GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the formation of a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud over far southeastern Bolivia on 18 August 2019. The small anvil cloud briefly surpassed the -40ºC pyroCb threshold from 1800-1820 UTC, attaining a minimum cloud-top infrared brightness temperature of -45.2ºC along the Bolivia/Paraguay border at 1800 UTC. This pyroCb formed over the hottest southern portion of an elongated fire line, as seen in the Shortwave Infrared imagery.

A 1.5-day animation of GOES-16 Shortwave Infrared images (from 12 UTC on 17 August to 2350 UTC on 18 August) revealed the rapid southeastward run of the fire to the Bolivia/Paraguay border on 17 August, followed by the eastward expansion of the fire line on 18 August (below).

A toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) and Infrared Window (11.45 µm) images as viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the large and dense smoke plume streaming southeastward, with the small pyroCb along the Bolivia/Paraguay border at 1745 UTC — the brighter white tops of the pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds reached higher altitudes than the tan-colored smoke plume. The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature was about -55ºC (orange enhancement), which corresponded to an altitude around 9 km according to rawinsonde data from Corumbá, Bolivia.

 

Looking more closely at yesterday’s smoke over South America, the aerosol index from #NOAA20 #OMPS was in double digits! Values on the right refer to the UTC of the measurements. pic.twitter.com/3XBqoEVs4M

— Colin Seftor (@colin_seftor) August 19, 2019

Strong northerly to northwesterly surface winds were blowing across the region, in advance of an approaching cold front (surface analyses) — at Robore, Bolivia (located just north-northwest of the fires), winds were gusting to 25-28 knots during much of the day (below).

This is likely the second confirmed case of a South American pyroCb (the first being on 29 January 2018) — in addition, it’s the second pyroCb documented in the tropics and the first pyroCb documented during a winter season. Thanks to Mike Fromm (NRL) for bringing this case to our attention!

===== 25 August Update =====

GOES-16 Visible, Shortwave Infrared and “Clean” Infrared Window images (above) showed that another pyroCb developed from that same general fire complex, southwest of Robore, Bolivia (SLRB), on 25 August.

A toggle between Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 VIIRS True Color RGB and Infrared Window images as viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the large and dense smoke plume streaming southeastward, with the small pyroCb just north of the Bolivia/Paraguay border — the brighter white tops of the pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds reached higher altitudes than the tan-colored smoke-rich clouds at lower altitudes.

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) revealed thick smoke and a pronounced thermal anomaly (hot pixels, darker black) associated with the Swan Lake Fire on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska on 17 August 2019. Later in the day, a few pyrocumulus jumps could be seen in Visible imagery over the fire source region, as fire behavior increased (another day when pyrocumulus jumps were apparent with this fire was 30 June, during a period when southerly winds were transporting dense smoke to the Anchorage area).

Strong northerly-northwesterly winds were transporting smoke from the Swan Lake Fire southward across the Kenai Peninsula and the Seward area — a time series of surface report data from Seward (below) showed that this smoke had reduced the visibility to less than 1 mile by 03 UTC (7 PM local time). South-central Alaska was experiencing drought conditions, which had worsened from the preceding week; the strong winds on this day acted to dry fuels even further, leading to a re-invigoration of the long-lived fire.

The PM2.5 Air Quality Index reached 427 at Cooper Landing, and 358 farther downwind at Seward (below).

The southward transport of smoke across the Seward area and out over the adjacent offshore waters of the Gulf of Alaska was evident in VIIRS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images from NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP, as viewed using RealEarth (below).

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GOES-16 Visible Imagery, above (Click to animate), shows shower/thundershower development over eastern Oklahoma moving into Arkansas. At the end of the animation, 1946 UTC, NUCAPS Sounding profiles from 1926 UTC are shown, and they’re shown below too.

The time 1946 UTC is about the earliest you could hope to have NUCAPS profiles in an AWIPS system — and only if you had access to a Direct Broadcast antenna. The more conventional method of data delivery, the SBN, means NUCAPS will be available about an hour after they are taken, so by 2036 UTC. The visible imagery at 2036 UTC is shown below.

At 2036 UTC, which time is about when in the forecast office the NUCAPS soundings would become available, would you expect the convection in western Arkansas to move southward, or eastward, based solely on Satellite imagery? How could you use NUCAPS profiles to gain confidence in this prediction? Visible imagery alone suggests a moisture boundary; the southern quarter of Arkansas shows markedly less cumulus cloudiness. The animation shows motion mostly to the east, with higher clouds moving more west-northwesterly. The GOES-16 Baseline Total Precipitable Water product, below, shows a maximum in TPW over central Arkansas, with values around 1.5″;  values are around 1.3″ in southern Arkansas, and around 1.2-1.3″ in northwest Arkansas.  A corridor of moisture is indicated.

Baseline Total Precipitable Water, above, part of a suite of products that emerge from Legacy Profiles, is heavily constrained by model fields, however;  the image above could simply show the GFS solution.  In contrast, NUCAPS observations are almost wholly independent of models.  What do NUCAPS profiles show? The animation below steps through vertical profiles east and south of the developing convection.

AWIPS will soon (planned for shortly after Labor Day at the time of this post) include horizontal fields of information derived from NUCAPS vertical profiles. The images below show values computed within the NSharp AWIPS software for a variety of fields: Total Precipitable Water, MU Lifted Index, MU CAPE, MU CINH. All fields suggest that convection more likely to build eastward than to expand southward.

Convection did not move southward; motion and development was to the east. The timing of NUCAPS profiles means that they give a good estimate of atmospheric thermodynamics in mid-afternoon, a key time for assessing convective development.

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The GOES-16 Visible (0.64 µm) image above shows a weak thunderstorm over southeastern Oklahoma surrounding an decaying outflow boundary.  (Click here to see an animation of the visible imagery). The convection did not look particularly robust, but it did produce lightning that was detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), as shown below.

Lightning requires charge separation in a cloud; typically lightning occurs after the cloud top glaciates. During daytime, glaciation can be detected with ABI Band 5, at 1.61 µm, the so-called Snow/Ice band. The toggle below shows the visible, snow/ice band, and the Baseline Cloud Phase product. Glaciation is indicated.

This case is interesting because NOAA-20 overflew the convection, and soundings were produced around the convection, as shown below.

The animation below steps north-south through seven profiles that surround the weak convection. Note that a profile near the convection has thermodynamic parameters more favorable for convection than at the other profiles.  For example, NUCAPS profiles show the convection at the northern edge of a precipitable water gradient, and also in a local minimum of inhibition.    Although the convection has initiated here, the fields do suggest that NUCAPS can be used to monitor thermodynamics at small scales before initiation.

Horizontal gridded information derived from NUCAPS data will be in AWIPS shortly.  See this post from Emily Berndt at SPoRT!

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