CIMSS Satellite Blog

GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images [click to play MP4 animation]

* GOES-17 images shown here are preliminary and non-operational *

Transient pockets of cloud-top waves were evident on GOES-17 Low-level (7.3 µm), Mid-level (6.9 µm) and Upper-level (6.2 µm) Water Vapor images (above) north of Hawai’i on 06 February 2019. Some of the waves were located along the tops of convective cloud features, while others appeared to be randomly distributed.

A plot of rawinsonde data from Lihue, Hawai’i at 12 UTC (below) showed that winds within the middle to upper troposphere had a general westerly component — so these mesoscale bands were oriented perpendicular to the flow.

Plot of rawinsonde data from Lihue, Hawai’i [click to enlarge]

There was only 1 pilot report of turbulence within the broad region exhibiting these waves, occurring at 2304 UTC at an altitude of 33,000 feet — and this appeared to coincide with a discrete wave packet that was propagating eastward (below).

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) images within 30 minutes of the 2304 UTC pilot report of turbulence [click to enlarge]

While the more robust wave packets could also be seen in GOES-17 “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images, their complete areal coverage was more obvious in the Water Vapor imagery — particularly where the wave features were more subtle (below).

GOES-17 Upper-level Water Vapor (6.2 µm) and “Clean” Infrared Window (10.3 µm) images at 2302 UTC [click to enlarge]

from CIMSS Satellite Blog http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/31669