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NOAA-20 First Light Images

ATMS
CrIS
VIIRS
OMPS

NOAA-20 ATMS First Light Image, 29 November 2017

NOAA-20 ATMS First Light Image - Eleven days after JPSS-1 (NOAA-20) launched into Earth orbit, the satellite sent back its first Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) science data on November 29, 2017.
This image uses ATMS data to depict the location and abundance of water vapor (as associated with antenna temperatures) in the lower atmosphere, from the surface of the Earth to 5 kilometers altitude. Grey colors depict areas with less water vapor, blue-green and purple colors represent abundant water in all phases in low and middle latitudes. In the polar regions, purple depicts surface snow and ice.

Thanks and credit: STAR ATMS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

This ATMS image is the brightness temperature of channel 18 at 183.31 ± 7GHz. The image depicts the location and abundance of water vapor in the lower atmosphere, from the surface to 5 kilometers altitude. Reds depict areas with less water vapor, while blues represent abundant water in all phases (vapor, clouds, and precipitation) in low and middle latitudes. In the polar regions, blue depicts surface snow and ice.

Thanks and credit: STAR ATMS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

MiRS NOAA-20/ATMS Temperature at 700mb, 16 January 2018

Thes image shown is a map of atmospheric temperature at 700 millibars, approximately 3000 meters (10,000 feet), over the globe on January 16, 2018.

Thanks and credit: STAR MiRS EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

MiRS NOAA-20/ATMS Temperature at 700mb, 11 January 2018

MIRS caught the strong temp swing over North America - These two images are the 700 mb temperature over North America on both January 16 and January 11, 2018. The most notable feature on January 16 over North America is the contrast between the extremely warm temperatures in northwestern Canada with the extreme cold, associated with a sharp dip in the jet stream over the US Midwest. The difference in temperature between the two features is more than 30 degrees Celsius. Surface temperature observations confirm this extreme contrast: in Calgary, Alberta, the afternoon high temperature was 45°F on January 16th, whereas just five days earlier the afternoon high was only -15°F. In Nashville, Tennessee the opposite fluctuation occurred: on January 11th the high was a mere 17°F but five days later had reached 69°F. This pattern reversal is indicated in the NOAA-20 imagery, which shows the warmth focused in the eastern US, and sharply colder arctic air moving south into west-central Canada. Thanks and credit: STAR MiRS EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 CrIS First Light Image, 5 January 2018

NOAA-20 CrIS First Light Image - Forty-eight days after JPSS-1 (NOAA-20) was launched into Earth orbit, it sent back its first Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) science data.
This image shows the global brightness temperature distribution at day time in one of the CrIS water vapor channels at 1598.75 cm^-1. This channel is sensitive to water vapor amount around 500 hPa, and to mid- to high-level clouds. Dark blue colors in the image represent liquid water and ice clouds. Yellows indicate that the radiation is from the warm Earth's surface, or a dry layer in the middle troposphere. The image captured the blizzard striking the northeast coast of the United State on January 5, 2018.

Thanks and credit: STAR CrIS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

This image shows the global brightness temperature distribution at day time in one of the CrIS water vapor channels at 1598.75 cm^-1. This channel is sensitive to water vapor amount around 500 hPa, and to mid- to high-level clouds. Dark blue colors in the image represent liquid water and ice clouds. Reds indicate that the radiation is from the warm Earth's surface, or a dry layer in the middle troposphere. The image captured the blizzard striking the northeast coast of the United States on January 5, 2018.

Thanks and credit: STAR CrIS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NUCAPS NOAA-20 IR/MW Temperature at 500mb, 9 January 2018

NOAA-20 NOAA-Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) derived atmospheric vertical temperature profile (AVTP) environmental data record (EDR) at 500 hPa for 9 January 2018. The NUCAPS system was successfully implemented (in the offline configuration) in early January for the NOAA-20 satellite shortly after the CrIS/ATMS SDRs became available.

Thanks and credit: STAR NUCAPS EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS First Light Image, 13 December 2017

NOAA-20 VIIRS RSB First Light Image: Captured Thomas Fire - Twenty-five days after JPSS-1 (NOAA-20) was launched into Earth orbit, NOAA-20 sent back its first Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) science data on December 13, 2017.
This VIIRS true color image captured the aggressive wildfires across the Southern California region which forced thousands to flee their homes. The fire spanned more than 370 square miles and remains the strongest blaze for firefighters to battle in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Reflected Solar Bands, 13 December 2017

NOAA 20 sent back its first VIIRS reflected solar bands (RSB) science data on December 13, 2017. This VIIRS true color image captured the aggressive wildfires across the Southern California region which forced thousands to flee their homes. The Thomas Fire was the largest in California history, having burned over 280,000 acres.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Day/Night Band, 13 December 2017

On December 13, 2017 NOAA-20 began sending back science data from the VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB). The day/night band (DNB) which can measure faint night lights from human settlements, aurora, and air glows. The figure shows the Korean Peninsula at night, highlighting the stark disparity between the brightly lit south and the barely lit north. Fleets of fishing boars can also be seen off shore of South Korea.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS TEB First Light Image, 5 January 2018

NOAA-20 VIIRS TEB First Light Image: Captured Detailed Thermal Imagery of Bomb Cyclone - Forty-seven days after it was first launched, the NOAA-20 polar-orbiting satellite sent back its first thermal infrared images on January 4, 2018. This VIIRS thermal infrared image shows stunning detail of the powerful 'bomb cyclone' that struck the East Coast of North America on Jan. 2-3, 2018. The powerful winter nor'easter delivered snow and ice, 50 to 80 mph wind gusts, and strong surf from northern Florida to Nova Scotia, Canada. Due to its rapid intensification (the barometric pressure at the center of the storm dropped 59 millibars in 24 hours), the storm ranks among the strongest ever observed along the East Coast.

Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Thermal Emissive Bands, 4 January 2018

The first image from the NOAA-20 VIIRS thermal emissive bands (TEB). This image shows a global view of the earth from the VIIRS radiometric band M15, which has a wavelength centered at 10.7 µm. This band is sensitive to temperature at a surface. The surface can be at the ground or at cloud tops. Dark blue colors are typically showing clouds or very cold ground temperatures. Note the clouds off the northeast coast of the United States featuring the blizzard striking the coastline.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Active Fires, 5 January 2018

The figure shows fire radiative power (FRP) derived NOAA-20 VIIRS 750 m measurements. The FRP was derived by the operational NOAA JPSS Active Fire EDR algorithm. This early example shows FRP retrievals for fires in Southern Australia. The background image also shows smoke emitted by the fires.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS Active Fires EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 VIIRS Land Surface Temperature, 5 January 2018

The figure shows NOAA-20 global LST maps for daytime on January 5, 2018.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS Land Surface Temperature EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

VIIRS Ocean Color map.

Thanks and credit: STAR VIIRS Ocean Color EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 OMPS NM First Light Image, 5 January 2018

NOAA-20 OMPS NM First Light Image - The Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite acquired its first data on January 5, 2018. This first-light image shows the radiance values for the cloud reflectivity channel on the OMPS Nadir Mapper. The highest radiances are associated with bright cloud tops. The cloud reflectivity channel is one of the five primary channels used to estimate total ozone concentration. The striping pattern is created from the slight differences in the angle of the satellite relative to the incoming energy from the sun.

Thanks and credit: STAR OMPS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 OMPS NP First Light Image, 5 January 2018

NOAA-20 OMPS NP First Light Image - The Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite acquired its first data on January 5, 2018. This first-light image shows the radiance at 307.5nm from the OMPS Nadir Profiler. This measurement is one of the 12 primary channels used to estimate the ozone at various levels in the atmosphere - closer to and farther from Earth's surface. The OMPS Nadir Profiler only makes measurements directly under the satellite's path.

Thanks and credit: STAR OMPS SDR Team. Click images to enlarge.

NOAA-20 OMPS Ozone Total Column, 7 January 2018

The figure shows the first retrieval of Total Column Ozone using the Version 8 Total Ozone EDR algorithm.

Thanks and credit: STAR OMPS EDR Team. Click images to enlarge.