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

Visible and thermal signatures of the SpaceX EchoStar 23 rocket launch were seen with GOES-16 imagery on 16 March 2017. The set of 3 images above consists of 5-minute CONUS sector scans at 05:54:33 UTC (about 5 minutes before launch), 05:59:33 UTC (around launch time) and 06:04:33 UTC (about 5 minutes after launch). The 05:59:33 UTC image was actually scanning the NASA Kennedy Space Center (station identifier KXMR)  area at 06:00:38 UTC, just after the 06:00 UTC launch time. A faint bright glow of the rocket booster was seen on the 0.5-km resolution Visible (0.64 µm) image; the 1-km resolution Near-Infrared (1.61 µm) rocket signature was much brighter, because this spectral band senses radiation from both visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum (which of the two was a stronger contributor to the bright signal is difficult to determine); the 2-km resolution Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) image displayed a warm (dark black enhancement) “hot spot”, although it was not exceptionally warm (with a 306.8 K maximum brightness temperature).

A “warm signal” was also observed on the three GOES-16 ABI Water Vapor bands: Lower-Level (7.3 µm), Mid-Level (6.9 µm) and Upper-Level (6.2 µm), as shown below. While water vapor is certainly a by-product of rocket booster combustion, it is important to remember that the Water Vapor bands are first and foremost Infrared bands that sense the brightness temperature of a layer of moisture (which can vary in both altitude and depth, depending on the temperature/moisture profile of the atmosphere and/or the satellite viewing angle). In this case, the atmosphere was relatively dry over the region, with little moisture aloft to attenuate the rocket signature — shifting the roughly-corresponding GOES-13 Sounder (had the GOES-13 Sounder instrument been operational)  water vapor weighting functions (available from this site) to lower altitudes. However, moisture considerations aside, the rocket signature seen on the 05:59:33 UTC water vapor imagery was primarily a thermal anomaly.

McIDAS-V images of GOES-16 Near-Infrared (1.6 µm and 2.2 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) data at 05:59:33 UTC (below; courtesy of William Straka, SSEC) provided another view of the rocket launch signature.

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

A winter storm produced heavy snow across parts of the Upper Midwest on 13 March 2017, and then merged with subtropical jet stream energy to help develop an intense and rapidly-deepening storm which affected much of the Northeast US during 14 March – 15 March (WPC storm summary). GOES-16 ABI Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images covering the 13-15 March period (above) showed the development and motion of this complex storm. .

A closer view of the Northeast US on 14 March (below) displayed some of the complex banding structures associated with the deepening storm, and also showed the sharp gradient of precipitation type along the coastal areas. Notable weather impacts included a storm total snowfall of 48.4 inches at Hartwick, New York, a new all-time 24-hour snowfall accumulation of 31.1 inches at Binghamton, New York, 0.4 inch of freezing rain accumulation at Chesilhurst, New Jersey and a wind gust of 77 mph at Plum Island, Massachusetts.

Some interesting features were also seen in the wake of the large Northeast US component of the storm. For example, a GOES-16 Mesoscale Sector provided 1-minute interval  0.5-km resolution Visible (0.64 µm) imagery of lake effect snow bands streaming southward off Lake Michigan on 14 March, which produced heavy snow in parts of southeastern Wisconsin, northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana (below).

GOES-16 6.2 µm, 6.9 µm and 7.3 µm Water Vapor images (below) revealed widespread mountain waves downwind of the southern Appalachians on 15 March.

These mountain waves were responsible for a few pilot reports of moderate turbulence, two of which are highlighted below.

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

The ABI on GOES-16 contains 16 Channels, and those channels can be combined into RGB Imagery to highlight features that the individual channels can identify (Click here for general information on RGBs). For example, the ‘Icing RGB’ in AWIPS (also called the ‘Day Land Cloud’ RGB) uses 1.61 µm imagery for the Red component of the RGB, the 0.86 µm for the Green component and the 0.64 µm for the Blue. (This is similar to the oddly-named EUMETSAT ‘Natural Color’ RGB). The toggle above shows the three individual channels, and then the combination in the RGB. A version of the RGB was sent in this Tweet from NWS Lincoln IL.

Cyan regions are those with high values from the green component (0.86 µm) and the blue component (0.64 µm) but little from the red (1.61 µm); such regions include snow on the ground, and/or glaciated clouds. Consider, for example, the toggle below between the 0.86 µm and 1.61 µm imagery.  Lake Effect clouds are distinct over Lake Michigan in both channels, where they show up against the dark background.  Snow on the ground and Water Clouds look very similar at 0.86 µm (or at 0.64 µm, part of the toggle at top of this blog post) and it’s difficult to distinguish clouds from snow over land in a still image.  However, the 1.61 µm imagery is much darker in regions of snow (most of the Midwest United States had snow cover on 15 March 2017).  Water-based clouds show up distinctly against the darker background in the 1.61 µm imagery, and the Lake Effect clouds can be seen easily over Indiana and Michigan. There is apparently some glaciation in the lake effect clouds over land, however, because they do have a cyan tint to them.

Note how the easternmost lake effect band over Lake Michigan shows evidence of glaciation in the clouds.  There is a noticeable change in reflectance between 0.86 µm and 1.61 µm in the toggle below — and that region also shows cyan in the RGB.

Over the East Coast, this RGB helps better discriminate between low clouds and high. The example below, also from 1524 UTC on 15 March, cycles through the three channels and then shows the RGB.  The gradual glaciation of the ‘ocean effect’ clouds over the Atlantic is apparent east of New Jersey, as is the glaciation of some of the clouds in the north-south frontal band offshore.  Low clouds are bright in all three channels (0.64 µm, 0.86 µm and 1.61 µm) and therefore appear white-ish in the RGB. Snow on the ground in clear skies is dark in the 1.61 µm imagery and cyan in the RGB.

Long-time readers of this blog are familiar with a MODIS-based product that also uses the 1.61 µm channel (in the green and blue) and the visible channel in the red to produce a Snow RGB that has Red snow and cirrus clouds, as shown in this figure from this recent blog post. The key channel for snow-detecting or cirrus-detecting RGBs is the 1.61 µm Channel because ice crystals strongly absorb radiation at that wavelength, reducing the solar reflectance.

Fact sheets are available on the 0.64 µm, 0.86 µm and 1.61 µm Channels on ABI.

====================================================================Added, 17 March 2017

The red visible (0.64 µm), veggie band (0.86 µm), snow/ice channel (1.61 µm) and RGB, above, gave information about snowcover in the Northeast in the wake of the strong winter storm on 13-15 March. The demarcation between snow and no snow is particularly apparent in central New Jersey. Note snow/land discrimination in the Veggie Band is reduced compared to the visible (click here for a toggle between the two channels) — because of very strong surface reflectance over bare ground. There are northwest-to-southeast streaks in the RGB imagery from southwestern Ontario into northeastern Pennsylvania. These are present because of cirrus clouds as highlighted by the Cirrus Channel at 1.38 µm.  The RGB is also able to distinguish between low clouds over western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio (that are mostly white in the RGB) and higher ice-laden clouds that are cyan.

AWIPS Note:  Visible (0.47 µm and 0.64 µm) and Veggie Band (0.86 µm) imagery can show missing data in regions of high reflectance near solar Noon, because albedo values then can exceed 1.  When those bands are then used in RGBs, the missing data points are apparent. A fix on this to allow an albedo >1 is in progress.

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

The ABI on GOES-16 includes a Snow/Ice Channel at 1.61 µm and a Cirrus Channel at 1.38 µm. These bands offer different perspectives on the evolution of the atmosphere before and during the strong 13-14 March 2017 winter storm on the East Coast of the United States. The Snow/Ice channel, above, is dark in regions where ice clouds or snow on the ground are present because ice is a strong absorber of radiation with a wavelength of 1.61 µm. Water clouds, in contrast, readily reflect such radiation and appear brighter white. Consider the mp4 animation above (available here as a 150-megabyte animated gif). At the start of the animation, on 12 March, snow is indicated over Tennessee, a dark stripe that erodes on that day under the strong March sun. Cirrus retreating southward over the southeastern United States (cloud signals that are grey in the 1.61 µm imagery) reveal much brighter low-level stratus clouds (made of water droplets). Cirrus contrails are apparent above those low clouds. The Mesovortex over the Great Lakes is bright white — water clouds — and is gradually obscured by high-level cirrus clouds from the west and northwest. Terrain-induced wave clouds are also present over Pennsylvania. Their bright color suggests they are composed of water droplets.

On 13 March, low clouds are moving northward over the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia as Cirrus clouds spread northeastward from the Deep South. By 14 March, a well-developed wave cyclone is apparent with a large cirrus canopy outlining a warm conveyor belt.

What does the Cirrus Channel, below show? (Click here for a large animated gif.) Strong absorption by water vapor molecules occurs at 1.38 µm. Note, for example, that on 12 March the mesovortex is not apparent in the Cirrus Channel — but the wave clouds over Pennsylvania are. The conclusion is that the atmosphere over the northeast is much dryer than that over the western Great Lakes. On 13-14 March, lake-effect clouds are apparent downwind of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and over Wisconsin. The airmass has dried over the Upper Midwest in two days, allowing the Cirrus Channel to view features closer to the surface. In general, the cirrus channel provides outstanding delineation of cloud-top structures over the developing and mature extratropical cyclone.

The Cirrus Channel and the Snow/Ice Channel rely on reflected Solar energy to provide a signal. As such they are useful primarily during the day.

Added: Animations showing the evolution of the three GOES-16 Water Vapor bands during part of the East Coast storm’s lifecycle are available here. A water vapor animation from a CONUS perspective is available here. A better-quality animation centered over the northeast US is available here. Here is an animated gif/mp4 with 6.9 µm brightness temperatures and surface observations. A blog post on this storm is here.

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