Cool NRL Nighttime Imagery

[MWatkins]

Hey, has anyone seen the nighttime visible goes 12 imagery available from NRL?

Good stuff...going to be fun to use it this season...big link you may have to cut and paste but worth it:

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat-bin/disp ... C_SCALE=15

MW

[senorpepr]

Technology is amazing today... thanks for the link!

[Typhoon_Willie]

I have to agree with you there!

[WidreMann]

It looks like it just picks up low-level clouds and junk, and is probably based on IR since there is a fundamental and insurmountable problem with visible at night: lack of visible light. Basically what we are probably looking at is just some sort of different analysis of some other channel, sort of like the "nighttime visible" on the NHC site, which is just a colorless IR picture.

[WidreMann]

In fact, compare it to the IR, which is, IMHO, much more useful:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat-bin/display10.cgi?SIZE=full&PHOT=yes&AREA=atlantic/tropics&PROD=ir&TYPE=ssmi&NAV=tropics&DISPLAY=Latest&ARCHIVE=Latest&CGI=tropics.cgi&CURRENT=20040409.0245.goes12.ir.x.atl_tropics.x.jpg&MOSAIC_SCALE=15

And there is still shortwave IR for lower level clouds at night.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think the nighttime visible is all that useful. But that's just me.

Sorry to be a party pooper.

[MWatkins]

It looks like it just picks up low-level clouds and junk, and is probably based on IR since there is a fundamental and insurmountable problem with visible at night: lack of visible light. Basically what we are probably looking at is just some sort of different analysis of some other channel, sort of like the "nighttime visible" on the NHC site, which is just a colorless IR picture.

That's exactly what it's designed to do. While IR4 (colorized...everyone loves IR4) is great for estimating cloud temperatures/heights...it is almost impossible to use for spotting a low center at night. This time of "window" imagery is much improved over GOES8 and does a much better job of identifying key features such as exposed low-level centers and low-level cloud arcs that may be bending into a low center at night.

It picks up a different wavelength than the traditional IR and hence spots low clouds much better. It's not much help with a cat 3 with a clear eye...but with developing depressions and sheared systems it is invaluable.

It's mroe or less the same (actually it is the same with a different coloraziation scheme) as the IR2 imagery from NHC/TPC...but I like to look at the whole basin sometimes and the NHC site cuts off to the south and east.

MW

[WidreMann]

It's mroe or less the same (actually it is the same with a different coloraziation scheme) as the IR2 imagery from NHC/TPC...but I like to look at the whole basin sometimes and the NHC site cuts off to the south and east.

NHC one is less junky and I like the colors . But I have to agree that the areal coverage isn't as good. Such is life.