Archive for the ‘Satellite images’ Category
Photo Of Irene From Space – 8-28-2011
The photo below is actually from a scan of the “full disk” of earth from the GOES-13 satellite. I have cropped the original in order to concentrate upon Tropical Storm Irene. Tropical Storm Jose also shows up in the image; it is very small. To find it look for a small blob of clouds, bright white (about half the width of the state of Florida and located off the Carolinas and next to Bermuda). More information follows after the image.
TWO INDEPENDENT LEFT CLICKS WILL ENLARGE TO THE FULLEST.
TIME OF PHOTO – 2:45 pm Eastern Daylight Time
DATE – Sunday, August 28, 2011
ALTITUDE OF SATELLITE – about 22,300 miles
TIME NEEDED TO SCAN FULL DISK OF EARTH – about 26 minute
LINK TO MORE INFORMATION ON SATELLITE IMAGE – http://noaasis.noaa.gov/NOAASIS/ml/imager.html
Atlantic Hurricane Season – Please Be Alert – 8-19-2010
We are entering the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. If you have not been influence by tropical activity thus far this year you might be under the impression that it’s an inactive season. That would not be true. Statistically, it has been about average to date. Though we cannot “plan the future” I feel strongly that we should plan “FOR” certain eventualities in the future. I urge you to be prepared and alert in the event that a tropical system comes your way.
The following statement in “blue” was taken Verbatim Thursday morning (8-19-2010) from the Dr. Jeff Masters web-log found at http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/.
“The GFS, NOGAPS, and ECMWF models continue to predict that a tropical storm will form between Africa and the Lesser Antilles Islands sometime in the period 3 – 6 days from now. There is an area of disturbed weather south of the Cape Verdes Islands, but there is no obvious organization to the cloud pattern. Wind shear is a hefty 20 – 30 knots in the region, and the disturbance is a 1 – 2 day journey away from reaching a lower shear area where development can occur. Preliminary indications are that if a storm did develop in this region, it would track west-northwest and pass well to the northeast of the Lesser Antilles Islands 7 – 8 days from now. However, 7-day forecasts of a storm that hasn’t even formed yet are not to be trusted.”
I have taken the liberty of trimming the latest full disc color satellite image down to a manageable size where you can still easily find Florida and thus look across the Atlantic to see the area of disturbed weather off Africa to which Dr. Masters refers. Two independent left clicks on this image will enlarge it fully. This image was taken from a distance over three earth diameters away from the surface yet there is considerable detail. I hope you enjoy it.
YET MORE COLDNESS FOR FLORIDA!
This seems almost like an instant replay! We Floridians are again playing host to a couple of surges of cold air. Florida is once again cloudless and the cold air is relatively dry – therefore the state can’t count on much of a greenhouse effect to slow the loss of heat from the surface.
My neighborhood in northeast Citrus County, Florida can expect freezing temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday morning – and perhaps Friday morning. As is so often the case, the fickle microclimatology of a neighborhood can be manifested by a wider-than-expected range of low (and high) temperatures. For example, during a luncheon today a neighbor reminded me that by virtue of his property being on about the highest ground in the neighborhood, his low temperatures end up being not quite as low as those in other parts of the neighborhood. This is not always the case but it happens the majority of times because on those cold, marginal mornings when the synoptic pressure gradient is weak, the coldest (and therefore densest) air tends to spill downward into the lower vicinities.
My wife and I have given up on covering our ornamentals – deciding a while ago to allow “survival of the fittest” to kick in. But – many of my neighbors have already covered some of their plants.
This is not a mean-spirited criticism but it is a huge paradox to me that so many will go out of their way to protect a plant that isn’t meant to grow here yet some think nothing of killing a native species of harmless snake that dares to stray on to their property. I understand the fear – but not the lethal reaction.
If you are “up north” reading this, I imagine that you’d love to be enjoying our temperatures down here. Everything is relative, is it not? For example. I took my daily 3-mile walk earlier today wearing a light-weight sweater over a T-shirt and at the half-way mark the sweater came off! It has been a delightful day for early February – that’s for sure.
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Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies! GOES 12 Image.
Never in my wildest dreams during my 41 years of teaching college/university meteorology did I ever think that I would be able to sit in my recliner at home (or anywhere else for that matter) with a personal computer on my lap allowing me to gaze at color images of our beautiful earth from near space in nearly real time! Nor did I ever imagine being able to electronically transfer that image to a web-log for hundreds of interested (and interesting) people who visit the site.
The only thing about all of this that disappoints me is my not having been able to do similar things in the classroom for the nearly 25,000 students who took my courses. I feel very fortunate, however, to have a wonderful following of Senior Institute participants at Central Florida Community College in Ocala. In the classroom where I meet with them I am able to project on-line images on a large screen. That they seem to enjoy my use of the technology in the classroom is icing on the cake. I know how lucky I am to be able to continue after retirement, teaching and learning more and more about subjects I love.
Please take a look at this beautiful image. Enlarge it as much as you are able. I suggest right-clicking on the image and saving it so that you can study it using an image viewer of your choice; do that, ONLY after getting the image as large as you are able following the instructions immediately below.
TWO INDEPENDENT LEFT CLICKS SHOULD GIVE YOU
A VERY LARGE IMAGE WHICH WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEE
DETAIL MUCH BETTER SO LONG AS YOU SCROLL
UP AND DOWN, RIGHT AND LEFT.
PLEASE BE PATIENT.
DEPENDING UPON YOUR CONNECTION SPEED,
LOADING MAY TAKE A WHILE.
This image was completed at 3:45 PM EST, November 10, 2008; the time stamp is at the upper left corner but is easy to read only when you enlarge. The satellite that did this, GOES 12, is in geosynchronous orbit. This simply means that it completes one orbit (revolution) in the same period of time the earth makes one rotation; that period of time is one day. Also, it orbits within the equatorial plane. Therefore, as the satellite travels rapidly though space it stays over the same point above earth (about 22,300 miles from the earth’s surface). The distance between the satellite and earth’s surface is almost three earth diameters – so “high” that full disk images of earth can be captured.
With adequate enlargement you can see the aqua-blue of the shallow Bahama Platform. You can also see ice and snow in the Southern Andes, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, and the Antarctic peninsula. You can see the remnant of what was once hurricane Paloma centered slightly north of Cuba. You can see the bright tops of high clouds and the grey tones of the lower clouds. If you know weather circulation patterns as marked by clouds you will see cyclonic circulation in both hemispheres. In the North Pacific there is a very large cyclonic system approaching B.C. Washington, and Oregon. There is a huge front stretching across the South Pacific. The Intertropical Convergence Zone is very well marked by clouds in the Pacific. There is a large extratropical cyclone over the Middle United States. The list goes on and on.
Being able to see all of this, to my mind, is a miracle.
Yours Truly,
Tonie Ansel Toney
IF THIS IS THE ONLY POST YOU SEE –
TO SEE ALL POST, MOST RECENT FIRST,
PLEASE CLICK ON THE BLOG TAB ABOVE.
AS A STORM, PALOMA IS A “GONER” – THANK GOODNESS!
I have placed a red dot at the approximate center of the remnant low, all that remains of Paloma. Two independent left clicks should give ample enlargement.
Here is the 7 AM EST report
from the National Hurricane Center:
ZCZC MIATWOAT ALL
TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
700 AM EST MON NOV 10 2008
FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC…CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO…
1. A WEAK AREA OF LOW PRESSURE…THE REMNANT OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION PALOMA…IS CENTERED ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF CUBA ABOUT 60 MILES NORTH OF CAMAGUEY. RE-DEVELOPENT OF THIS SYSTEM IS NOT EXPECTED DUE TO STRONG UPPER-LEVEL WINDS.
ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.
$$
FORECASTER FRANKLIN
Paloma Approaches Cuba As a Category 4 Hurricane
As of 1:00 PM EST Paloma remained a category 4 hurricane with sustained winds up to 140 mph. The storm is not likely to get stronger due to an increase in the wind shear aloft. It expected to begin dying down soon (if not already) as it works it’s way over Cuba and into the Bahamas. The combination of shear and movement over Cuba should cause it to weaken relatively quickly.
This advisory is interesting in that we do not see “cones of uncertainty” but rather, circles. You won’t see this often.
Paloma is very strong for a November storm. I can only recall one that was stronger, “Wrong Way” Lenny in 1999.
According to Dr. Jeff Masters (and I quote) “This year is now the only hurricane season on record in the Atlantic that has featured major hurricanes in five separate months. The only year to feature major hurricanes in four separate months was 2005, and many years have had major hurricanes in three separate months. This year’s record-setting fivesome were Hurricane Bertha in July, Hurricane Gustav in August, Hurricane Ike in September, Hurricane Omar in October, and Hurricane Paloma in November.”
The image below is using the visible spectrum and was completed at 1:45 PM EST. TWO INDEPENDENT LEFT CLICKS SHOULD GIVE YOU CONSIDERABLE ENLARGEMENT.
TO SEE ALL POST, MOST RECENT FIRST,
PLEASE CLICK ON THE BLOG TAB
AT THE VERY TOP OF THIS PAGE.
HURRICANE PALOMA IS HEADING FOR CUBA
TO SEE ALL POST, MOST RECENT FIRST,
PLEASE CLICK ON THE BLOG TAB ABOVE.
ALMOST ALL POSTS IN THIS WEB-LOG ARE TIME-SENSITIVE.
Paloma is now a “high-end” category 1 hurricane and continues to strengthen. The greatest concerns throughout the Caymans are high winds – storm surge concerns are not as pressing. Jamaica is expected to get only fringe winds. Paloma is expected to continue toward the northeast, travel across Cuba and into the Bahamas.
Those of you who have studied the circulation of air with tropical cyclonic systems can probably “see” in the satellite image above both inflow and outflow cloud patterns. For those who are not familiar with the difference between the two I am including an image below of hurricane Ike on September 9, 2008. He is centered just offshore of northwest Cuba. I have drawn air flow arrows to show the cyclonic inflow (red) and the flow that occurs aloft, anticyclonic outflow (blue).
Inflow consists of the harder-edged clouds with sharp contrast – Outflow consists of the more diffuse cirrus and cirrostratus of the upper layer.
Paloma – the Tropical Storm Has Developed
FOR THE GREATEST ENLARGEMENT,
APPLY TWO INDEPENDENT LEFT CLICKS WITH YOUR MOUSE.
Tropical Storm Paloma formed last night from Tropical Depression # 17. Currently its maximum sustained winds are estimated at 45 mph. It is beginning to form an eyewall. There has been no exceptional changes in the forecast path since my last posting.
A hurricane hunter mission is in the air now and information should be available around 1:00 PM EST.
Above is a high-resolution image from the visible spectrum – completed 11:45 AM EST (about an hour ago if you are reading this at post time).
I enjoy these great images provided by the Naval Research Lab in Monterey, California. For someone like myself, so very interested in clouds, they are so much more revealing than some of the fuzzy images we often see from other sources.
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NEW TROPICAL DISTURBANCE IN SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN
A tropical disturbance is in the Southern Caribbean. The National Hurricane Center has it labeled 93L. My arrow is not intended to pinpoint a spot but rather to point out the impressive assemblage of clouds which already seems to show some organization. The system takes up the entire top/middle third of the image. Presently the NHC gives it a medium potential for further development. I recommend that interests in Jamaica and Cuba take notice. Also, South Florida and Bahamian residents should be mindful of its existence.
The image above is not sharp and crisp because it is an unenhanced infrared image completed late in the day after the sunlight had slipped to the west. Left click to enlarge.
The image below is from Florida State University. It shows the forecast location 120 hours beyond 7 AM EST today (11-3-2008). Projecting forward 5 days would make it 7 AM EST Saturday (11-8-2008).
THIS IS NOT A SURFACE ANALYSIS. PLEASE, IF YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH VORTICITY OR 500 MILLIBAR ANALYSES, DON’T WORRY – I’M SHOWING YOU THIS GRAPHIC MERELY TO ILLUSTRATE FORECAST POSITIONING FROM A MODEL I ENJOY CONSULTING.
AS IN MOST IMAGES IN THIS WEB-LOG,
LEFT CLICKS SHOULD RESULT IN ENLARGEMENT.
IN THIS CASE, AS IN MANY OTHERS
TWO LEFT CLICKS SHOULD GIVE YOU MAXIMUM ENLARGEMENT.