STAR JPSS Website
GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Retrievals Observe Severe Weather Outbreak over the Chesapeake Bay region
Ken Pryor
10 Apr 2025 - Linear convective storms producing hazardous winds impacted the greater DC area and Chesapeake Bay region on March 5, 2025. Retrievals and image products derived from the GCOM-W1 AMSR2 89 GHz channel detected narrow rain bands that generated severe winds before a cold front passage. Comparison of the polarization-corrected temperature (“PCT”) as calculated from the high-resolution (5 km) 89 GHz channel to the derived microwave (“f”) index that is more sensitive to scattering by large ice particles (i.e., graupel, hail) revealed important microphysical characteristics distinguishing between low and high downburst (thunderstorm-generated straight-line wind) potential. The figure shows the lower PCT and higher microwave index values associated with a rain band that produced a wind gust of 56 knots (64 mph), shortly after 1900 UTC, at Thomas Point Lighthouse in the middle Chesapeake Bay.
JPSS Surveys LA Wildfires
Tom Atkins
10 Mar 2025 - The combination of a wet 2023 and a very dry fall and winter in 2024 set the stage for explosive wildfires in the Los Angeles area starting on January 7, 2025. Several large wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles metro area destroying nearly 20,000 homes and displacing several hundred thousand residents.These fires were captured by VIIRS as shown in the figure above (from JSTAR Mapper).
GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Retrievals Observe Severe Weather Outbreak over the Chesapeake Bay region
Ken Pryor
10 Apr 2025 - Linear convective storms producing hazardous winds impacted the greater DC area and Chesapeake Bay region on March 5, 2025. Retrievals and image products derived from the GCOM-W1 AMSR2 89 GHz channel detected narrow rain bands that generated severe winds before a cold front passage. Comparison of the polarization-corrected temperature (“PCT”) as calculated from the high-resolution (5 km) 89 GHz channel to the derived microwave (“f”) index that is more sensitive to scattering by large ice particles (i.e., graupel, hail) revealed important microphysical characteristics distinguishing between low and high downburst (thunderstorm-generated straight-line wind) potential. The figure shows the lower PCT and higher microwave index values associated with a rain band that produced a wind gust of 56 knots (64 mph), shortly after 1900 UTC, at Thomas Point Lighthouse in the middle Chesapeake Bay.
Latest JSTAR Updates
JPSS data now available in the cloud - 17 April 2024
JPSS operational data products, training materials, tools, sample
python scripts to read the data are accessible from NOAA Open Data
Dissemination (NODD).
- Amazon Web Services JPSS Main Page
- AWS NOAA-20
- AWS NOAA-21
- AWS SNPP
- JPSS on Google Cloud
- Microsoft Azure: Coming Soon
VIIRS Global Annual Surface Type (AST) - 31 August 2024 - The new VIIRS Annual Surface Type 2023 product (AST-2023, spatial resolution: 1 km) based on 2023 whole year surface reflectance data is ready for users to download at STAR FTP sites.
NetCDF version / Zip files:- VIIRS-AST-EMC20-GEO
NetCDF / Zip file - VIIRS-AST-IGBP17-GEO
NetCDF - Zip file - VIIRS-AST-IGBP17-SIN
NetCDF - Zip file
Each Zip file contains a *.bin, a *.hdr and a *readme.pdf file. For more information please contact Xiwu Zhan.
STAR JPSS Monthly Reports
- February 2025, (PDF, 10.72 MB)
- January 2025, (PDF, 9.94 MB)
- December 2024, (PDF, 11.29 MB)
- November 2024, (PDF, 8.37 MB)
- October 2024, (PDF, 7.81 MB)
- September 2024, (PDF, 7.2 MB)
- Report Archive
For more information, please write to Ingrid Guch / Lihang Zhou