This website works best with a newer web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported by this website.

CIMSS Satellite Blog

MENU

GOES-16: visible and true-color images of a solar eclipse shadow

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 — the first of the GOES-R series — ABI visible (0.64 µm) images captured the Lunar Umbra (or solar eclipse shadow) of the “ring of fire” annular eclipse that occurred in the Southern Hemisphere on 26 February 2017. The dark eclipse shadow could be seen moving from west to east, beginning... Read More

GOES-16 ABI Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-16 ABI Visible (0.64 µm) images [click to play animation]

GOES-16 — the first of the GOES-R series — ABI visible (0.64 µm) images captured the Lunar Umbra (or solar eclipse shadow) of the “ring of fire” annular eclipse that occurred in the Southern Hemisphere on 26 February 2017. The dark eclipse shadow could be seen moving from west to east, beginning over the southern Pacific Ocean, passing over far southern Chile and Argentina, and finally moving over the southern Atlantic Ocean. GOES-16 will routinely scan the Full Disk every 15 minutes (the current GOES Full Disk scan interval is once every 3 hours), but in a special mode can scan the Full Disk every 5 minutes.

The path of the eclipse shadow (courtesy of EarthSky.org) is shown below.

Path of 26 February 2017 solar eclipse shadow [click to enlarge]

Path of 26 February 2017 solar eclipse shadow [click to enlarge]

True-color GOES-16 Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images are shown below (courtesy of Kaba Bah, CIMSS).

GOES-16 true-color images [click to play animation]

GOES-16 true-color images [click to play animation]

Note: the GOES-16 data posted on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing on-orbit testing.

View only this post Read Less

Storm “Doris” affects the British Isles

By Scott Bachmeier •

Storm “Doris” affected the British Isles on 23 February 2017, producing strong winds and heavy rainfall. The mid-latitude cyclone rapidly intensified from a central pressure of 1004 hPa at 12 UTC on 22 February to 972 hPa at 12 UTC on 23 February (surface analyses) . EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 Water Vapor (6.25... Read More

Meteosat-10 Water Vapor (6.25 µm) images, with hourly surface wind gusts in knots [click to play animation]

Meteosat-10 Water Vapor (6.25 µm) images, with hourly surface wind gusts in knots [click to play animation]

Storm “Doris” affected the British Isles on 23 February 2017, producing strong winds and heavy rainfall. The mid-latitude cyclone rapidly intensified from a central pressure of 1004 hPa at 12 UTC on 22 February to 972 hPa at 12 UTC on 23 February (surface analyses) . EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 Water Vapor (6.25 µm) images (above) exhibited the “scorpion tail” signature of a sting jet (Monthly Weather Review | Wikipedia), and surface wind gusts included 58 knots at Dublin, 64 knots at Wittering and 69 knots at Valley.

The corresponding daylight Meteosat-10 High Resolution Visible (0.8 µm) images (below) revealed better detail of the various cloud structures associated with the storm.

Meteosat-10 High Resolution Visible (0.8 µm) images, with hourly surface wind gusts in knots [click to play animation]

Meteosat-10 High Resolution Visible (0.8 µm) images, with hourly surface wind gusts in knots [click to play animation]

True-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from Terra/Aqua MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS visualized using RealEarth are shown below. EUMETSAT posted a natural-color RGB animation here.

Terra MODIS (1039 UTC), Aqua MODIS (1226 UTC) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (1248 UTC) true-color RGB images [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS (1039 UTC), Aqua MODIS (1226 UTC) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (1248 UTC) true-color RGB images [click to enlarge]

View only this post Read Less

GOES-16: fire detection in Florida

By Scott Bachmeier •

Numerous small fires were burning in the Lake Okeechobee area of southern Florida on 20 February 2017. A comparison of GOES-16 ABI (at rapid scan 30 second intervals) and GOES-13 (at routine 15-30 minute intervals) 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images (above; also available as a 71 Mbyte animated GIF) showed the “hot spots” —... Read More

GOES-16 (left) and GOES-13 (right) 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images [click to play MP4 animation]

GOES-16 (left) and GOES-13 (right) 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images [click to play MP4 animation]

Numerous small fires were burning in the Lake Okeechobee area of southern Florida on 20 February 2017. A comparison of GOES-16 ABI (at rapid scan 30 second intervals) and GOES-13 (at routine 15-30 minute intervals) 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared images (above; also available as a 71 Mbyte animated GIF) showed the “hot spots” — dark black to yellow to red enhancement, with red being the hottest — associated with these fires. Since many of the fires were agricultural sugar cane burns (which tend to be brief, but intense), the vast majority were not detected using the routine operational 15-30 minute scan interval of GOES-13; only the 30-second interval rapid scan GOES-16 images were able to capture these short-lived events. GOES-16 (the first in the GOES-R series) will provide the capability of 30-second or 60-second images within special Mesoscale Sectors.

The improved spatial resolution of the GOES-16 data (2-km at satellite sub-point, vs 4-km for GOES-13) also aided in the detection and characterization of the small and short-lived fires.

Fire detection points from the NOAA Hazard Mapping System for 20 February are shown below.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System fire detection points [click to enlarge]

NOAA Hazard Mapping System fire detection points [click to enlarge]

Note: GOES-16 data shown on this page are preliminary, non-operational data and are undergoing on-orbit testing.

 

View only this post Read Less

Sir Ivan Fire pyroCumulonimbus in New South Wales, Australia

By Scott Bachmeier •

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Longwave Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above / MP4 ; zoomed-in over fire source region: GIF / MP4) showed wildfires burning in New South Wales, Australia on 12 February 2017. The larger Sir Ivan Fire near Dunedoo produced a pyroCumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud,... Read More

Himawari-8 0.64 µm Visible (top), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared (middle) and 10.4 µm Longwave Infrared Window (bottom) images [click to play animation]

Himawari-8 0.64 µm Visible (top), 3.9 µm Shortwave Infrared (middle) and 10.4 µm Longwave Infrared Window (bottom) images [click to play animation]

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and Longwave Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above / MP4 ; zoomed-in over fire source region: GIF / MP4) showed wildfires burning in New South Wales, Australia on 12 February 2017. The larger Sir Ivan Fire near Dunedoo produced a pyroCumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud, which first cooled below the -40ºC Longwave Infrared brightness temperature “pyroCb threshold” at 0530 UTC (-47ºC) and quickly reached its minimum temperature of -56.6ºC at 0540 UTC. An animation of Himawari-8 true-color images is available here (courtesey of Dan Lindsey, RAMMB/CIRA).

Consecutive true-color images from Suomi NPP VIIRS (0402 UTC) and Aqua MODIS (0405 UTC) viewed using RealEarth (below) showed the large smoke plume about 1.5 hours prior to pyroCb development.

Suomi NPP VIIRS and Aqua MODIS true-color images [click to enlarge]

Suomi NPP VIIRS and Aqua MODIS true-color images [click to enlarge]

A high fire danger was well-anticipated across this portion of Australia:

Some ground-based photos of the pyroCb cloud:


View only this post Read Less

  • last_page First
  • Last last_page

Search blog