Infrared Enhancements

My excellent software provider, USA-Satcom, just added infrared enhancements to two bands of the GOES HRIT suite. HRIT = High Rate Image Transmission.

Here is an animation of the past 12 hours from infrared Band 8 at a wavelength of 6.2 microns.

I captured the images on the backyard dish, animated them using a Mac program called PhotoScape X and added the temperature key at the bottom. The key gradient is low resolution but suitable for determining the approximate temperatures depicted in degrees centigrade. NOAA notes about this band: “Primary Uses: Upper-level feature detection (jet stream, waves, etc.)”

Here is more information about all of the NOAA Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) bands.

All of these images are readily available to the public using various internet portals. I am one of a group of weather enthusiasts and radio/electronics hobbyists who enjoy the challenge of capturing these signals “in the wild” using home-brew systems.