{"id":9697,"date":"2012-01-31T23:59:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-31T23:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=9697"},"modified":"2012-02-03T19:53:48","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T19:53:48","slug":"unusually-large-and-persistent-dry-region-aloft-over-the-central-pacific-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/9697","title":{"rendered":"Unusually large and persistent dry region aloft over the central Pacific Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GOES-15<\/a>

GOES-15 full disk 6.5 \u00c2\u00b5m water vapor channel images (click image to play animation)<\/p><\/div>\n

An animation of McIDAS images of GOES-15 (GOES-West)<\/em> 6.5 \u00c2\u00b5m water vapor channel data from 27 January to 31 January 2012 (above; click image to play animation)<\/strong><\/em> revealed the presence of an unusually large and persistent warm\/dry region over the central Pacific Ocean (centered southwest of Hawaii). Water vapor brightness temperatures as warm as +3.5 C<\/strong> (darker orange color enhancement)<\/em> were seen — such warm values are rarely seen on water vapor imagery.<\/p>\n

AWIPS images of the MIMIC Total Precipitable Water<\/strong><\/a> (TPW) product (below; click image to play animation)<\/strong><\/em> showed a number of areas exhibiting TPW values as low as 15 mm (0.6 inch)<\/em> within the large dry feature seen on GOES-15 water vapor images. At 00 UTC on 30 January, the Hilo, Hawaii rawinsonde data<\/strong><\/a> indicated a TPW value of 0.93 inch, with very dry air above the 800 hPa pressure level. The strong subsidence aloft was acting to prevent significant rainfall over the Hawaiian Islands, prompting a Red Flag Warning to be issued for elevated fire danger during the 29-30 January period. It was also very warm in Hawaii — the highest temperature recorded in the 50 United States was 84 F at Kahului on 28 January, and 85 F at Kalaeloa on 30 January.<\/p>\n

\"MIMIC<\/a>

MIMIC Total Precipitable Water product (click image to play animation)<\/p><\/div>\n

A comparison of an AWIPS water vapor image composite with the corresponding MIMIC TPW product (below)<\/strong><\/em> offers a good example of the fact that not all features of high TPW are evident on water vapor imagery. In particular, note the plume of higher TPW being drawn northeastward along a frontal boundary west and northwest of Hawaii — this plume crossed through the western portion of the dry feature on water vapor imagery.<\/p>\n

\"Water<\/a>

Water vapor image + MIMIC TPW product + surface analysis<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An animation of McIDAS images of GOES-15 (GOES-West) 6.5 \u00c2\u00b5m water vapor channel data from 27 January to 31 January 2012 (above; click image to play animation) revealed the presence of an unusually large and persistent warm\/dry region over the central Pacific Ocean (centered southwest of Hawaii). Water vapor brightness temperatures as warm as +3.5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interpretation","category-goes-15"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9697"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9703,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions\/9703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}