Visibility Contaminates

In some cases atmospheric contaminates are able to be detected using GOES imagery and derived image products. At the time of the visible image, a cold front was moving across west TX, with the strong winds behind it raising an area of dust. In this VIS image, the blowing dust appears as a slightly more reflective (lighter) area due to the forward scattering of visible radiation; it is almost undetectable in the corresponding 3.9 um image. However, a derived product image (DPI), created at CIRA, clearly shows the area of blowing dust. This DPI is a Principal Component Image (PCI),

which is basically the 3.9 um channel output minus that from the other longwave IR channels. The detectability of other visibility contaminates is also under investigation, including smoke, which appears to be dependent upon solar radiation and scattering angle, and volcanic ash, which may be detectable both day and night.

Those interested in learning more about the use of PCIs in highlighting various meteorological features are invited to read the following paper: Hillger, D.W., 1996; Meteorological features from principal component transformation of GOES-8/9 Imager and Sounder data; Eighth Conference on Satellite Meteorology andOceanography, AMS, 28 Jan - 2 Feb, Atlanta, GA, 4-p.

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