires — a combination of prescribed burns and agricultural fires — across parts of the Deep South on 19 November 2019. Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area products are components of the GOES Fire Detection and Characterization Algorithm (SHyMet | ATBD).

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with and without plots of surface observations, are shown below. While most of the fires were too small/brief to produce large smoke plumes, a prominent plume was associated with one of the hottest and most long-lived fires — which was likely a prescribed burn — in the Chickasawhay State Wildlife Management Area (located east of Hattiesburg/Laurel Airport KPIB) in southeastern Mississippi.

There were no surface stations downwind of that Mississippi fire; however, one small smoke plume drifted over Lafayette in southern Louisiana (KLFT) near the end of the day, briefly reducing the visibility to 6 miles at 22 UTC (below).

For the hot fire in southeastern Mississippi, GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared, Fire Temperature, Fire Power and Fire Area values are shown for the same hot fire pixel at 1716, 1731 and 1806 UTC (below). Note that the individual parameter trends can be different for a given fire pixel — for example, even though the hottest 3.9 µm brightness temperature value was 58.8ºC at 1806 UTC, the peak Fire Temperature value was 1373.1 K at 1731 UTC. However, the time of the maximum Fire Power value of 213.6 MW coincided with the time of the hottest 3.9 µm brightness temperature value (1806 UTC).

View only this post Read Less

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images (above) revealed the presence of elongated W-E oriented billow clouds, many of which exhibited small-scale ripples that were oriented N-S along the billow cloud tops, over coastal areas of South Carolina and North Carolina on 15 November 2019. An initial SIGMET (November 1) was issued covering airspace over Georgia and South Carolina — Severe Turbulence (plotted in red) was reported at 41,000 feet and at 35,000 feet. A second SIGMET (November 2) was later issued covering airspace over South Carolina and North Carolina.

The same GOES-16 Water Vapor images which include isotachs of RAP40 model maximum wind (at any level) are shown below — most of the Moderate to Severe turbulence reports were occurring within the speed gradient along the poleward (left) edge of a SW-NE oriented jet stream flowing parallel to the coast.

More detailed views of the billow-top ripples were provided by a Terra MODIS Visible image at 1600 UTC, and NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared images as visualized using RealEarth (below).

View only this post Read Less

Geostationary data from KMA‘s GEOKOMPSAT-2 satellite (over the Equator at 128º E Longitude, shown above at right) and from JMA‘s Himawari-8 Satellite (over the Equator at 140º E Longitude, shown above at left) can be used to create stereoscopic imagery. The imagery above, from 0400 and 0500 UTC on 14 November 2019, centered at 15º N, 150º E, shows Typhoon Fengshen. Visible imagery from both satellites show a well-developed central cluster of thunderstorms with little apparent indication of wind shear. Stereoscopic views of the storm allow the vertical structure of the system to be perceived.

Data processing for these images was accomplished using Geo2Grid, a software package that incorporates Satpy. (Previous Blog posts discussing Geo2Grid are here and here).

Very grateful acknowledgement of these data from KMA and from JMA is extended. Thank you!

Added:  Click here for an animation from 0300 to 0550 UTC on 14 November.  (Warning:  Large animated gif at 159 M).

View only this post Read Less