GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click to play animation)

McIDAS images of GOES-13 0.6 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the motion of ice in the nearshore waters of Lake Michigan on 06 February 2014. Along the coast of Wisconsin, westerly winds — gusting as high as 27 knots at Manitowoc (KMTW), and 23 knots at Sheboygan (KSBM) — were causing the thin ice to continue drifting eastward during the day.

Another feature of interest seen on the GOES-13 visible imagery was a long, narrow cloud plume streaming southeastward in far northern Illinois — this cloud plume was a result of waste heat and moisture from the cooling towers at the Byron Nuclear Generating Station (located just east of the red “>” symbol on the images). Although there appeared to be no meteorological clouds over northern Illinois during the late morning and afternoon hours, light snow was reported at De Kalb from 16 – 19 UTC (animation of visible images, with surface reports). An AWIPS comparison of 1-km resolution MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and 3.7 µm shortwave IR channel images at 17:15 UTC (below) indicated that the cloud plume from the Byron nuclear plant appeared to be drifting very near De Kalb (KDKB), which was likely causing the light snow (the surface visibility at De Kalb was reduced to 2.5 miles at 17 UTC). On the MODIS 3.7 µm shortwave IR image, the widespread supercooled water droplet clouds — as well as the nuclear power plant plume — appeared warmer (darker gray) than the surrounding snow-covered ground, due to this channel’s sensitivity to solar radiation reflected off the cloud top water droplets.

At least one other case of “nuclear power plant effect” snowfall has been documented, downwind of the Beaver Valley power plant in Pennsylvania.

MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and 3.7 µm shortwave IR channel images

Farther to the north, a significant amount of ice motion could also be seen in the western portion of Lake Superior (below; click image to play animation).

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (click to play animation)

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Meteosat-10 0.635 µm visible channel images (click to play animation)

McIDAS images of EUMETSAT Meteosat-10 0.635 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the cloud structure associated with a powerful midlatitude cyclone that was moving northeastward toward the British Isles on 04 February 2014. This storm — the latest in a series of intense North Atlantic Ocean storms to batter the region during the winter of 2013/2014 — produced very strong winds (gusting to 92 mph on the Isle of Scilly), heavy rain, and flooding; power was cut to over 40,000 customers, and rail service was disrupted.

The evolution of the storm could be seen on hourly composites of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellite water vapor channel imagery covering the 03-05 February period (below), visualized using the SSEC RealEarth web map server. As the large storm began to dissipate, another system could be seen developing upstream over the North Atlantic Ocean. Also of note are the subtle wave structures that could be seen in the water vapor imagery downwind of the Azores, caused by strong winds interacting with the high terrain of the islands (the tallest point is Pico, at 2,351 meters or 7,713 ft).

Composite of water vapor channel imagery (click to play animation)

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GOES-13 false-color RGB images (click to play animation)

After 2 days of renewed activity, the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador produced some minor eruptions punctuated by a single large eruption on 01 February 2014. GOES-13 false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images specifically tailored to help identify and track volcanic features (above; click image to play animation) showed (1) the southeastward drift of the initial volcanic plume (estimated to be as high as 26,000 feet) from 19:45 – 22:15 UTC, followed by (2) the rapid expansion and southward drift of the larger volcanic plume (estimated to be as high as 45,000 feet) after 22:45 UTC, and (3) another smaller volcanic plume (estimated to be as high as 23,000 feet) drifting southeastward after 02:45 UTC on 02 February.

McIDAS images of GOES-13 3.9 µm shortwave IR data (below; click image to play animation) revealed the presence of a distinct “hot spot” (dark black to yellow to red enhancement) at the summit of the volcano after 22:45 UTC — the hottest pixel detected was 338.5 K or 66.4º C at 00:45 UTC on 02 February.

GOES-13 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (click to play animation)

As the sun was setting, the rapidly-rising volcanic ash plume associated with the stronger eruption cast a long shadow toward the east-northeast on the 22:45 UTC GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel image (below).

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel image

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Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel and Snow/cloud discrimination RGB images

An AWIPS II image comparison of Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel data and the corresponding “Snow/cloud discrimination” Red/Green/Blue (RGB) product (above) provided a glimpse of many of the areas of ice coverage on the Great Lakes at 18:06 UTC on 29 January 2014. Ice began to increase (especially across the western Great Lakes) in late January following one of the more significant arctic outbreaks of the 2013/2014 winter season. On the RGB image, snow and ice appear as varying shades of red, in contrast to supercooled water droplet clouds which appear as shades of white.

Terra and Aqua MODIS true-color images (28 January)

On the previous day (28 January), comparisons between 17:28 UTC Terra and 19:12 UTC Aqua MODIS true-color RGB images from the SSEC MODIS Today site revealed the amount of sea ice motion in the relatively short time (approximately 100 minutes) between the 2 images, a result of fairly strong winds blowing over the nearshore waters. The MODIS image comparisons are centered over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (above), and over southern Lake Michigan (below).

Terra and Aqua MODIS true-color images (28 January)

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Terra and Aqua MODIS true-color images (29 January)

On 29 January, similar comparisons of the 16:34 UTC Terra and 18:16 UTC Aqua MODIS true-color RGB images showed a better view of the multiple long and narrow ice floes in northern lake Michigan (above), and showed how much ice in southern Lake Michigan had been blown across the lake and against the southeastern shore (below).

Terra and Aqua MODIS true-color images (29 January)

===== 31 January Update =====

Landsat 8 Panochromatic (0.59 µm Band 8) image

A 15-meter resolution Landsat 8 Panochromatic (0.59 µm Band 8) image from the SSEC RealEarth web map server (above) showed the ice coverage in the far western portion of Lake Superior on 31 January. Land-fast ice in the Apostle Islands area of Wisconsin (located in the eastern part of the image) was thicker and snow-covered, giving it a brighter white appearance.

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