CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS-NOAA WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 30, 2026

DATA, INFORMATION, AND USE-INSPIRED SCIENCE:

New CIMSS Winds Product for VIIRS That Utilizes the Day-Night Band: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies Winds team has successfully implemented the routine running of Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) utilizing the Day-Night Band (DNB) inside the Enterprise framework. The uniqueness of this product is that it provides visible wind observations at night using moonlight. This has the potential to increase wind observation coverage over polar regions. This product is currently at the experiment research stage with next steps being resolving minor issues (e.g., filling missing data gaps) and rigorous validation to model and rawinsonde data. (R. Dworak, CIMSS, 608-265-8620 and D. Santek, CIMSS, 608-263-7410) 

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Figure: Animation of cloud motion derived winds using the DNB and NCC (Near-Constant Contrast) on 20 March 2026.

PEOPLE, AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

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CIMSS Satellite Blog Updates: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog (https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-blog/) was updated with the following posts: "Flash flooding on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu" (Mar. 20), "Ongoing Kona Low Brings Significant Flooding to Hawaii" (Mar. 22), "Explosion and fire at the Valero oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas" (Mar. 23) and "Cyclone Narelle reaches Category 4 intensity off the coast of Western Australia" (Mar. 26). (S. Bachmeier, T. Wagner, CIMSS, 608-890-1980)

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Figure: MIMIC Total Precipitable Water image at 2300 UTC on 21 March 2026 -- showing a plume of tropical moisture being transported across the Hawaiian Islands, which led to heavy rainfall and significant flash flooding across many of the islands.

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Figure: GOES-19 Microphysics RGB image with an overlay of NGFS Fire Detection polygons at 2326 UTC on March 23, 2026 -- showing the thermal signature of a fire that resulted from an explosion at the Valero oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

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