CIMSS Satellite Blog

GOES-17 “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images, with 3-hourly plots of ship wind reports [click to play animation | MP4]

GOES-17 (GOES-West) “Red” Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) revealed the mesoscale cyclonic circulations of actinoform clouds (or “actiniae“) within the marine boundary layer stratocumulus cloud field over the central Pacific Ocean on 30 May 2019.

This type of cloud feature was originally identified in TIROS-V imagery over the Pacific Ocean in 1962 (below), and was featured in the first Monthly Weather Review “Picture of the Month” series in January 1963.

TIROS-V image of actinoform clouds over the western Pacific Ocean on 07 October 1962 [click to enlarge]

from CIMSS Satellite Blog http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/33383