Winds from an optical
flow technique using GOES-16/18 1-minute imagery
Robert Rabin(1,2)
Chris Velden, Dave
Stettner, Steve Wanzong(2)
NOAA/NSSL(1) and
UW-Madison/CIMSS(2)
BACKGROUND
Wind vectors are estimated using a
"Classical Variational Optical Flow algorithm" obtained courtesy
of the Computer Vision Group, Feiburg, Germany. The algorithm is
derived from High
accuracy optical flow estimation based on a theory for warping by
T. Brox, A. Bruhn, N. Papenberg, J. Weickert. T. Pajdla and J. Matas
(Eds.), European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) Prague,
Czech Republic, Springer, LNCS, Vol. 3024,
25-36, May 2004.
Visible and IR image pairs from the
GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) mesosector bands 2 and 13.
The IR images used are band 13 from GOES-16 and GOES-18. The
time interval of the images used is 1-minute. The horizontal
resolution of the imagery at nadar is 0.5 km ans 2.0 km for
visible and IR, respectively. The images have been remapped
to an equal latitude/longitude grid (visible: .005 deg,
approximately 0.5 km spacing; IR: .02 deg, approximately 2 km grid
spacing) before applying the algorithm. A parallax correction has
not been applied. Wind vectors are computed at each grid point
from the computed displacement along the eastward and southward
directions during 1-minute time intervals. Pressure
level (height) assignments of wind vectors are based on Cloud Top
Pressure estimates from the
CLAVR-X
products produced at CIMSS.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Real
time GOES-16/18 and
Himawari-9 wind products
The wind analyses use IR (band 13) imagery after a "super
enhancement" has been applied. This enhancement is designed to
dynamically show the coldest pixels with a temperature resolution
of approximately 0.1 deg K with a dynamic range of 75 degrees from
coldest to warmest pixels. This temperature range includes both
the brightness temperatures of cloud tops and the earth's surface
in clear sky regions.
GOES-16
Mesosector
1 GOES-16
Mesosector
2 GOES-16
GOES-18
Mesosector
1 GOES-18
Mesosector
2 GOES-18
HIMAWARI-9:
Target
sector (2.5 minute
temporal sampling, band 14)
CIMSS
Tropical Cyclone webpage
Combined
winds: 15 minute intervals
GOES-16
Meso 1
GOES-16
Meso 2
GOES-18
Meso 1
GOES-18
Meso 2
Himawari-9
Target sector
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Archived
Cases
13 April 2019 (Caddo
Mounds, TX tornado)
IR:
16 UTC
IR:
17 UTC
IR:
18 UTC
Vis:
16 UTC
Vis:
17 UTC
Vis:
18 UTC
KPOE
radar ref: 16 UTC
KPOE
radar ref: 17 UTC
KPOE
radar ref: 18 UTC
Comparison with
observed radial velocity
28 May 2019 (Lawrence, Winwood, KS tornado)
IR:
23 UTC
VIS:
23 UTC
KTOP
radar ref: 19 UTC
KTOP
radar ref: 20 UTC
KTOP
radar ref: 23 UTC
KTOP
radar ref: 23 UTC constrained with observed Doppler radial
velocites
Comparison with observed radial
velocity
03 March 2019 (Alabama tornado)
Vis:
1951-2040 UTC
Vis:
1931-2040 UTC
IR:
1951-1959 UTC
IR:
1931-2040 UTC
06 September 2017 (Irma)
IR:
1601-1605
VIS:
1601-1610
Vis
(all layers animated gif) 1501-1559
VIS:
1501-1559
IR:
1501-1559
IR
(without enhancement) 1759-1802
21 September 2019 (Ottawa Valley, Ontario
tornado)
VIS:
2001-2059
VIS:
2101-2130
IR:
2001-2130
03 March 2020 (Middle Tennessee tornado
outbreak)
IR:
03 March 20, 06:01-06:59 UTC
IR:
03 March 20, 07:01-07:59 UTC
25 March 2021 (Alabama tornado outbreak)
IR:
25 March 21, 19:00-19:59 UTC
IR:
25 March 21, 21:00-21:59 UTC
IR:
25 March 21, 22:00-2259 UTC
29 April 2021
(Hail Storms, OK and TX)
IR:
29 April 21, 01:00-01:59 UTC
21 June 2021
(Chicago southwest suburbs tornado)
IR:
21 June 21, 03:30-04:30 UTC
21
June 2021 (Mascouche, Quebec
tornadic storm and high wind event
in the Northeast US
Visible
(band2) image at 1947 UTC: Approximate time
of EF2 tornado. Parallax adjusted
location of Mascouche relative to
clouds at 10km height is indicated
by the "X".
Visible:
21 June 2021, 19:00-19:59 UTC
IR:
21 June 2021, 19:00-19:59 UTC
WV
(midlevel 6.9 micron): 21 June 2021, 19:01-19:59 UTC
11
December 2021
(Kentucky tornadoes. F4 tornado hit
Mayfield around 03:30 UTC)
IR:
11 December 2021, 0300-0400 UTC
04 May 2022 (Earlsboro Seminole Oklahoma, F2; Lockett, TX, F3
tornadoes)
IR:
04 May 2022, 2300-2359 UTC
IR:
05 May 2022, 0000-0059 UTC
IR:
05 May 2022, 0100-0159 UTC
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
HTML5 based applications used for interactive animations were
developed by Tom Whittaker of the Space Science and Engineering
Center SSEC,
University of Wisconsin-Madison. The animations can take a
while to load, depending on network speed, computer systems, etc.
Additional References:
Rabin, R. M., S. F. Corfidi, J. C.
Brunner, C. E Hane, 2004: Detecting
winds aloft from water vapor satellite imagery in the vicinity of
storms. Weather, 59, 251-257. Click
here
Rabin, R.M., J. Brunner, C. Hane, J. Haynes: Water vapor winds in
vicinity of convection and winter storms. P3.4. 11th Conference on
Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography, 15-18 October 2001,
Madison, WI. To view the extended abstract (as a pdf file) Click
here.
A more complete
manuscript including an analysis of several convective cases is
available by clicking
here .
Links:
Global winds: For real-time and archived data
and more information on the satellite winds program at CIMSS see
the "Tropical Cyclones Homepage": Click here
Disclaimer. The products from GOES or
other satellites shown here are experimental. These have
been generated within a research environment and are not intended
to be considered operational. Timeliness, availability, and
accuracy are sought but not guaranteed.
Return to CIMSS
(UW-Madison) or NSSL
(NOAA/NSSL).
Last update was 09 September 2023. Feedback.