GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational and are undergoing testing

Hurricane Gert, a Category-1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, is over the open Atlantic Ocean east of Cape Hatteras. It is close enough to the USA, however, that it is within GOES-16’s CONUS domain where 5-minute sampling is routine. The animation above shows all 16 channels from GOES-16 ABI, every five minutes from 1912-2132 UTC on 15 August 2017. A distinct eye is not apparent in the visible or infrared satellite imagery, but microwave data (from here) suggests an eye is present, at least at times. A comparison of 2035 UTC DMSP-16 SSMIS Microwave (85 GHz) and 2045 UTC GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images can be seen here.

The low-level Water Vapor imagery, below, shows that Gert is south and east of a front along the East Coast. This front should steer the storm to the north and east. Swells from the storm will affect the East Coast however.

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

GOES-16 ABI Imagery from the morning of 16 August 2017, below, shows that an eye has appeared in visible and infrared imagery.

A closer view using 1-minute interval GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, below, showed that  the most vigorous areas of deep convection were generally confined to the northern semicircle of the eyewall region — cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures were as cold as -80º C (violet color enhancement) at times.

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The paths that Polar Orbiting satellites take around the Earth are predictable, and the prediction for next Monday, 21 August 2017 is shown above (image courtesy Rick Kohrs, SSEC). Note that Suomi NPP has an ascending orbit passing over the eastern part of the USA, from Florida to Michigan, at predicted times of 1830-1834 UTC on 21 August 2017. At 1832 UTC, Suomi NPP should be over the Great Smoky Mountains.

At the same time, the shadow of totality will be over eastern Tennessee as well, as shown below (from this site). Thus, Suomi NPP will be well-positioned to observe a snapshot (with excellent spatial resolution) of the umbral shadow of this eclipse, to complement the excellent temporal resolution of GOES-16.

Note: GOES-16 also observed the shadow of the 26 February 2017 solar eclipse in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on Himawari-8 viewed the shadow of the Eclipse in the western Pacific Ocean on 9 March 2016 (Click here for an mp4 animation of all 16 AHI Channels).

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* GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational and are undergoing testing*

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) along with “Red” Visible and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (below) showed the formation of 3 pyrocumulonimbus( pyroCb) clouds late in the evening on 12 August 2017, within the cluster of ongoing intense wildfires in British Columbia, Canada.

A toggle between NOAA-18 AVHRR Visible (0.63 µm), Near-Infrared (0.86 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Longwave Infrared Window (10.8 µm) images is shown below. The coldest cloud-top IR brightness temperature was -70º C (associated with the northernmost pyroCb).

In a daytime Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) image (from RealEarth) with VIIRS-detected fire locations plotted in red (below), a very large pall of exceptionally-dense smoke from the BC fires could be seen drifting northward as far as the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The Suomi NPP OMPS Aerosol Index (AI) product (below; courtesy of Colin Seftor, SSAI) displayed AI values as high as 17.18 within the thick BC fire smoke pall.

===== 13 August Update =====

On 13 August, a maximum OMPS AI value of 39.91 was seen at around 21:13 UTC over the Northwest Territories of Canada (above) — according to Colin Seftor and Mike Fromm (NRL), this value surpassed the highest pyroCb-related AI value ever measured by TOMS or OMI (whose period of record began in 1979).

The north-northeastward transport of BC fire smoke — as well as a prominent increase in smoke from fires across northern Canada and the Prairies — was evident in an animation of daily composites of Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color images from 07-13 August (below).

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* GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational and are undergoing testing *

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above; a zoomed-in version is available here) displayed a subtle hazy signature of a smoke plume along with an intermittent “hot spot” (darker black pixels) associated with  a small fire — located near the center of the cyan circle — that was burning close to the southwest coast of Greenland on 01 August 2017. The approximate latitude/longitude coordinates of the fire were 67.87º N / 51.48º W, a location about halfway between Ilulissat (station identifier BGJN) and Kangerlussuaq (station identifier BGSF) and about halfway between the western edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the west coast .

Closer views using daily composites of 250-meter resolution Terra and Aqua MODIS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images (from 30 July to 04 August), sourced from RealEarth (below) indicated that the fire may have started close to 1540 UTC on 31 July — when a small white smoke and/or cloud feature (just north of the cursor) was seen at the fire source location on the Terra image (overpass time). The Aqua overpass time was around 1600 UTC.

Similar daily composite RGB images from Suomi NPP VIIRS (31 July to 04 August) are shown below. Note that the initial fire signature was not seen on the 31 May VIIRS image, due to the earlier overpass time  (1513 UTC) of the Suomi NPP satellite.

On 03 August, a 1507 UTC overpass of the Landsat-8 satellite provided a 30-meter resolution Operational Land Imager (OLI) false-color RGB image of the fire (below). This was the same day that a pilot took photos of the fire, as reported on the Wildfire Today site.

A comparison of one “before” (27 July) and two “after” (03 and 05 August) Landsat-8 OLI false-color RGB images (below) showed differences in smoke plume transport as the wind direction changed.

It is possible that this “natural fire” is similar to the Smoking Hills type of spontaneous combustion that has been observed in the Canadian Arctic (thanks to Ray Hoff, retired UMBC Professor of Physics, for that tip).

Credit to Mark Ruminski (NOAA/NESDIS) for first bringing this interesting event to our attention.

===== 09 August Update =====

The animations of daily Terra and Aqua true-color RGB images (below) have been extended to 09 August and 08 August, respectively.

Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color RGB images from 04-09 August (below) include VIIRS-detected fire locations plotted in red. The 09 August image showed that smoke from the fire had drifted west-southwestward over the adjacent offshore waters of Davis Strait.

===== 12 August Update =====

Another overpass of Landsat-8 on 12 August provided a glimpse of the fire burn scar, which appeared as a darker hue of reddish-brown. Note that the fire had burned eastward to the coast, during a day when stronger westerly winds prevailed.

Related sites:

NASA Earth Observatory

NPR

ESA Space in Images

AGU EOS

 

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