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VIIRS Today Website is live

By Scott Lindstrom •

CIMSS has hosted the MODIS Today website for many years.  Its follow-on, the VIIRS Today has gone live as of 4 August 2020.As with MODIS today, the USA is subdivided into 8 sectors, and imagery on a 2-km, 1-km and 250-m grid is provided, even though VIIRS’ best resolution at nadir is 375... Read More

VIIRS Today imagery from 3 August (Daytime, left, True Color [Bands 1, 4, 3 from VIIRS] and False Color [Bands 7, 2, 1 from VIIRS] from Suomi NPP; Day Night Band imagery from NOAA-20, right)

CIMSS has hosted the MODIS Today website for many years.  Its follow-on, the VIIRS Today has gone live as of 4 August 2020.

As with MODIS today, the USA is subdivided into 8 sectors, and imagery on a 2-km, 1-km and 250-m grid is provided, even though VIIRS’ best resolution at nadir is 375 m (and 750 m for the Day Night Band).

The images above show True-Color and False Color imagery from Suomi NPP on shortly after noon on 3 August over the northeast United States, along with Day Night Band Imagery from NOAA-20, also from (the early morning of) 3 August, shortly before the Full Moon.

VIIRS Today does have an archive going back several years.  The website allows you to choose either Suomi-NPP or NOAA-20 data (links at the page will also show you today’s Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20 orbital passes), and you can view True Color Imagery (combining channels only in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum), False-Color Imagery (combining visible and near-infrared information) or (unique to VIIRS) Day Night Band Imagery.  There is also a link to a webpage showing the Moon Phase.

The image below, downloaded from VIIRS Today, shows the NOAA-20 Day Night Band composite from the morning of 4 August 2020 (link).

NOAA-20 Day Night Band image composite, 4 August 2020 (Click to enlarge)

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Isaias re-intensifies to a Hurricane

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the 10-hour period leading up to the time when Tropical Storm Isaias re-intensified to Category 1 hurricane intensity on 03 August 2020. The center of Isaias passed near Buoy 41004 (below) — ahead of the storm, there was a wind gust to 62 knots (71 mph)... Read More

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

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 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) showed the 10-hour period leading up to the time when Tropical Storm Isaias re-intensified to Category 1 hurricane intensity on 03 August 2020. The center of Isaias passed near Buoy 41004 (below) — ahead of the storm, there was a wind gust to 62 knots (71 mph) at 21 UTC, and after the storm  center had passed there was a wind gust to 68 knots (78 mph).

Plot of wind speed (blue), wind gust (red) and air pressure (green) at Buoy 41004 [click to enlarge]

Plot of wind speed (blue), wind gust (red) and air pressure (green) at Buoy 41004

GOES-16 Infrared images with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) showed that there was some lightning activity associated with areas of deep convection around the center of Isaias.

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images, with and without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to play animation | MP4]

Hurricane Isaias made landfall  in North Carolina at 0315 UTC on 04 August (11:15 PM EDT); a few hours later, VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from the VIIRS Today site (below) showed the hurricane as it was moving further inland.

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm) images from Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 [click to enlarge]

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Heavy rainfall across Interior Alaska

By Scott Bachmeier •

An animation of Topography + GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed a southward-moving band of clouds responsible for producing heavy rainfall across portions of Interior Alaska on 02 August 2020. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were as cold as -58ºC (brighter shades of yellow).GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images... Read More

Topography + GOES-17 "Clean" Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Topography + GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

An animation of Topography + GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed a southward-moving band of clouds responsible for producing heavy rainfall across portions of Interior Alaska on 02 August 2020. Cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were as cold as -58ºC (brighter shades of yellow).

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images are shown below.

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation | MP4]

Blended Total Precipitable Water (TPW) and Percent of Normal TPW images during the 01-02 August time period (below) portrayed TPW values as high as 1.5 inches just north of Lake Minchumina — which was >190% of the normal value for this location and time of year.

Blended TPW and Percent of Normal TPW images [click to play animation | MP4]

Blended TPW and Percent of Normal TPW images [click to play animation | MP4]

A sequence of VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP as viewed using RealEarth (below) revealed cloud-top infrared brightness in the -60 to -65ºC range (darker shades of red) within this cloud band.

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 ) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]


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1 week of volcanic cloud emission from Nishioshima

By Scott Bachmeier •

JMA Himawari-8 Ash Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the nearly continuous volcanic cloud emanating from Nishinoshima during the 1-week 25 July to 01 August period (faster animations are also available: gif | mp4). Brighter shades of pink in the Ash RGB images suggest a higher concentration of... Read More

Himawari-8 Ash RGB images, from 25 July to 01 August 2020 [click to play animation | MP4]

Himawari-8 Ash RGB images, from 25 July to 01 August 2020 [click to play animation | MP4]

JMA Himawari-8 Ash Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images created using Geo2Grid (above) displayed the nearly continuous volcanic cloud emanating from Nishinoshima during the 1-week 25 July to 01 August period (faster animations are also available: gif | mp4). Brighter shades of pink in the Ash RGB images suggest a higher concentration of ash within the volcanic cloud. The direction of plume transport switched from northwesterly/westerly to southerly/southeasterly during this time, which is explained by the transition in wind direction within much of the troposphere as revealed by rawinsonde data from nearby Chichijima (below).

Plots of rawinsonde data from Chichijima [click to enlarge]

Plots of rawinsonde data from Chichijima [click to enlarge]

VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP [click to enlarge]

After the transition to southerly transport, VIIRS True Color RGB images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP as visualized using RealEarth (above), the surface visibility at Iwo Jima RJAW dropped to 4 miles on 01 August (below) as the hazy volcanic plume drifted across the area.

Time series plot of surface observation data from Iwo Jima [click to enlarge]

Time series plot of surface observation data from Iwo Jima [click to enlarge]


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