The GOES-U rocket launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy provided an opportunity for GOES-East (16) and -West (18) to monitor the launch and booster re-entries. Both the operational GOES were taking special (research) ABI meso-scale sectors of the launch, with GOES-16 providing 1-min imagery and GOES-18 30-sec (both sectors). (More on how to submit an ABI meso research request.) The launch itself has a much stronger and longer signal in ABI imagery than the smaller boosters making re-entry.

A previous CIMSS Satellite Blog shows the GOES satellite signatures of the GOES-U launch, from both GOES-16 and GOES-18.

GOES-East

The meso-scale sector from GOES-16 offered images every minute over Florida.

Above is a short loop of the upper-level “water vapor” band on the ABI. Note the warming at approximately 21:33 UTC. The white pixels to the southwest of the circle is a cloud associated with the GOES-R rocket launch.

Another option to combine three of the ABI spectral bands is via the “rocket plume” RGB that during the day uses the 3.9 um “fire” band, the 6.2 um water vapor band and “red” visible band.

GOES-West

The meso-scale sector from GOES-18 offered images every 30 seconds over Florida, albeit at a relatively large view angle. This parallax isn’t an error, just a difference in viewing. This is why the rocket appears farther east when viewed from GOES-West. More on parallax using a webapp.

All 16 bands from GOES-18 ABI.

Landing

Falcon Heavy’s side boosters land on Landing Zones 1 and 2 pic.twitter.com/5RDbTGNnSq

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 25, 2024

H/T

Thanks to the large cast who built and launched GOES-U! The GOES ABI data was accessed via the UW/SSEC Data Services. McIDAS-X, geo2grid and AWIPS software was used to generate the images. More UW/CIMSS Satellite Blogs associated with rocket signatures.

View only this post Read Less

GOES-16 1-minute imagery over Hurricane Beryl, above, shows the Category 5 (on the Saffir-Simpson scale) storm moving across the central Caribbean to the south of Puerto Rico. At the beginning of the animation the cold cloud tops are distributed symmetrically around the storm; by the end of the animation, some erosion of the cloud canopy is apparent along the western edge of the storm, although the eye structure appears unchanged.

GLM Flash Extent Density observations (scaled from 0-64) over the storm, below (regrettably only plotted over the northern half of the storm that sits within the GOES-16 CONUS domain), show active lightning within the eyewall, a hallmark of a very strong storm.

---

Zoomed-in visible imagery over the eye, below, shows the intricate cloud patterns with the eye.

---

The National Hurricane Center has more information on this dangerous storm. You can also find diagnostics over the storm at SSEC/CIMSS Tropical Weather Website.

View only this post Read Less

GOES-16 Full-disk imagery, above, shows strong Hurricane Beryl moving through the windward islands on 1 July 2024. Beryl made her first landfall on Carriacou Island at 1510 UTC on 1 July. Of note is that the distinct eye of Beryl is lost between about 0800 and 1000 UTC as very strong convection develops over the southeastern quadrant of the storm. (The animation above also includes Tropical Storm Chris that made landfall in Mexico shortly before 0500 UTC on 1 July). The strong convection over Beryl’s southeast wall is better visualized in the zoomed-in Band 13 (10.3 µm) imagery shown below.

SATCON (Satellite Consensus) wind values for Beryl, below, (source), show a storm that was strengthening after a modest and temporary weakening that ended around 0600 UTC on 1 July.

Microwave data over Beryl from GCOM-W1 AMSR-2 observations at 0542 UTC, below (from this source), show a compact eye that is not quite closed at upper levels (as shown by the 89 GHz data) at that time. The two observations also shows a slight shift in the center position: use the 36.5 GHz data to make the best estimate of where the center actually sits as the 36.5 GHz shows information from lower in the troposphere.

---

Although Beryl is in a very favorable environment at about 1800 UTC on 1 July, the predicted path takes the storm into a region of increasing shear, as shown in the toggle below showing 850-200 mb shear and SSTs. The increase in shear may affect the strength of the system, but residents throughout the central Caribbean should closely monitor the progress of this dangerous storm.

Wind shear can be visualized with the Day Cloud Type RGB, shown below from GOES-16 CONUS domain imagery; Beryl is just entering the CONUS domain in the far southeastern corner. This RGB similar to the Day Cloud Phase Distinction RGB, but the ‘red’ beam in Day Cloud Type uses Band 4 (that is, the ‘Cirrus band’ at 1.38 µm) reflectance rather than Band 13 (‘Clean Window’, 10.3 µm) brightness temperatures in the Day Cloud Phase Distinction. In the Day Cloud Type RGB, upper-level clouds, even thin ones, are more noticeable as red, and the animation below shows the high clouds over the Caribbean moving in a much different direction that the lower clouds that show up as cyan.

---

For the latest information on Beryl, refer to the website of the National Hurricane Center.

View only this post Read Less

CSPP Geosphere imagery above (direct link) shows an area of sun glint over the tropical Atlantic. Embedded within the brighter areas of sun glint is a dark path centered near 7^oN, 52^oW over the ocean to the northeast of French Guiana. Long-time readers of this blog will no doubt recognize this feature as an area with very light winds (link). Indeed, Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) winds from MetopC (source), below, from 0121 UTC on 28 June, show light winds in the vicinity.

---

Your eye might also be drawn to the circulation in the animation above that is the current invest 95L in the tropical Atlantic. In what kind of environment is that system developing? What satellite data can be used to describe this system? The Saharan Air Layer analysis, below (source), shows the storm south of an extensive SAL region. A water vapor image (sensing the mid-troposphere) at 1200 UTC (link) also shows extensive dry air surrounding the system.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water analyses (source) for the 24 hours ending at 1400 UTC on 28 June 2024, below, shows the cyclonic circulation associated with the Invest as it moves across 40^oW longitude (another concentrated area of moisture is moving through the northwestern Caribbean Sea).

MetopC ASCAT winds, below, show a circulation near 9^oN/38^oW at 2334 UTC on 27 June 2024.

Wind shear and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) analyses surrounding 95L, below, show a favorable environment (that is, low values of wind shear, and warm SST values). Imagery below is from the SSEC Tropical Website.

GeoColor imagery overlain with GLM observations, below (source), show occasional GLM lightning strikes within the convective cluster surrounding the tropical invest.

---

For more information on this system, refer to the National Hurricane Center and CIMSS Tropical Weather websites.

View only this post Read Less