PyroCb in Russia

On 29 July there was a possibility of a pyroCb forming just east of Lake Baikal in Russia. From Himwari-8 images it was confirmed that a pyroCb formed around 53 N 109 E. Himawari-8 detected the smoke plume and clouds around the fires, as well as the fire hot spots. Starting at 07:00 UTC on 29 July, the animation below shows visible (.64 μm) on the left and shortwave IR (3.9 μm) on the right (click image to play animation). In the shortwave IR images the darker black to red pixels indicate very hot IR brightness temperatures exhibited by the fire source region.

Himawari-8 0.64 μm visible (left) and 3.9 μm shortwave IR (right) images (click to play animation)

In addition, using Himawari-8 10.4 μm IR channel imagery the minimum cloud-top IR brightness temperatures could be found. The animation below, starting at 07:00 UTC on 29 July, shows that the possbile pyroCb reached around -40ºC (lime green color enhancement) at 10:20 UTC.

Himawari-8 10.4 μm IR images (click to play animation)

OMPS AI index image (courtesy of Colin Seftor) shows the transport of smoke. The image on 30 July shows a high AI values around the area of the pyroCb. However, this image is detecting the smoke from the multiple fires in the area and not the fire that produced the pyroCb specifically.

OMPS Aerosol Index image on 30 July (click to enlarge)

Furthermore, the image of the Biomass Burning Aerosol Optical Depth at 550 nm (image courtesy of Mark Parrington) shows how much smoke concentration that is an area. There is a high optical depth in Russia from these multiple wild fires. The bulk of this smoke is moving East and possibly reaching the west coast of North America in a few days.

Biomass Burning Aerosols Optical Depth at 550 nm (click to enlarge)

To further investigate the transport of smoke from this fire CALIPSO was used. This LIDAR shows the height of the clouds from the wildfire. The first image below is the 532nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot on 29 July from 04:48 UTC to 05:01 UTC. The smoke from this fire can be seen extending from 52 N to 54 N indicated by a red color. This plot shows that the smoke is moving southeast. The second image is 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot, the smoke on this plot is indicated by a red color. The third image is the Depolarization image the smoke is indicated by a light blue color. The fourth image is the Attenuated Ratio plot between 1064 nm and 532 nm. The smoke is indicated by the magenta pixels. The fifth image is the Vertical Feature Mask. This plot shows the different features that are in the atmosphere, the smoke is attributed as a cloud on this plot and is indicated by a light blue color. The last image shows the subtype of the aerosols that have been detected by the LIDAR. This shows that the aerosols that the LIDAR has detected are smoke (indicated by the black pixels) around 53 N.