NOAA-NESDIS
Regional And Mesoscale Meteorology Team
Daily Satellite Discussion
Tuesday August 5, 1997
GOES-9 channel 2 4-hour average ending at 2130 UTC
click to enlarge
GOES-9 reflectivity 4-hour average ending at 1830 UTC
click to enlarge
The wildfire season is in full swing and we are now beginning to see some in the channel 2 imagery and the reflectivity product. Today's images show 4-hour average images of the channel 2 (3.9 um) and reflectivity product. These average images point out rather quickly where the 3.9 detector is saturated.

The darkest orange-colored areas show where the channel 2 detector has been saturated (at the warm/reflective end). Remember that the brightness temperature in channel 2 is a combination of IR temperature and the reflected solar radiation. The fire of interest can be seen better in the reflectivity product than in the channel 2 alone. The right image shows the fire better because the difference between channel 2 and channel 4 is greater in these instances. The background also has more contrast because of that same difference.

Review more about fires in GOES imagery in the RAMM 3.9 um tutorial.

The blue shading indicates colder channel 2 brightness temperatures where clouds exist.

Brian Motta

We welcome your comments and discussion at ramsdis@comet.ucar.edu

Previous RAMMT Daily Satellite Discussions