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

The Wallow Fire continued to burn out of control, becoming the second largest fire on record in the state of Arizona on 07 June 2011. McIDAS images of 1-km resolution GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the dense plume of smoke that stretched from Texas northward to Minnesota and Wisconsin (this was smoke from the previous day of burning).

AWIPS images of GOES-13 visible channel data (below) showed a closer view of areas of smoke of varying height and density covering the Upper Midwest region of the US. The areal coverage of the smoke became more apparent later in the day, as the forward scattering angle increased between the GOES-13 satellite (positioned at 75º West longitude) and the setting sun.

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

A line of convective cells began to develop around sunset along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border (below) — these towering cumulonimbus clouds were able to cast very long shadows (some over 100 miles long) onto the top of the dense smoke layer below.

GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel image

During the middle of the day, when the forward scattering angles are not as favorable to allow the best view of the areal coverage of the smoke, other satellite channels can be employed to help locate the areas where the smoke is most dense. Two comparisons of 1-km resolution MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and the MODIS near-IR 1.38 µm “cirrus detection” channel data (below) demonstrated the utility of the cirrus channel for helping to locate the areas where the smoke was most dense during the daytime at 16:21 UTC and 19:21 UTC. The cirrus detection channel is helpful at identifying airborne particles that are efficient scatterers of light (ice crystals, dust particles, smoke particles) — so the thicker areas of smoke showed up as the slightly brighter arc-shaped features across pars of Kansas, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and 1.38 µm "cirrus detection" channel images

MODIS 0.65 µm visible channel and 1.38 µm "cirrus detection" channel images

View only this post Read Less

GOES-12 0.65 µm visible channel images

An explosive eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile occurred on 04 June 2011. GOES-12 0.65 µm visible channel images (above) showed a darker gray ash cloud punching above the meteorological cloud deck around 18:15 UTC, with the ash cloud quickly spreading southeastward and moving over Bariloche, Argentina (station identifier SAZS).

A comparison of GOES-12 3.9 µm shortwave IR and 10.7 µm IR window channel images (below) revealed a pronounced and persistent “hot spot” signature (dark black pixels) at the summit of the volcano on the shortwave IR images — while the long and narrow cold high-altitude volcanic cloud (exhibiting IR brightness temperatures around -60º C, darker red color enhancement) could be seen spreading southeastward for a great distance on the IR window images.

GOES-12 3.9 µm shortwave IR (top) and 10.7 µm IR window (bottom) images

CIMSS activities in the GOES-R Proving Ground include the generation of real-time volcanic ash retrieval products (using Meteosat SEVIRI data as a proxy for GOES-R data), which showed a significant volcanic ash plume emerging over the Atlantic Ocean (below).

SEVIRI volcanic ash retrieval products

View only this post Read Less

MODIS true color and false color images

250-meter resolution MODIS true color and false color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from the SSEC MODIS Today site (above) showed the long, dense smoke plume (gray on the true color image) and the hottest active fires  (pink on the false color image) around the perimeter of the large burn scar of the “Wallow Fire” in eastern Arizona on 03 June 2011. At over 106,000 acres, the Wallow Fire has become the 4th largest wildfire in Arizona history.

===== 04 JUNE UPDATE =====

1-km resolution GOES-13 0.63 µm visible channel images (below; click image to play animation) showed the development of a very large pyrocumulus  cloud late in the afternoon on 04 June 2011 (note: the date labels on some of the images are incorrect; the Rapid Scan Operations animation spans from 16:02 UTC on 04 June to 00:55 UTC on 05 June).

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

A comparison of SSEC MODIS Today 250-meter resolution true color and false color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images (below) from the Terra satellite (17:38 overpass time) and the Aqua satellite (20:53 UTC overpass time) showed a more detailed view of the development of the pyrocumulus cloud (brighter white, within the gray colored smoke plume on the true color image), as well as the flare-up of very hot active fires (pink features in the false color image).

MODIS true color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images

MODIS false color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images

View only this post Read Less

GOES-13 10.7 µm IR images + SPC severe weather reports

AWIPS images of 4-km resolution GOES-13 10.7 µm IR images with overlays of SPC storm reports (above) showed the large Mesoscale Convective System that moved across the New England region of the US on 01 June 2011. This was part of a long line of thunderstorms that stretched from Maine to West Virginia, as seen on POES AVHRR 0.63 µm visible images (below).

POES AVHRR 0.63 µm visible channel images

One of the more notable events was a tornado that produced EF-3 damage in the Westfield and Springfield areas in southwestern Massachusetts. Images of GOES-13 10.7 µm IR images with an overlay of the Automated Overshooting Top Detection product (below) revealed a overshooting top (OT) just to the northwest of Westfield (station identifier KBAF) at 20:02 UTC — about 28 minutes later the tornado was reported in Westfield at 20:30 UTC (also see the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed blog). It is important to mention that the OT markers as plotted in AWIPS are parallax-corrected, which moves them slightly to the southeast of the coldest cloud tops on the non-parallax-corrected GOES IR imagery in AWIPS.

Note that another OT was detected farther to the north at 19:45 UTC, with the cell that later produced damaging winds at Northampton at 19:58 UTC. and Hadley at 20:15 UTC.

GOES-13 10.7 µm IR images + Automated Overshooting Top Detection

A 1-km resolution POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR image at 20:39 UTC with an overlay of the cumulative SPC storm reports up to that time (below) offered a more detailed view of the cold storm top IR brightness temperatures (which were as cold as -79º C).

POES AVHRR 10.8 µm IR image + cumulative SPC storm reports

CIMSS participation in GOES-R Proving Ground activities includes making POES AVHRR images and products available for National Weather Service offices to add to their local AWIPS workstations, as well as the testing and evaluation of products such as Automated Overshooting Tops Detection during the NOAA Hazardous Weather Testbed. The VISIT training lessons “POES and AVHRR Satellite Products in AWIPS” and “Objective Satellite-Based Overshooting Top and Enhanced-V Anvil Thermal Couplet Signature Detection” are available to help users understand these products and their applications to weather analysis and forecasting.

View only this post Read Less