PyroCb in Yukon

On 19 June 2017 a pyroCb formed in Yukon. GOES-15 detected the smoke plumes and pyroCb cloud, as well as the fires hot spot. The pyroCb cloud (~66º N, 137ºW) formed around 23:30 UTC . Starting at 22:00 UTC on 19 June, the animation below shows GOES-15 0.63 µm visible (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR (right) . In the shortwave IR images, the red pixels indicate very hot IR brightness temperatures exhibited by the fire source regions.

GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (right) (click to play animation)

In addition, using GOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel the cloud-top IR brightness temperature could be found. The animation below, starting at 3:00 UTC on 20 June, shows the brightness temperature for the pyroCb cloud reaching near  -47ºC at 5 UTC (green color enhancement).

GOES-15 10.7 µm IR channel images (click to play animation)

Suomi NPP OMPS Aerosol Index images (courtesy of Colin Seftor) shows the transport of smoke on 20 June . This max AI was 5.3 at 66 N 142.7 W at 23:06 UTC. This is west of the pyroCb.

OMPS Aerosol Index image on 20 June