CIMSS Satellite Blog, CIMSS

GOES-14 is out of Storage

By Scott Lindstrom • 1 August 2016

GOES-14 has again been reactivated, and is distributing data from its location over the Equator at 105 W. GOES-14 will be entering SRSO-R mode next week, starting on 9 August (link) and continuing through 26 August.Short animations of GOES-14 Visible (0.63 um) and Infrared Window (10.7 um) imagery are shown... Read More

GOES-14 Imager Channels at 1755 UTC on 1 August 2016 [Click to enlarge]

Short animations of GOES-14 Visible (0.63 um) and Infrared Window (10.7 um) imagery are shown below.

GOES-14 Visible (0.63 um) images [click to play animation]

GOES-14 Infrared Window (10.7 um) images [click to play animation]

A 3-panel comparison, below, shows Idaho/Montana wildfire smoke plumes as viewed from GOES-15 (GOES-West), GOES-14 and GOES-13 (GOES-East). The images are displayed in the native projection of each satellite.

GOES-15 (left), GOES-14 (center) and GOES-13 (right) Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animation]

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Heavy rainfall and flash flooding in Maryland

By Scott Bachmeier • 30 July 2016

A 2-panel comparison of GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed a band of thunderstorms oriented southwest-to-northeast across northern Virginia and northern Maryland late in the day on 30 July 2016. Cells within this band produced very heavy rainfall and extreme flash flooding at Ellicott City,... Read More

GOES-13 0.63 µm Visible (top) and 10.7 µm Infrared Window (bottom) images [click to play animation]

A 2-panel comparison of GOES-13 (GOES-East) Visible (0.63 µm) and Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed a band of thunderstorms oriented southwest-to-northeast across northern Virginia and northern Maryland late in the day on 30 July 2016. Cells within this band produced very heavy rainfall and extreme flash flooding at Ellicott City, Maryland — located northwest of Baltimore/Washington International Airport KBWI, and marked with a cyan * symbol — with a total of 6.60 inches of rain in just over 2 hours (NWS Baltimore/Washington Public Information Statement | Event summary). The coldest cloud-top IR brightness temperature was -67º C at 0045 UTC on 31 July (8:45 pm local time).

The MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product at 3-hour intervals (below) indicated the presence of TPW values in the 2.0 to 2.5 inch range over parts of the region.

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product [click to enlarge]

Upstream rawinsonde data profiles from Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia (below) showed TPW values of 46.8 mm or 1.83 inches at 12 UTC on 30 July, and 49.2 mm or 1.94 inches at 00 UTC on 31 July (although the later data looks suspect, given the balloon was launched as strong thunderstorms were approaching).

Washington Dulles VA rawinsonde profiles [click to enlarge]

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River valley fog in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa

By Scott Bachmeier • 26 July 2016

A nighttime image (above) of the Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm – 3.74 µm Infrared brightness temperature difference (often referred to as the “fog/stratus product”) showed the development of narrow fingers of river valley fog in parts of southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa at 0735 UTC or 2:35... Read More

Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm – 3.74 µm Infrared brightness temperature difference (“fog product”) at 0735 UTC [click to enlarge]

A nighttime image (above) of the Suomi NPP VIIRS 11.45 µm – 3.74 µm Infrared brightness temperature difference (often referred to as the “fog/stratus product”) showed the development of narrow fingers of river valley fog in parts of southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa at 0735 UTC or 2:35 am local time on 26 July 2016. At that time the surface visibility was reduced to 1/4 mile at Boscobel, Wisconsin (station identifier KOVS).

During the subsequent daylight hours, GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) images (below) revealed the extent of the valley fog which had formed (the yellow symbols denote stations reporting fog). However, this fog quickly dissipated quickly with strong heating from the July sun.

GOES-13 Visible (0.63 µm) images [click to play animation]

This region frequently experiences such episodes of river valley fog, but they are most common during the Autumn months as nights grow longer and nighttime temperatures get colder. In this late July event, the primary ingredient favoring fog formation was high soil moisture due to recent heavy rainfall (below), much of which occurred on 24 July.

7-day precipitation, departure from normal, and percent of normal {click to enlarge]

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Transverse banding: a signature of potential turbulence

By Scott Bachmeier • 20 July 2016

GOES-13 (GOES-East) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed the formation of tendrils of transverse banding along the northern semicircle of decaying mesoscale convective systems as they moved eastward across Nebraska and Iowa on 19 July 2016. Pilot reports of turbulence are plotted on the images, along with Turbulence AIRMET polygons issued at... Read More

GOES-13 Infrared Window (10.7 um) images, pilot reports of turbulence, Turbulence AIRMET boundaries [click to play animation]

GOES-13 (GOES-East) Infrared Window (10.7 µm) images (above) showed the formation of tendrils of transverse banding along the northern semicircle of decaying mesoscale convective systems as they moved eastward across Nebraska and Iowa on 19 July 2016. Pilot reports of turbulence are plotted on the images, along with Turbulence AIRMET polygons issued at 0800 UTC and 1400 UTC. Most of the pilot reports of turbulence were in the Light to Moderate category, although there was one report of Moderate to Severe intensity at 1612 UTC over eastern Iowa.

The corresponding GOES-13 Water Vapor (6.5 µm) images (below) perhaps highlighted the transverse banding features a bit better at times, since the weighting function for that spectral band generally peaks in the middle to upper troposphere where the transverse banding cloud features existed.

GOES-13 Water Vapor (6.5 um) images, pilot reports of turbulence, Turbulence AIRMET boundaries [click to play animation]

A sequence of Infrared Window images from POES AVHRR (10.8 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (11.45 µm) (below) showed a higher-resolution view of the initial formation of transverse banding during the 0411 to 1008 UTC time period.

Infrared Window images from POES AVHRR (10.8 µm) and Suomi NPP VIIRS (11.45 µm) [click to enlarge]

Shown below are two other types of satellite imagery that can be helpful for identifying the areal extent of transverse banding cloud features: the Suomi NPP VIIRS Day/Night Band (0.7 µm), and the MODIS Cirrus band (1.37 µm). A similar Cirrus band will be part of the ABI instrument on GOES-R.