Category Archives: GOES-16

Another pyroCb outbreak in Australia

As Australian bushfires flared up again across far eastern Victoria and far southeastern New South Wales (along and ahead of a cold frontal passage) on 04 January 2020, a JMA Himawari-8 Target Sector was positioned over that region (providing images at 2.5-minute intervals) — “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images displayed the large smoke plumes with […]

PyroCb over Bolivia

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.35 µm) images (above) showed the formation of a pyroCb cloud over far southeastern Bolivia on 18 August 2019. The small anvil cloud briefly surpassed the -40ºC pyroCb threshold from 1800-1820 UTC, attaining a minimum cloud-top infrared brightness temperature of -45.2ºC […]

Delta Fire pyroCb in California

GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm), “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) and Cloud Top Temperature product images displayed using AWIPS (above) showed the formation of a pyroCumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud generated by the Delta Fire in Northern California late in the day on 05 September 2018. As the pyroCb cloud drifted eastward […]

Carr Fire pyroCb in California

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the large thermal anomaly or “hot spot” (cluster of red pixels) associated with the Carr Fire in northern California as it produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud during the afternoon hours on 27 July 2018. A 30-meter resolution […]

Cranston Fire pyroCb in California

GOES-16 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm, left) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm, right) images, with hourly plots of surface reports [click to play animation | MP4] GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) and Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images (above) showed the smoke and pyrocumulus clouds as well as the thermal anomaly or “hot spot” (red pixels) […]

Ferguson Fire pyroCb in California

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational * The Ferguson Fire in central California produced a pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud during the afternoon hours on 15 July 2018. GOES-16 (GOES-East) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm), Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images (above) showed that the high-altitude portion of the pyroCb […]