GOES IR images

AWIPS images of the GOES 10.7 µm IR window channel (above) showed that a patch of high-level clouds was moving southeastward over a band of low-level clouds that was in place across much of Ontario and Quebec, Canada on 15 September 2009. The GOES IR brightness temperatures associated with this patch of high clouds were in the -20º C to -40º C range (cyan to green color enhancement) — but the 4-km resolution of the GOES data over eastern Canada was significantly degraded during some of the pre-dawn hours due to the fact that GOES-12 (GOES-East) data was unavailable during that satellite’s Fall eclipse period.

While the 1-km resolution MODIS 11.0 µm IR window channel images (below) offered a more detailed depiction of the structure of the high cloud feature,  the temporal resolution of the MODIS images was far less than those available from GOES.

MODIS IR images

CIMSS has recently begun to test the experimental display of  NOAA POES Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images and derived products in AWIPS (similar to the MODIS in AWIPS project initiated in 2006). One such derived AVHRR product is the 1-km resolution Cloud Type (below), which provides an indication of the phase of any particular cloud feature (e.g., liquid water droplets vs. ice crystals). The patch of high clouds moving southeastward across Ontario and Quebec was identified as a mixture of opaque ice (red), cirrus (yellow), and multi-layer (orange) — while the low cloud deck below it was identified as a mixture of fog (dark blue), liquid water droplet (medium blue), and supercooled liquid (cyan). This AVHRR Cloud Type product is one of a suite of products available from the CLAVR-x processing system.

AVHRR Cloud Type product

As a demonstration of the accuracy of some of these MODIS and AVHRR derived cloud products, let’s now examine the cirrus cloud and contrail features seen later in the day across southern Wisconsin. These high cloud features were rather thin, as  evident on the comparison of the MODIS visible channel and the 1.3 µm near-IR “cirrus detection channel” images (below).

MODIS visible and cirrus detection channel images

Since these high cloud features were so thin, a significant amount of radiation from the warm surface below was contaminating the IR brightness temperatures sensed by the satellite — note that the MODIS 11.0 µm IR values (below) were only as cold as -5º C to -15º C over the southern Wisconsin high cloud features, which would place the cirrus cloud and contrail features near the 500 hPa pressure level (19,000 – 22,000 feet above ground level) according to the morning rawinsonde data from Davenport, Iowa.

MODIS 11.0 µm IR image + cloud height sampling skew-T

However, the 4-km resolution MODIS Cloud Top Temperature product (below) did suggest that some portions of these cirrus cloud and contrail features had temperatures as cold as -43º C (cyan color enhancement), which is closer to the expected temperature at the height of most cirrus clouds.

MODIS Cloud Top Temperature product

About an hour earlier, the 1-km resolution AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature values (below) were in the -45º C to -48º C range (cyan color enhancement), again much closer to the expected range of temperatures for such high-altitude  cloud features.

AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product

The AVHRR Cloud Top Height product (below) indicated that portions of these cirrus cloud and contrail features were as high as 10-11 km above the surface (orange color enhancement) — this was in good agreement with  ground-based lidar data from the SSEC Lidar Group, which showed the tops of the thicker cirrus clouds to be around 11 km.

AVHRR Cloud Top Height product

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GOES-14 sounder visible image

GOES-14 (launched on 27 June 2009) is currently undergoing its Post Launch Test during the Summer and Fall of 2009. A GOES-14 sounder visible image (above) displayed  a variety of cloud systems across  the eastern US at 17:46 UTC on 10 September 2009. A preliminary version of the GOES-14 sounder Cloud Top Pressure derived product (below) indicated a wide range of cloud tops, from clusters of high (cold) clouds over the Gulf Coast region (blue to white color enhancement), to patches of low (warm) clouds over areas such as eastern Virginia/North Carolina and central Nebraska (orange to peach color enhancement).

GOES-14 sounder Cloud Top Pressure product

Qualitatively, the GOES-14 sounder Cloud Top Pressure values (above) agreed well with those derived using GOES-12 sounder data (below). Note that both images are displayed using their respective native satellite projections.

GOES-12 sounder Cloud Top Pressure product

Focusing on the aforementioned low cloud top features seen over eastern Virginia/North Carolina and over central Nebraska, both the GOES-12 and the GOES-14 Cloud Top Pressure (CTP) derived products indicated that those cloud tops were generally in the 700-800 mb range (orange color enhancement). Using the AWIPS cursor “Skew-T cloud height sampling” functionality, there was good agreement with the sounder CTP values: both the Moorhead City NC rawinsonde and the RUC model sounding over central Nebraska suggested that the GOES sounder IR brightness temperatures over those locations existed near the 700 mb pressure level (below).

GOES sounder IR image + Skew-T cloud height sampling (rawinsonde)

GOES sounder IR image + Skew-T cloud height sampling (RUC model)

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Meteosat-9 IR images

Meteosat-9 IR images from the CIMSS Tropical Cyclones site (above) showed that Hurricane Fred began to exhibit a well-defined eye as it rapidly intensified to a Category 3 storm on 09 September 2009. As noted in the National Hurricane Center discussion:

IT IS QUITE UNUSUAL TO HAVE SUCH A POWERFUL SYSTEM SO FAR EAST IN
THE BASIN AND FRED IS ONLY THE THIRD MAJOR HURRICANE NOTED EAST OF
35W IN THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC OCEAN...AND THE STRONGEST HURRICANE SO
FAR SOUTH AND EAST IN OUR DATA RECORD.  THIS TYPE OF SYSTEM...
HOWEVER...WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFICULT TO ACCURATELY OBSERVE
BEFORE SATELLITE PICTURES BEGAN IN THE 1960S.

Terra MODIS visible image

At 12:50 UTC, a “transverse banding” structure was seen on the cold cloud tops surrounding the western periphery of the eyewall region on the  Terra MODIS visible image (above) and the 11.0 µm Terra MODIS IR image (below). MODIS IR brightness temperatures were as cold as -74º C within the transverse bands.

Terra MODIS 11.0 µm IR image

Fred was not expected to undergo much more in the way of intensification, since the cyclone was moving toward increasing values of environmental wind shear and warmer sea surface temperatures (below).

Meteosat-9 IR image with CIMSS wind shear analysis

Hurricane Fred forecast track + Sea Surface Temperature analysis

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250-meter resolution MODIS false color images

A sequence of daily 250-meter resolution MODIS false color images from the SSEC MODIS Today site (above; also available as a QuickTime animation) shows the rapidly increasing size of the burn scar associated with the Station Fire north of Los Angeles during the 28 August – 07 September 2009 period. The fire burn scar appears as the large darker red feature (which is seen to grow very quickly to the north and east on 30-31 August), while the hottest actively burning fires appear as smaller clusters of  pink to white along the periphery of the burn scar. Thick smoke partially obscured the burn scar area on 01 September, while large pyrocumulus clouds were seen to form over the eastern portion of the fire activity on 02 September.

As of the morning of 08 September, the Station Fire had burned over 160,000 acres, making it the largest fire in Los Angeles County history (and the 9th largest fire in California history).

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