The first snow of winter has started to accumulate across Alaska. This True Color RGB image taken on October 13 using VIIRS on the NOAA-20 satellite shows Cook Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula, with winter beginning to take hold. The mountains of the Kenai, Talkeetna and the Alaska Range are capped with snow, but give …
It’s fire season, and that means its time for fire detection. This image is a DayLandCloudFire RGB of the Hog Butte fire, overlaid with heat points. The red underneath the cyan clouds is the fire and burned ground below. Notice that there are far fewer points than might be expected! Clouds can be a problem with heat …
It was declared green-up in Fairbanks on May 17, 2022 but there’s still snow across Alaska. This RGB image taken on May 17 using VIIRS with the NOAA-20 satellite shows different types of snow. Dark blue is old or wet snow & light blue is new or dry snow. High cirrus clouds that are composed …
The VIIRS SnowCloud Discriminator with snow/ice in lavender-tinted white and low stratocumulus low clouds in yellow . The stratocumulus form in streets as strong northerly low level winds bring cold arctic air southward off the ice pack and across the Bering Sea. Sea water in the Bering is cold, but still much warmer than the …
Long hours of winter darkness is an obstacle for collecting good satellite data this time of year in Alaska. Despite the darkness, this SNPP VIIRS pass last night at 1318 UTC turned out information especially well. This image shows the VIIRS SnowCloud Discriminator, which provides colors to indicate cloud height. Areas in yellow indicate low …
Yesterday morning had fairly clear skies over the Yukon and Southeast Interior Alaska, which allowed longwave IR (~11 um) energy from the surface to be emitted at nearly that of a blackbody. Brightness temperatures showed up as close to the actual temperatures, though typically brightness temperatures tend to be slightly colder than actual. The image …
This VIIRS Daynight Band RGB image is made by incorporating the longwave IR (i05 – 11.5um) and shows the fog in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region early yesterday morning. Lower clouds are typically shown in yellow and higher clouds in blue, but surface temperatures are as cold as the cloud tops in some places, making it …
VIIRS DNB RGB Shows Fog in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta Region Read More »
In this VIIRS RGB image, the lighter blue colors identify sea spray generated by high winds over water in the narrow channels of southeast Alaska. The orientation of the spray also provides a good indication of where the strongest winds are occurring. This “Sea Spray RGB” was developed by Bill Line from CIRA with input …
VIIRS SeaSpray RGB Captures Spray Over Southeast Alaska Waters Read More »
This animation of VIIRS 11.5 um imagery shows the breakup of the Arctic ice pack around Point Barrow and near Utqiagvik with individual ice floes moving west and southwest. The ice pack with numerous fractures and leads has a slower westward drift compared to the smaller individual ice floes. The frequent orbit of polar satellites …
Frequent polar satellite imagery from GINA captures ice floes Read More »
