On 25 December there was a potential for some pyroCb development from fires located in southern Australia. Himawari-8 detected the smoke plume and clouds around the fires, as well as the fire hot spots. Starting at 01:30 UTC on 25 December, 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)
Himawari-8 10.4 μm IR channel imagery the minimum cloud-top IR brightness temperatures could be found. The animation below, starting at 03:00 UTC on 25 December. This fire active was not pyroconvective because the cloud top brightness temperature was not cold enough to register.
Himawari-8 10.4 μm IR images (click to play animation)