Category Archives: MTSAT-2

Fires in eastern Russia and Mongolia

MTSAT-2 0.68 µm visible channel and 3.75 µm shortwave IR channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed that numerous wildfires had developed over far southeastern Russia (near the Russia/Mongolia/China border) during the day on 29 March 2014. A portion of Lake Baikal is outlined in blue in the far upper left corner of […]

Large bushfires in southeastern Australia

An extended period of hot, dry weather led to the development of multiple large bushfires across parts of southeastern Australia, some of which began to produce pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds during the 15-16 January 2014 period. McIDAS images of MTSAT-2 0.68 µm visible channel and 3.75 µm shortwave IR channel data (above; click image to play […]

Bush fires in the Sydney, Australia region

Update 10/21/13: While there’s still no clear indication of pyroconvection from the MTSAT imagery, the Sydney fires have continued to burn over the weekend, belching large quantities of smoke over the western Pacific. The MTSAT-2 visible and shortwave infrared loop (below; click image to play animation) contains hourly images from 00:32UTC on Oct. 17 to 16:32UTC on […]

PyroCb over Siberia on 22 June 2013

On 22 June 2013, a cluster of wildfires occurred across a large region in Siberia.  These fires were centered at approximately 63 N 115 E, and were quite vigorous in their smoke production. This activity was enhanced by the presence of strong updrafts that developed with the fires throughout the day. This activity is noticeable […]

10-11 May 2013 event in Lake Baikal region

Another possible pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) event occurred in the Lake Baikal region of eastern Russia during the 10-11 May 2013 period. MTSAT-2 visible channel images (above; click image to play animation) showed evidence of pyroCb cloud blow-ups, and MTSAT-2 shortwave IR images (below; click image to play animation) revealed clusters of fire activity “hot spots” (dark […]

First Northern Hemisphere PyroCumulonimbus of 2013?

Mike Fromm (NRL) alerted us to what could be the first Northern Hemisphere PyroCumulonimbus event of 2013, in the Chita region of Russia southeast of Lake Baikal (along the Russia/Mongolia border). McIDAS images of MTSAT-2 0.68 µm visible channel data (above; click image to play animation) showed the development of the pyroCb at the center […]