GOES-14 0.62 µm Visible Image

GOES-14 came out of storage in mid-August for an annual north-south maneuver and for GOES-R Testing. While in normal mode, GOES-13 suffered an anomaly, and GOES-14 replaced GOES-13 temporarily as GOES-East before GOES-13 returned to service.

After operating in SRSO-R mode for Hurricane Sandy, GOES-14 was switched off after the 1845 UTC image on 1 November 2012 (above). It will remain in stand-by mode until recalled because of anomalies with GOES-West (GOES-15) or GOES-East (GOES-13). For more information on the future plans for GOES-14, click here.

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POES AVHRR 0.86 µm visible channel and 12.0 µm IR channel images

A strong storm (with a central pressure near 950 hPa or 28.05″) had been intensifying over the Gulf of Alaska on 02 November 2012, and eventually began to enhibit a classic tightly-wrapped signature of a cyclone that had reached the occluded stage on POES AVHRR 0.86 µm visible channel and 12.0 µ IR images at 19:05 UTC (above) and also on MODIS 0.64 µm visible channel and 11.0 µm IR channel images at 21:00 UTC (below). This storm was producing widespread storm-force winds, with some gusts to hurricane force over the western Gulf of Alaska.

MODIS 0.64 µm visible channel and 11.0 µm IR channel images

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MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images

Cold air and upslope flow on the western side of Hurricane Sandy contributed to some very impressive snowfall totals across parts of the central Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US (HPC storm summary)| HPC snowfall contour map). Once some of the cloud cover began to clear from the region on 02 November 2012, a comparison of AWIPS images of visible channel data and false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) composites from MODIS at 16:09 UTC or 12:09 PM local time (above) and again at 17:55 UTC or 1:55 PM local time (below) revealed the extent of the remaining high-elevation snow cover. On the false-color RGB images (created using the 2.1 µm “snow/ice channel” on MODIS, and the 1.61 µm “snow/ice channel” on VIIRS as the Green and Blue components of the image composites), snow cover appeared as the darker red features (which also appeared white on the corresponding visible images).

Data from the National Operational Hydrologic Information Center (observed snow depth | model-derived snow depth) indicated that some sites still had a snow depth in excess of 20 inches on on the morning of 02 November.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.64 µm visible channel and false-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images

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Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band images (pre-Sandy, and post-Sandy)

As seen in other examples posted on this blog, the Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band (DNB) is useful for detecting city lights at night. A comparison of “pre-Sandy” (a cloud-free night way back on 31 August 2012) and “post-Sandy” (01 November 2012) DNB images displayed using McIDAS-V (above) showed some of the areas that remained without power in the wake of the landfall of Hurricane Sandy on 29 October 2012 — two areas that stand out are western parts of Long Island, New York and central New Jersey. You can also interactively fade between the before/after DNB images using this Java applet.

A comparison of AWIPS images of the 01 November DNB data with the corresponding 10.8-3.74 µm  “fog/stratus product” (below) showed that those two areas of interest — western Long Island, and central New Jersey — were not obscured by any significant low fog/stratus  features (yellow to red color enhancement) or any dense high cirrus clouds (black color enhancement).

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band image and “Fog/stratus product” image

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