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

GOES-15 (GOES-West), GOES-14, GOES-17 and GOES-16 (GOES-East) Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the thermal anomaly or “hot spot” (black to yellow to red pixels) associated with the Holy Fire that was burning in southern California on 09 August 2018. This comparison demonstrates how fire detection can be affected by both satellite viewing angle and shortwave infrared detector spatial resolution (4 km at satellite sub-point for the GOES-14/15 Imager, vs 2 km for the GOES-16/17 ABI).

On the previous day, a 30-meter resolution Landsat-8 False Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image visualized using RealEarth (below) provided a more detailed view of the Holy Fire, showing active fires (brighter red) around the northern and eastern perimeter of the burn scar and the smoke plume that was drifting to the north and northwest.

View only this post Read Less

GOES-17 Imagery in this post is preliminary and non-operational.

GOES-16, operational as GOES-East at 75.2º W Longitude, and GOES-17, in a check-out mode at 89.5º W Longitude, viewed convection in and around Houston TX (apparent in the clear skies at the start of the animation) on 8 August 2018 (Click here for animated gif). Stereoscopic views of this convection (achieved by crossing your eyes until 3 images appears, and focusing on the image in the middle) reveal the three-dimensional nature of the convection, in particular the effects of an outflow boundary propagating northward towards Houston.

View only this post Read Less

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

“Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images from GOES-17 and GOES-16 (above) showed the circulation and convective banding associated with Subtropical Storm Debby in the Atlantic Ocean on 07 August 2018.

Deep-layer wind shear analysis from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (below) indicated that Debby was in an environment of low shear.

View only this post Read Less

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images from the AOS site (above) showed the circulation of Hurricane John as it was intensifying from a Category 1 to a Category 2 storm off the west coast of Mexico on 07 August 2018. Several tropical overshooting tops could be seen in the animation.

GOES-16 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm), Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm), Low-level Water Vapor (7.3 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) revealed an interesting gravity wave that was propagating northward away from the center of John. This wave appeared to perturb the cloud tops — perhaps via vertical mixing — leading to a slight warming of the colder cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures as the wave passed. The appearance and behavior of this wave was very similar to another observed in Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas on 22 July.

Another item of interest was the circulation of weakening Tropical Storm Ileana being absorbed by the larger circulation of intensifying Hurricane John — this process was illustrated by 3-hourly 850 hPa relative vorticity analyses derived from GOES-15 (GOES-West) satellite winds (below). Similar results were seen at the 700 hPa, 500 hPa and 200 hPa pressure levels.

===== 08 August Update =====

GOES-15 (GOES-West), GOES-14, GOES-17 and GOES-16 (GOES-East) Visible images (above) showed 4 views of Hurricane John after it had diminished to a Category 1 storm on 08 August.

Note that the GOES-15 and GOES-14 Visible images do not appear as bright as those from GOES-17 and GOES-16 — prior to the GOES-R Series of satellites, the performance of visible detectors degraded over time, leading to imagery that appeared more dim as the Imager instrument aged. Visible detectors on the new ABI instrument benefit from on-orbit calibration to remedy this type of degradation.

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

View only this post Read Less