PyroCu in Russia

On 14 June one pyroCu formed in Russia. HIMAWARI-8 detected the smoke plume and pyroCu cloud, as well as the fire hot spot. The pyroCu (54.8 N 107.1 E) occurred at around 10:00 UTC. Starting at 9:00 UTC on 14 June, the animation below shows visible (.63 μm) on the left and shortwave IR (3.9 μm) on the right (click image to play animation). In the shortwave IR images the red pixels indicate very hot IR brightness temperatures exhibited by the fire source region.

HIMAWARI-8 0.63 µm visible channel (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (right) (click to play animation)

HIMAWARI-8 0.63 µm visible channel (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (right) (click to play animation)

In addition, using HIMAWARI-8 10.4 μm IR channel the cloud-top IR brightness temperature could be found. The animation below, starting at 9:30 UTC on 14 June, shows the brightness temperature for the pyroCu was ~ -38.2ºC around 11:40 UTC (blueish green color enhancement) The minimum brightness temperature for a pyroCb is -40ºC, meaning this is a pyroCu.

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

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

OMPS AI index images (courtesy of Colin Seftor) shows the transport of smoke on 15 June. The maximum AI index was found to be 12.4 at 46.3 N 113.7 E around 5:03 UTC. This is southeast of the original pyroCu and is conducive to the movement of the smoke on the animations above.

OMPS Aerosol Index image on 15 June (click to enlarge)

OMPS Aerosol Index image on 15 June (click to enlarge)

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