GOES-18 imagery over California at 1836 UTC (above, left) show a very strong signal over San Luis Obispo County: very bright in visible imagery and warm in the shortwave infrared. In the GOES-16 imagery, that signal is not present. In contrast, the warm signal in the shortwave infrared in GOES-18 imagery below has a similar signal in the GOES-16 imagery. (Click here for a shortwave infrared animation from GOES-16 animation, and here from GOES-18). In the imagery above, the lack of a signal in GOES-16 might mean this is an example of reflection off solar panels In contrast, imagery below suggests a fire is present, as the detection is present in shortwave infrared imagery from both satellites.

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The Next Generation Fire System (NGFS) is a NOAA/NESDIS initiative to streamline the detection of fires as soon as they occur. The NGFS Alerts Dashboard (Documentation on the NGFS is here) shows the results of continuous automatic monitoring of satellite data for the development of hot spots such as those seen in the still images and animations above. What kind of information was available for the two events above, one a result of reflection off solar panels, and one a result of a fire? NGFS output at 1831 (Microphysics RGB) and 1836 UTC (Fire Temperature RGB and Visible imagery) is shown below.

The NGFS report allows a user to scroll forward and back in time. The NGFS Microphysics imagery at 1821 UTC, when the detection above first happened, is shown below. A simple probe shows that this detection is associated with a solar farm based both on a spectral analysis and a knowledge of where solar panels exist (if you look as the Google Basemap, available in the menu below, and zoom in, you’ll see the panels); given the sudden strong onset of a signal, perhaps a Fire Meteorologist would feel justified in ignoring the signal at these pixels (one clue is the vertical striping emanating northward/southward from the bright signature in Visible imagery, due to detector saturation from intense reflection of sunlight off the large Topaz Solar Farm). Note that information from more than one satellite band is needed to be certain that a solar farm is being detected.

Not long after, an actual fire did occur southeast of the Solar Panel detection (Note Highway 58 in all images!). The NGFS detection for that incident is shown below. It is detected as a Fire Pixel in this case.

The detected hot spot can be probed to detect the flammability of the pixels, as shown below.

One the fire has been named, that name (Bear Fire) is also included in the information on the NGFS website, and in the probe, as shown below.

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NOAA/NESDIS sponsored a Fire Weather Testbed in Boulder, CO the week of 10-14 June 2024 that included demonstrations of the NGFS detections, alerts dashboard, and satellite imagery on the NGFS website.

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There are a number of instruments on the GOES-R series to monitor space weather, one of them is the Solar UV Imager (SUVI).

6-panel SUVI Imagery

The same loop as above, but as an animated gif. The SUVI monitors the Sun at 6 frequencies in the UV part of the electromagnetic spectrum. UW/SSEC has started to post daily 6-panel (Multi-Channel) SUVI images on their “Geo”-browser for both GOES-East and -West. The data are brought in via the GRB data stream.

Individual SUVI Bands

Another solar flare! X2.8 per @NWSSWPC. This animation features the powerful event in 3 wavelengths measured by the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (#SUVI) on #GOESEast from 0646 to 0736 UTC on May 27th. View the He 303 loop in full resolution at https://t.co/ijPTuInX4j ? pic.twitter.com/9KIXWo8AMp

— UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) May 27, 2024

A table of the SUVI band uses demonstrates which bands monitor filaments, coronal holes, active regions, coronal mass ejections, flares and quiet regions. Near realtime individual SUVI bands are available at the links to the UW Geobrowser above, but also available at the SWPC.

RGB 3-band Composite SUVI Imagery

As is done with ABI imagery, compositing a number of spectral bands can be done to create a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) image. The various combinations can bring out the various solar features.

You can generate your own daily SUVI RGB image: GOES-East or -West. Or access a few static cases: April 8, 2024 (Total Solar Eclipse in North America) or May 8, 2024 (Coronal Mass Ejection that led to Auroras on May 13) or May 14, 2024 (strongest flare of this solar cycle to date).

H/T

Thanks to all who make the satellite imagery possible, the ingest and software to display the imagery (including, but not limited to McIDAS-X and Here GOES Radio). Special thanks to the UW/SSEC Satellite Data Services for bringing in the SUVI data. T. Schmit works for NOAA/NESDIS/STAR and is stationed in Madison, WI. Kudos to M. Weinreb, who helped co-name the SUVI.

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) displayed areas of convection that moved across the islands of American Samoa on 12 June 2024 (1-minute imagery was requested by NWS Pago Pago to monitor the approach of thunderstorms capable of producing heavy rainfall and potential flooding — and since they lack radar coverage, 1-minute satellite imagery can be very valuable in that type of scenario). Pago Pago (NSTU) did receive heavy rainfall (2.84 inches) from thunderstorms during the 1045-1155 UTC period (METARs | plot of surface report data); in-cloud lightning was also noted with those particular thunderstorms. Flood Advisories for American Samoa were issued at 0912 UTC and 1200 UTC.

The 1-minute GOES-18 Total Precipitable Water (TPW) derived product (in cloud-free regions) showed a N-to-S oriented corridor of TPW values in the 2.0 to 2.2 inch range (lighter shades of violet) across the islands of Western Samoa — however, the presence of extensive cloudiness across the islands of American Samoa prevented the retrieval of TPW there. The TPW value derived from NSTU rawinsonde data at 0000 UTC on 12 June was 2.48 inches (below).

A GOES-18 Infrared image showing a cold (-80.35ºC) thunderstorm overshooting top just southwest of the American Samoa island of Tutuila at 1112 UTC on 12 June (below) included a cursor sample of the associated GOES-18 Cloud Top Height (53191 ft) and Rain Rate (3.05 in/hr) derived products at that location. That rain rate was consistent with the ~1-hour rainfall amount (2.84 in) that was observed at NSTU.  Note that the cold overshooting top and high rain rate were displaced about 6-8 mi southwest of NSTU and the island of Tutuila — for a Cloud Top Height around 50 kft, this is consistent with the parallax adjustment of ~13 km with GOES-West imagery over American Samoa.

A curious aspect of this deep convection was the appearance of cloud-top standing waves south of the Manu`a Islands, during the 1100-1300 UTC period. These standing waves can be seen in a toggle between GOES-18 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) and Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images at 1152 UTC (below).

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5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) displayed areas of convection that moved inland along the west coast of Florida on 11 June 2024. Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport received very heavy rainfall (3.93 inches) during the 1-hour period ending at 2353 UTC or 7:53 PM local time (METARs | decoded surface reports | plot of surface report data) — which was a new record maximum 1-hour rainfall accumulation for that location (contributing to their record daily rainfall of 6.26 inches).

A GOES-16 Infrared image showing a cold thunderstorm overshooting top at 2311 UTC (below) included a cursor sample of the associated GOES-16 Rain Rate derived product — which was 3.17 in/hr, compared to the 3.93 in observed at Sarasota/Bradenton for the hour ending at 2353 UTC. Note that the cold overshooting top and high rain rate were displaced about 6 mi northwest of KSRQ — for a Cloud Top Height around 50 kft, this is consistent with the parallax adjustment of ~10 km with GOES-East imagery over Florida.

GOES-16 Infrared images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below) showed the lightning activity associated with these thunderstorms, which included a few brief lightning jumps (most notably near Bradenton at 2316 UTC, 5 minutes after the peak GOES-16 Rain Rate).

5-minute GOES-16 Visible images (below) also depicted many of the thunderstorm overshooting tops — but also showed the offshore cyclonic circulation of low-level clouds associated with Tropical Invest 90L (what role 90L may have played in helping to force the development of the heavy-rainfall-producing thunderstorms is not known).

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