PyroCb

This fires became active again on 25 May 2015 and produced some pyrocumulus clouds. The first pyroCb was  in Saskatchewan near the eastern border (56.23º N, 109.82º W), and the second in western Alberta (54.85º N, 110.38º W). This was detected by GOES-15 0.63 μm visible channel and 3.9 microns shortwave IR Channel (see the below image and click to play) showed the growth of the smoke starting at 17:00 UTC, as the fire exhibits hot shortwave IR brightness temperatures shown as red pixels.

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

Again usingGOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel image (below; click to animate) it revealed the pyroCb cloud-top IR brightness temperatures. The pyroCb in Saskatchewan is producing a brightness temperature of -40 ⁰C depicted by the lime green color . On the other hand, the pyroCb in Alberta is producing a brightness temperature of -50⁰C shown by the yellow color.

GOES-15 10.7 μm IR image (click to animate)

The wildfires in Alberta got so bad that is shut down oil production. The fire as of 26 May covered 17,000 hectares (14,00 acres). At the Christina Lake oil sands project it produces 80,000 barrels of oil per day. This is projected to have a 0.1% to 0.3% hit to the annual GDP growth. (image and information from wildfiretoday.com).

Just like for the fires on 22 May 2015 this image was published by the Canadian Natural Resources division on May 25,  the day of the event. It clearly indicates the high Fire Weather Index for mid-Canada. The second image shows the locations of the hotspots, indicating a strong heat source.

Furthermore, the image below (from temis.nl) shows the elevated absorbing aerosols in the air due to the wildfires. This is shown on a Absorbing Aerosol Index map. Over Saskatchewan and Alberta there is a red color showing very high numbers of absorbing aerosols.

AI Index on 25 May (click to enlarge)

In addition, CALIPSO LIDAR was used to help further investigate the transport of smoke from the wildfire. This LIDAR shows the height of the clouds produced by the fire. The first image is the 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot on 25 May from 20:35 UTC to 20:48 UTC. The smoke from these fires can be seen extending form 48 N to 43 N and around the source at 56 N. On this plot the smoke is indicated by light grey/white pixels. This plot helps prove that the smoke is moving southeast. The next image is the Depolarization plot, on this plot the smoke is indicated by pink and orange pixels. The third image is the 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot, the smoke on this plot is indicated by a light grey color. The fourth image is the Attenuated Ratio plot between 1064 nm and 532 nm. The smoke is indicated by teal and purple pixels. The fifth image is the Vertical Feature Mask. This plot shows the different features that are in the atmosphere, the smoke is attributed as a cloud on this plot and is indicated by a light blue color. The last image shows the different subtypes of aerosols that are detected by the LIDAR. On this plot the smoke can be seen as a column around 56 N (indicated by the black color) showing that this is one source of the smoke. Also, the smoke can be found around 48 N were previous LIDAR plots have indicated this is where the smoke has transported to.

CALIPSO 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 25 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Depolarization Ration on 25 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 25 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Attenuated Color Ratio between 1064 nm and 532 nm on 25 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask on 25 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Aerosol Subtype plot on 25 May (click to enlarge image)

On 25 May 2015 there were reported two  pyroCbs at 59.3 N 132.6 W. The first was around 23:00 UTC on 25 May. The second was around 1:00 UTC on 26 May 2015. According to Whitehorse and Fort Nelson soundings the later pyroCb reached 11 to 12 km. GOES 15 detects the pyroCbs at visible (.63 μm) and IR (3.9 μm) channels shown below starting at 22:30 UTC 25 May (click in animation to play). In the IR image the red pixels indicate hot shortwave IR bright temperatures exhibited by the fire.

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

The GOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel image below shows the pyroCb cloud-top brightness temperatures. The first pyroCb is seen with the coldest brightness temperature at -54.7°C at 00:30 UTC indicated by the yellow color. The second pyroCb at a temperature of -59.9°C around 01:00 UTC indicated by the orange color.

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

CALIPSO LIDAR was used to further investigate the transport of smoke from this fire. This LIDAR shows the height of clouds produced from the fire. The first image is the 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot on 26 May form 21:18 UTC to 21:32 UTC. The smoke can be seen around 59 N indicated by light grey pixels. This confirms that the smoke is moving southeast. The next image is the Depolarization plot, on this plot the smoke is indicated by a red/pink color. The third image is the 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot, the smoke on this plot is indicated by a light grey color. The fourth image is the Attenuated Ratio plot between 1064 nm and 532 nm. The smoke is indicated by teal and purple pixels. The last image is the Vertical Feature Mask. This plot shows the different features that are in the atmosphere, the smoke is attributed as a cloud on this plot and is indicated by a light blue color.

CALIPSO 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 26 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Depolarization Ration on 26 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 26 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Attenuated Color Ratio between 1064 nm and 532 nm on 26 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask on 26 May (click to enlarge image)

There were two notable pyrocumulus clouds that developed on 22 May 2015 in western Canada: the first in Saskatchewan near the eastern border (56.23º N, 109.82º W), and the second in western Alberta (54.85º N, 110.38º W). The fire in Alberta produced a pyroCb, and covered an area of roughly 200 square kilometers with flames only 40 km from the nearest community, Cold Lake. Another early-season fire produced a pyrocumulus cloud over Saskatchewan, Canada. The fire depicted above was in the northern provincial forest and covered about 225 hectares of land. As of 22 May, there were 21 active wildfires burning across Saskatchewan.

The fire signature was detected by GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel and 3.9 μm shortwave IR channel imagery (below; click to play animation) which showed the growth of the smoke starting at 23:00 UTC, as the fire began to exhibit hot shortwave IR brightness temperatures shown as red pixels.

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

GOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel images (below; click to play animation) showed the pyroCb cloud-top IR brightness temperatures. The pyroCb in Saskatchewan exhibited a minimum  IR brightness temperature of -50⁰ C (yellow color enhancement) . On the other hand, the pyroCb in Alberta only exhibited a minimum IR brightness temperature of -30⁰ C (darker blue color enhancement).

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

The first image below was published by the Canadian Natural Resources division on May 22, the day of this pyroCb event. It clearly indicates the high Fire Weather Index (red) for much of the prairie provinces of Canada. The second image below shows the locations of  satellite-detected hotspots, indicating a strong heat source from active fires.

CALIPSO LIDAR was used to help further investigate the transport of smoke from these fires. The LIDAR shows the height of the clouds that were produced by these fires. The first image is the 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot on 22 May from 20:04 UTC to 20:17 UTC. The smoke from these fires can be seen around 57 N and 55 N, indicated by light grey pixels. This LIDAR was able to detect the smoke right above the fires. The next image is the Depolarization plot, on this plot the smoke is indicated by orange pixels. The third image is the 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot, the smoke on this plot is indicated by a light grey color. The fourth image is the Attenuated Ratio plot between 1064 nm and 532 nm. The smoke is indicated by teal and purple pixels. The fifth image is the Vertical Feature Mask. This plot shows the different features that are in the atmosphere, the smoke is attributed as a cloud on this plot and is indicated by a light blue color. The last image shows the different subtypes of aerosols that are detected by the LIDAR. On this plot the smoke can be seen in a column (indicated by black color) around 56 N. This information proves that there is a fire around 56 N producing smoke, this is is conclusive with the coordinates that produced a pyroCb.

CALIPSO 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 22 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Depolarization Ration on 22 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 22 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Attenuated Color Ratio between 1064 nm and 532 nm on 22 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask on 22 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Aerosol Subtype plot on 22 May (click to enlarge image)

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

The first verified pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) cloud of the 2015 wildfire season formed in central British Columbia, Canada late in the day on 12 May 2015. A comparison of GOES-15 (GOES-West) 0.63 µm visible and 3.9 µm shortwave IR images (above; click image to play animation; also available as an MP4 movie file) showed the growth in areal coverage of smoke starting at 1800 UTC, as the fire began to exhibit very hot shortwave IR brightness temperatures (red pixels).

A comparison of 2156 UTC Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR and true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images visualized using the SSEC RealEarth web map server (below) showed a closer view of the fire hot spot (dark black pixels on the shortwave IR) just southwest of Prince George, and the smoke plume which was drifting to the northwest.

Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR and true-color RGB images

http://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov/data/BROWSE/production/V3-30/2015-05-12/2015-05-12_20-38-38_V3.30_3_6.png

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POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product

Robust pyrocumulus cloud production began around 23 UTC, with a CLAVR-x POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product depicting a pyroCb cloud with  a minimum temperate of -59º C, and a maximum Cloud Top Height value of 9 km at 2352 UTC. Less than an hour later, the 01:33 UTC POES AVHRR Cloud Top Temperature product (above) again showed a minimum value of -59º C (darker red color enhancement), with the corresponding Cloud Top Height product (below) indicating a maximum of 11 km (darker green color enhancement) for the pyroCb cloud northwest of Prince George (station identifier CYXS).

POES AVHRR Cloud Top Height product

The GOES-15 3.9 µm shortwave IR imagery above showed that the fire continued to burn through the night, with a flare-up of hot pixels from 06 to 11 UTC. During this nocturnal flare-up, a 1013 UTC Suomi NPP VIIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band image showed the large and very bright glow associated with the active fire, which also exhibited a large “hot spot” (black to yellow to red pixels) on the 3.74 µm shortwave IR image (below).

Suomi NPP VIIRS 0.7 µm Day/Night Band and 3.74 µm shortwave IR images

—– 13 May Update —–

Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR, 0.65 µm visible, and 0.7 µm Day/Night Band images

On 13 May, a toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS 3.74 µm shortwave IR, 0.65 µm visible, and 0.7 µm Day/Night Band images at 1956 UTC (above) showed that the bulk of the wildfire smoke had drifted westward toward the coast of British Columbia, and then northward at least as far as the Juneau, Alaska (station identifier PAJN) area. This smoke transport was verified by Suomi NPP OMPS Aerosol Index data, courtesy of Colin Seftor (below). The maximum AI value of 8.5 was located at 57.55º N latitude, 134.61º W longitude at 2147 UTC.

OMPS Aerosol Index

A CALIPSO overpass caught the western edge of the OMPS aerosol plume, with CALIOP lidar total attenuated backscatter indicating the presence of smoke aloft at altitudes as high as 5.5 and 10.5 km (below);  for more details, see this analysis courtesy of Mike Fromm.

CALIPSP CALIOP lidar total attenuated backscatter

—– 14 May Update —–

On 14 May, a toggle between Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) and 3.74 µm shortwave IR images at 2117 UTC (below) showed that the smoke had begun drifting to the south.

Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color RGB and 3.74 µm shortwave IR images

Furthermore, CALIPSO LIDAR can be used to help further investigate the transport of smoke from the wildfire. This LIDAR shows the height of the clouds produced by the fire. The first image is the 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot on 12 May from 21:05 UTC to 21:19 UTC. The smoke from this fire can be seen around 60 N, indicated on this plot by light grey/white pixels. The area with smoke is conclusive the the fire that produced the pyroCb. The next image is the Depolarization plot, on this plot the smoke is indicated by orange pixels. The third image is the 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter plot, the smoke on this plot is indicated by a light grey color. The fourth image is the Attenuated Ratio plot between 1064 nm and 532 nm. The smoke is indicated by teal and purple pixels. The fifth image is the Vertical Feature Mask. This plot shows the different features that are in the atmosphere, the smoke is attributed as a cloud on this plot and is indicated by a light blue color. The last image shows the different subtypes of aerosols that are detected by the LIDAR. On this plot the smoke can be seen as a column around 60 N (indicated by a black color) showing that this is spot of fire.

CALIPSO 532 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 12 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Depolarization Ration on 12 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO 1064 nm Total Attenuated Backscatter on 12 May (click to enlarge)

CALIPSO Attenuated Color Ratio between 1064 nm and 532 nm on 12 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask on 12 May (click to enlarge image)

CALIPSO Aerosol Subtype plot on 12 May (click to enlarge image)