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GOES-17 views the active tropics

By Scott Bachmeier •

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *GOES-17 Full Disk natural color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above; courtesy of Dave Stettner, CIMSS) revealed the very active tropics across the East Pacific and North Atlantic basins on 10 September 2018 — from left to right, Hurricane Olivia and Tropical Storm Paul in the Pacific... Read More

GOES-17 Full Disk true color images [click to play animation]

GOES-17 Full Disk natural color RGB images [click to play animation]

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

GOES-17 Full Disk natural color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (above; courtesy of Dave Stettner, CIMSS) revealed the very active tropics across the East Pacific and North Atlantic basins on 10 September 2018 — from left to right, Hurricane Olivia and Tropical Storm Paul in the Pacific Ocean, Invest 95L in the Caribbean Sea, and in the Atlantic Ocean Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Isaac and Hurricane Helene.

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Hurricane Florence

By Scott Bachmeier •

After previously weakening from a Category 4 hurricane (on 04 September) to a tropical storm on 07 September (track/intensity), Florence re-intensified to become a Category 1 hurricane at 15 UTC on 09 September 2018. 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.63 µm) are shown above, with the corresponding “Clean” Infrared Window... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) iimages [click to play MP4 animation]

After previously weakening from a Category 4 hurricane (on 04 September) to a tropical storm on 07 September (track/intensity), Florence re-intensified to become a Category 1 hurricane at 15 UTC on 09 September 2018. 1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.63 µm) are shown above, with the corresponding “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images shown below. An eye structure appeared for brief intervals during the day, but was often masked by cloud debris from a series of convective bursts within the surrounding eyewall.

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1811 UTC [click to enlarge]

GPM GMI Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1811 UTC [click to enlarge]

GPM GMI (above) and DMSP-16 SSMIS (below) Microwave (85 GHz) images from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site revealed that the eye was still partially open at 1811 UTC and 1945 UTC.

DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1845 UTC [click to enlarge]

DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) image at 1845 UTC [click to enlarge]

===== 10 September Update =====

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with GLM Group lightning [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 GLM lightning Groups (aggregates of GLM lightning Events) are plotted on “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below), courtesy of Dave Santek, SSEC.

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, with GLM Group lightning [click to enlarge]

Overlapping GOES-16 and GOES-17 Mesoscale Domain Sectors were positioned over Hurricane Florence beginning at 1200 UTC (providing imagery at 30-second intervals) — Visible animations are shown below.

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-17

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

Longer animations of 30-second GOES-16 Visible and Infrared images viewed using AWIPS (below) provided a better view of  the mesovortices within the eye. Florence rapidly intensified (ADT | SATCON) to a Category 4 hurricane during this period.

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

One particularly large mesovortex rotated around the eastern edge of the eye after 2100 UTC, significantly eroding the eyewall (below).

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

Later in the early evening hours, GOES-16 Infrared imagery (below) showed an area of pronounced cloud-top warming and a thinning of cloud material just south of the eyewall, as Florence began to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle.

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images [click to play MP4 animation]

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Delta Fire pyroCumulonimbus cloud in California

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) and Cloud Top Temperature product images displayed using AWIPS (above) showed the formation of a pyroCumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud generated by the Delta Fire in Northern California late in the day on 05 September 2018. As the pyroCb cloud drifted eastward toward the California/Nevada... Read More

GOES-16

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top left), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, top right), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom left) and Cloud Top Temperature product (bottom right) [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) and Cloud Top Temperature product images displayed using AWIPS (above) showed the formation of a pyroCumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud generated by the Delta Fire in Northern California late in the day on 05 September 2018. As the pyroCb cloud drifted eastward toward the California/Nevada border, Cloud Top Temperature values cooled to a minimum of -53ºC (lighter green enhancement) at 0300 UTC. Note the pulsing behavior of updrafts over the fire area: 2 distinct updraft pulses were apparent (at 0022 UTC and 0042 UTC), with the later pulse producing the pyroCb.



A longer animation of GOES-16 “Red” Visible, Shortwave Infrared and “Clean” Infrared Window images displayed using McIDAS (below) showed that the first hot (red) Shortwave Infrared pixels appeared at 2027 UTC. The fire caused a 5-mile section of Interstate 5 to be closed.

GOES-16 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, middle), "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom); Interstate 5 is plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, middle) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images; Interstate 5 is plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 (positioned at 89.5º W longitude during its post-launch checkout phase) had a more direct view of the pyroCb than GOES-16 (positioned over the Atlantic Ocean at 75.2º W longitude) — and GOES-17 “Red” Visible, Shortwave Infrared and “Clean” Infrared Window images are shown below. Unfortunately the default GOES-17 Western US Mesoscale Domain Sector was shifted farther to the south on this day, so 1-minute imagery of the pyroCb event was not available.

GOES-17 "Red" Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, middle), "Clean" Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images; Interstate 5 is plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, top), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, middle) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm, bottom) images; Interstate 5 is plotted in cyan [click to play animation | MP4]

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

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Stereoscopic View of Tropical Storm Gordon in the Gulf of Mexico

By Scott Lindstrom •

GOES-17 Data shown here are preliminary and non-operational! Stereoscopic views (using GOES-16 and — preliminary and non-operational — GOES-17 Visible (0.64 µm) imagery) of strengthening Tropical Storm Gordon are shown above. The stereoscopic view shows an initially sheared storm, with the surface circulation apparent becoming somewhat less sheared as convection redevelops... Read More

GOES-16 (left) and GOES-17 (right) Visible (0.64 µm) imagery on 4 September 2018, starting at 1132 UTC (Click to play mp4 animation)


GOES-17 Data shown here are preliminary and non-operational!

Stereoscopic views (using GOES-16 and — preliminary and non-operational — GOES-17 Visible (0.64 µm) imagery) of strengthening Tropical Storm Gordon are shown above. The stereoscopic view shows an initially sheared storm, with the surface circulation apparent becoming somewhat less sheared as convection redevelops over the surface center. (To view in three dimensions: cross your eyes until 3 equal images are apparent, and focus on the image in the center). This animation will be updated periodically as more GOES-17 data become available. (Click here for animated gif)

For more information on this storm, consult the National Hurricane Center website, or the CIMSS Tropical Weather Website.

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