First GOES-14 full-disk visible image

The GOES-14 (GOES-O) satellite was launched on 27 June 2009, and is undergoing its Post Launch Test. The first calibrated full disk visible image (above) was received by the SSEC Data Center beginning at 17:30 UTC on 27 July 2009.

A close-up view centered over central California (below) showed marine fog and stratus hugging the Pacific coast, with cumulus clouds developing inland over the higher terrain of the Sierra Nevada.

GOES-14 visible image (centered over central California)

Farther to the west, a pattern of ship tracks was evident in the marine layer stratocumulus clouds over the North Pacific Ocean (below).

GOES-14 visible image (ship tracks over the North Pacific Ocean)

A nice series of von Karman vorticies was seen streaming southward from Guadalupe Island off the west coast of Baja California (below).

GOES-14 visible image (von Karmann vorticies off Baja California)

A view centered over southern Florida (below) showed the development of numerous thunderstorms over that region.

GOES-14 visible image (centered over southern Florida)

A view centered over Lake Erie (below) showed widespread cumulus cloud development surrounding the lake (with some bands of billow clouds evident in the eastern portion of the scene). There was also a hint of a sediment plume south of Long Point, which extends into the northeastern portion of the lake from Ontario — this sediment plume could also be seen on MODIS true color imagery.

GOES-14 visible image (centered over Lake Erie)

Looking to the south of the Equator, a view centered over central Chile in South America (below) showed a small cyclonic (clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere) vortex in the marine layer clouds off the coast, with snow cover inland over the higher terrain of the Andes.

GOES-14 visible image (centered over central Chile)

Over the South Pacific Ocean, some interesting cloud structure suggesting the formation of actinae was apparent (below).

GOES-14 visible image (actinae over the South Pacific Ocean)

An image centered over the Amazon River in central Brazil (below) showed how the wide waterway was suppressing the formation of cumulus clouds (since the water surfaces were not heating up as quickly as the adjacent land surfaces). The Amazon River was still abnormally wide after record rainfall across parts of Brazil during May-June 2009 — in fact, at the mouth of the Amazon River a large sediment plume was seen fanning outward into the Atlantic Ocean on MODIS true color imagery.

GOES-14 visible image (centered over the Amazon River in Brazil)

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1-km MODIS fog/stratus product + 4-km GOES-12 fog/stratus product

A comparison of the 1-km resolution MODIS fog/stratus product with the corresponding 4-km resolution GOES-12 fog/stratus product (above) shows the importance of improved spatial resolution for the detection of areas of river valley fog (yellow to orange features) that were beginning to form across parts of southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent portions of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa at 08:15 UTC (3:15 am local time) on 23 July 2009. The features that were enhanced with the darker orange to red colors were patches of deeper stratus clouds.

About 2 hours and 45 minutes later, a similar comparison of the 1-km resolution NOAA-15 AVHRR fog/stratus product with the 4-km resolution GOES-12 fog/stratus product (below) indicated that some areas of fog had continued to increase in coverage during that time interval (especially in parts of the east-west oriented Wisconsin River valley and the north-south oriented Mississippi River valley).

1-km NOAA-15 fog/stratus product + 4-km GOES-12 fog/stratus product

An AWIPS image of the high resolution topography (below) shows which river valleys were experiencing fog formation as seen on the MODIS fog/stratus product image.

MODIS fog/stratus product + topography

After sunrise, GOES-12 visible images (below) revealed that the areas of fog burned off rather quickly as the high July sun angle promoted rapid surface heating and subsequent boundary layer mixing.

GOES-12 visible images

At 13:00 UTC (8 am local time), the GOES-12 visible image indicated that the AWIPS Fog Monitor product (below) was incorrectly identifying the fog in the Kickapoo River valley in southwestern Wisconsin (running northeast through southwest from station KVOK to KOVS) as a green “NO_FOG” feature. This underscores the importance of modifying the default values of the AWIPS Fog Monitor product so that fog features over a certain region (and during a certain season) can be more accurately characterized.

GOES-12 visible image + AWIPS Fog Monitor product

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MTSAT-1R visible images

MTSAT-1R visible images (above) showed the large shadow from a solar eclipse, which could be seen moving from west to east across Asia and the Pacific Ocean on 22 July 2009. According to Wikipedia, this was the longest-lasting total solar eclipse of the 21st century, with a duration of up to 6.5 minutes in some locations.

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GOES-11 and GOES-12 visible images

The National Weather Service forecast office at Cheyenne WY requested that both the GOES-11 (GOES-West) and the GOES-12 (GOES-East) satellites be placed into Rapid Scan Operations (RSO) to monitor severe convection across their County Warning Area (CWA) on 20 July 2009:

SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE
NWS NCEP CENTRAL OPERATIONS CAMP SPRINGS MD
2114Z MON JUL 20 2009

GOES RSO INFO…

A GOES EAST RSO WILL BE IN EFFECT FROM 2226Z TILL 0426Z
AND GOES WEST RSO WILL BE IN EFFECT FROM 2203Z TILL
0403Z THIS EVENING AS REQUESTED BY WFO CYS /CHEYENNE/
WHO IS ON THE CUSP OF THE SATELLITE RSO COVERAGE AREAS
FOR SVR WX MONITORING SUPPORT.

While there were reports of hail up to 1.0 inch in diameter in the Cheyenne CWA, the thunderstorms that developed further to the east over western Nebraska and western Kansas were more severe (producing tornadoes in Kansas, and hail as large as 4.25 inches in diameter in both Kansas and Nebraska). A comparison of GOES-11 and GOES-12 visible images (above) shows the view of these storms from each satellite perspective. Note that some features were easier to see from the GOES-11 perspective, which allowed more of a view from the side (to reveal surface boundaries and flanking line development more clearly).

A comparison of GOES-11 and GOES-12 10.7 µm IR images (below) shows that the development of a distinct “enhanced-v” signature was apparent on imagery from both satellites from the 23:00 to 23:11 UTC period. The coldest IR brightness temperatures were -67º C (darker black color enhancement) from both GOES-11 and GOES-12.

GOES-11 amd GOES-12 10.7 µm IR images

These thunderstorms appeared to be propagating southward ahead of an advancing cold frontal boundary, and along a decaying stationary frontal boundary that was oriented northwest-to-southeast from western Nebraska into central Kansas. GOES sounder Derived Product Images (DPI) of Lifted Index (LI) and Total Precipitable Water (TPW) (below) indicated that there was an axis of instability (LI values of -4 to -6 º C) and moisture (TPW values of 20-30 mm, or 0.8 to 1.2 inches) along the stationary frontal boundary.

GOES sounder Lifted Index and Total Precipitable Water products

A few hours later, thunderstorms that developed ahead of the advancing cold front in Oklahoma and southern Kansas exhibited cloud top IR brightness temperatures as cold as -84º C (purple color enhancement) on AWIPS imagery of the MODIS 11.0 µm channel (below).

MODIS 11.0 µm IR image + SPC storm reports

===== 21 JULY UPDATE =====

On the following day, MODIS 3.7 µm shortwave IR and MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST) images (below) revealed a long swath of rain-cooled ground across far western Kansas. MODIS LST values were in the 75-85º F range (green colors) within the swath of rain-cooled ground, in contrast to LST values in excess of 110º F (darker orange colors) just to the west.

MODIS 3.7 µm shortwave IR + MODIS Land Surface Temperature product

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