The VIIRS Flood Map Product
July 12th, 2023 by Jorel TorresNeed a new satellite product to observe flooding? Look no further than the VIIRS Flood Map product. The VIIRS Flood Map calculates the flood extent of a 375-m pixel (i.e., known as the floodwater fraction percentage from 0 to 100%, displayed in green-to-red colors). The product also differentiates between scene types (e.g., cloud cover, bare land, snow cover, vegetation). Currently, the product is only available during the daytime, and employs VIIRS imagery band data from the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and the NOAA-20 satellites.
Users can access the product online: near-real-time flood data via RealEarth, data over Alaska via GINA, and a NOAA Satellite Proving Ground Global Flood Products Archive. National Weather Service (NWS) users can access the product online and via the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System – II (AWIPS-II).
Note, in AWIPS-II, users can choose between 8 regional sectors to access the VIIRS Flood Map: 7 CONUS regions and 1 Alaska region. Under the AWIPS Satellite menu, users can scroll down and click on ‘S-NPP and NOAA-20’, then ‘VIIRS Flood Map’, and can select the domain of interest. Refer to the AWIPS screenshot below.
A VIIRS Flood Map example (see below) from the ‘North East Basin’ sector shows the recent flooding that transpired over the state of Vermont. The northeast United States received significant precipitation over the past few days (over 9 inches in Vermont) that led to flooding in a few states. Notice the inundation along Interstate 89 between Burlington, VT and Waterbury, VT.
Posted in: AWIPS, Data Access, Heavy Rain and Flooding Issues, POES, Satellites, VIIRS, | Comments closed
Smoky in the Northeast U.S.
June 9th, 2023 by Jorel TorresOver the past week, the northeastern United States was inundated with smoke that was produced from fires raging in the Canadian province of Quebec. On the backside (i.e., west side) of a lingering upper-level low, wildfire smoke transported hundreds of miles southward and southeastward toward the northeastern U.S. New York City, NY, along with other cities in the northeast, were significantly impacted by high smoke concentrations near the surface. On 7 June 2023, a recorded timelapse showed the smoke reducing the visibility of the New York City skyline. Even professional sports games were rescheduled and airline flights were grounded due to the smoke and poor air quality that spread across the region.
The VIIRS GeoColor, a product that is quite useful for aerosol detection applications can be seen below. The product animation shows the smoke transport from Quebec to the northeast U.S. and consists of daytime overpasses from NOAA-20, NOAA-21, and SNPP VIIRS from 5-7 June 2023. Users will notice the smoke from numerous fires in Quebec that travels southward across southern Canada, the Great Lakes, the northeast U.S., and eventually over the North Atlantic Ocean. If users look closely, a few smoke plumes can be seen over southeastern Ontario as well.
Zoomed-in on the northeast U.S., the NOAA-20 VIIRS GeoColor observes the thick smoke offshore and across the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut on 7 June 2023 at ~18Z. See the image below.
Thanks to the newly released CIRA JPSS CONUS Sector, users can compare the smoke observations between the VIIRS GeoColor and the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) GeoColor at ~18Z, 7 June 2023. For users that are unaware, the ABI is an instrument onboard NOAA’s geostationary satellites, GOES-16 and GOES-18. Click the animation below, and notice the finer details of the smoke and clouds observed by VIIRS (~750-m spatial resolution at nadir) compared to the coarser ABI (~1-km at nadir). Users should keep in mind that the ‘actual resolutions’ of VIIRS and ABI vary across the VIIRS swaths and the ABI domains: their spatial resolutions degrade as the satellite viewing angle becomes larger. With oblique (i.e., non-nadir) viewing angles, parallax is also an issue; users can read more about it, here and here.
Posted in: Fire Weather, GOES, POES, Satellites, VIIRS, | Comments closed
Nova Scotia Fires
June 2nd, 2023 by Jorel TorresSo far in 2023, western Canada has been overwhelmed with wildfires and smoke, and within the last week new fires erupted in the eastern province of Nova Scotia. At the time of this blog entry, over 22,000 hectares (or 54,000+ acres) were burned in the province.
A VIIRS Day Fire RGB animation of the Nova Scotian fires, the fire extent and smoke can be observed at a high spatial resoluti0n of 375-m. Click on the video below. The animation includes VIIRS daytime overpasses from SNPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21 over the span of several days, 27 May through 1 June 2023. Notice how the fires rapidly move eastward over time. Corresponding smoke plumes are produced as well, where smoke advects over land and over the North Atlantic Ocean.
The VIIRS Active Fires product also observed the fire hotspots and fire intensities (i.e., Fire Radiative Power, FRP, expressed in MegaWatts, MW) on the afternoon of 1 June 2023. The quantitative product from NOAA-20 can be seen below, showing higher fire intensities (i.e., orange and dark orange colors) along the southern, eastern and northern flanks of the fires.
Note to Users: The VIIRS Day Fire RGB can be accessed online via CIRA JPSS SLIDER, while the VIIRS Active Fires product is accessible online via RealEarth.
Posted in: Data Access, Fire Weather, POES, Satellites, | Comments closed
User Access to JPSS Data and Imagery Online
May 26th, 2023 by Jorel TorresThe Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) constellation currently consists of three satellites that provide environmental monitoring around the globe and datasets to users. The three satellites are the Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – 20 (NOAA-20) and NOAA-21 (i.e., formerly known as JPSS-2). There are two more satellites that are a part of the JPSS constellation, JPSS-3 and JPSS-4, and are planned to launch within the next decade.
With respect to S-NPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21, where can users access the data? Users can access the data and imagery online via a variety of online resources. Note, National Weather Service (NWS) users can also access the data in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System – II (AWIPS-II), a forecasting and analysis software package. For simplicity, this blog entry focuses on how users can access JPSS data online.
Here at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), we developed a ‘JPSS Imagery for Users’ webpage (shown below). The webpage is a repository of near-real-time imagery and datasets and provides users information about the JPSS satellite program. It is important to note, the online data resources come from a variety of NOAA or NASA related organizations and cooperative institutes, including CIRA. The webpage is routinely updated with the latest JPSS near-real-time weblinks and information for users to access. Users can access the webpage by clicking on the image below or via this link.
The webpage is categorized in a few topic areas: Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Imagery, Satellite Derived Soundings, Fire Applications, Hydrology Applications, Direct Broadcast (DB) data, and Oceans/Lakes. Users can scroll down toward the bottom of the webpage and encounter a list of JPSS-related acronyms that help users become familiar with the satellite jargon. Additionally, users can access the satellite orbit tracks from SNPP, NOAA-20 and NOAA-21. The orbit tracks assist users in knowing when to expect the data over a specified domain.
Below is an example of JPSS imagery that is accessible online via CIRA Polar SLIDER: sea ice observations over the Chukchi Sea, northwest of Alaska. An animation of the sea ice motion can be seen here.
Posted in: Data Access, News of Interest, POES, Satellites, | Comments closed
March 2, 2023 Severe Weather Event – summary of satellite moisture products
March 3rd, 2023 by Dan Bikos
Product Links:
ALPW
Posted in: GOES R, POES, Severe Weather, | Comments closed