There are many GOES loops showing the moon’s shadow from the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 (UW/CIMSS; CIRA; Satellite Liaison; NOAA). Time compositing, in this case selecting the minimum brightness, shows the shadow from several times in a single frame.

2017 and 2024 Comparisons

The size of the Moon’s shadow on the Earth during the total solar eclipses were very different between 2017 and 2024. We use ABI band 3 (0.86 um), since the land background tends to be bright (due to reflection off vegetation), hence giving more contrast with the dark shadow.

A similar (mp4) loop as above, but with the years annotated on the images.

Similar to above, but with 5 min ABI imagery….

A direct link to the above animation.

Full Disk

The above image is a composite of 21 images, from 16:30 to 19:50 UTC (image start times). The composite consists of selecting the darkest pixel. Note that a special enhancement was applied to each image before the compositing. The dark regions from the Moon’s shadow are clearly evident. Note that less clouds are apparent in the composite, since the minimum values were chosen over time.

A larger version (11,000 x 11,000) of the above FD image, without labels.

Another Full Disk composite, but hourly, and of the CIMSS Natural color composite image.

CONUS + Meso-scale

A research request was submitted to satellite operators to have an ABI meso-scale sector “follow” the shadow, from Mexico to Canada. This special schedule was scanned. The time compositing procedure was applied to the 1-min meso-scale sectors, as well the 5-min CONUS sectors. This consisted of over 100 images, between 17:51 and 19:59 UTC. The dark regions from the Moon’s shadow is evident. A toggle (animated gif) between the composited image and the predicted path.

Full Disk + CONUS + Meso-scale — Following the shadow

A direct link to the above mp4 animation. This is an update to an earlier version that only included meso and CONUS sectors.

GOES-18 and -16 ABI

The above loop, as an animated gif. Note how GOES-18 better depicts the Moon’s shadow during the earlier times.

H/T

Thanks to those investigating / scheduling the meso’s on April 8th, including the NOAA NESDIS User Services team. Fun fact, the meso research request was initially submitted on May 3, 2023. Thanks to many from UW/CIMSS/SSEC helping with this blog post. Thanks also for the Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA’s GSFC. McIDAS-X was used for image generation. Thanks to the satellite operators, SDM, PRO, SAB and the NWS as well as UW/CIMSS (especially M. Gunshor and J. Nelson) and the SSEC Data Services. More on the ABI and the GOES-R series. T. Schmit works for NOAA/NESDIS/STAR and is stationed in Madison, WI.

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10-minute JMA Himawari-9 AHI Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed an explosive eruption of Mount Ruang in Indonesia on 17 April 2024. Note that a thunderstorm was reported at Menado (station identifier WAMM) from 1400-1430 UTC, due to abundant lightning activity within the dense volcanic umbrella cloud.

In the Himawari-9 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) image at 1240 UTC (above), the coldest pixel exhibited a brightness temperature of -88.8ºC (dark purple enhancement) — with an adjacent warm pixel of -46.4ºC (green enhancement), possibly a result of compensating subsidence immediately downwind of the robust updraft (which penetrated the local tropopause and extended into the lower stratosphere).

Maximum radiometrically retrieved Ash Height values (source) reached 16-18 km. In a plot of rawinsonde data from Menado at 1200 UTC (below), this height corresponded to the 80-110 hPa pressure level.

In Himawari-9 Ash RGB images created using Geo2Grid (below), shades of pink around the the umbrella cloud represented higher concentrations of volcanic ash, while shades of green to yellow represented increasing concentrations of volcanic SO2.

27 hour long SO2 RGB loop from Himawari-9 over the #Ruang volcano eruption. Yellow and red are indicative of upper level SO2 which has been dispersed since the large plume was emitted beginning around 11:00 UTC yesterday (04/17/2024). Made with McIDAS-V. pic.twitter.com/4bNtINlqMA

— Robert Carp (@rmcarp) April 18, 2024

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1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images with an overlay of the Total Precipitable Water derived product (in non-cloudy areas) (above) showed that an axis of moisture was initially in place across all the Samoan Islands — peak TPW values were in excess of 2.0 in (brighter shades of magenta). The axis of moisture began to diminish somewhat over American Samoa after 0600 UTC — but as another lobe of higher moisture approached from the east around 1300 UTC, scattered showers began developing in the vicinity of the Manu’a Islands and Tutuila.

Since there is no radar coverage across the islands, 1-minute GOES-18 imagery was requested to support the 124th annual Flag Day celebration in American Samoa (which included numerous VIP visitors from the US Department of Defense and Legislature, Hawai’i State Department and local government).

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A sequence of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64) images (above) displayed the cyclonically-curved cloud structure associated with an Arctic low pressure system (surface analyses) located between Alaska and the North Pole on 14 April 2024. A blend of Atmospheric Motion Vectors derived from NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 (below) showed the flow pattern at various altitudes around this Arctic low. Real-time polar winds derived from a variety of satellites are available here.

The pressure gradient along the southern edge of this low was responsible for strong west-southwest winds across parts of Alaska’s North Slope — for example, a plot of surface report data from Utqiagvik (Barrow, station identifier PABR) showed wind gusts of 20-24 knots, with intermittent reductions in visibility due to blowing snow (below).

A closer view of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible images centered over the Beaufort Sea (below) showed the effect of these strong westerly winds on the deformation of numerous ice leads off the north coast of Alaska. In addition, narrow cloud streets highlighted areas where blowing snow was likely occurring over the sea ice.

A toggle between Suomi-NPP VIIRS Sea Ice Thickness and Sea Ice Temperature derived products at 0000 UTC on 15 April — displayed using RealEarth — is shown above. Probing these two products indicated values of 3.3 m and 257.3 K, respectively (below).

Daily composite images of the Sea Ice Temperature, Sea Ice Thickness and Sea Ice Age derived products from NOAA-20, NOAA-21 and Suomi-NPP (source) on 14 April are shown below.

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