CIMSS-NOAA Weekly Report [ Archive ]

CIMSS-NOAA WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 5, 2026

DATA, INFORMATION, AND USE-INSPIRED SCIENCE:

Arctic Composite Imagery Project - Preliminary RGB composites: The Arctic Composite Imagery (ACI) Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center has traditionally used single banded imagery (~10.8 µm Infrared, ~12.0 µm Longwave, ~3.7 µm Shortwave, ~0.65 µm Visible, and ~6.7 µm Water Vapor) to make satellite composite imagery over the Arctic region. Utilizing additional bands from GOES-East/West, Himawari, Meteosat Prime/IODC, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) satellite composite products are now being implemented. By combining temperatures from 6.2 µm, 7.3 µm, 9.6 µm, and 10.3 µm bands, this animation shows hourly Air Mass images viewed from the North Pole. (R. Kohrs, SSEC, D. Mikolajczyk, SSEC, M. Lazzara, SSEC, 608-262-0436) 

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Figure: Hourly Air Mass RGB images on 1 May 2026, centered on the North Pole, using geostationary satellite data from GOES-East/West, Himawari, and Meteosat Prime/IODC.

PEOPLE, AWARDS AND RECOGNITION:

TRAVEL AND MEETINGS:

2026 CSPP Users' Group Meeting: The sixth Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) Users’ Group Meeting was held in person at the EUMETSAT Headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany on 19-21 May 2026. Over 50 attendees representing the global community of environmental satellite data users gathered to discuss a wide variety of topics related to reception, processing, and applications of direct broadcast data. Oral and poster presentations were given from direct broadcast users, government agencies, and vendors. CSPP is a NOAA-funded initiative at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies providing software to transform raw data acquired directly from satellites into actionable products, for use in local applications such as fire detection, flood detection, severe storm monitoring, air quality assessment, lightning prediction and forecasting. The meeting program can be found online. (K. Strabala, CIMSS/SSEC, 608-263-8752, L. Gumley, CIMSS/SSEC, G. Martin, CIMSS/SSEC, J. Braun, CIMSS/SSEC)

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Figure: Group Photo of the 2026 CSPP Users' Group Meeting

TRAINING AND EDUCATION:

MEDIA INTERACTIONS AND REQUESTS:

SOCIAL MEDIA AND BLOG Posts:

CIMSS Satellite Blog Updates: The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog was updated with the following posts: "Satellite signatures of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion at Cape Canaveral, Florida" (May 28), "Fair Weather Doesn’t Mean Boring" (May 29), "GOES-19 GLM signature of a bolide over eastern Massachusetts" (May 30), "Curious cloud arc southeast of Hawai`i" (May 30) and "Solar flares detected by GOES-18 and GOES-19 SUVI" (Jun. 3). (S. Bachmeier, T. Wagner, CIMSS, 608-890-1980)

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Figure: GOES-19 Visible image at 1806 UTC on May 30, with an overlay of GOES-19 GLM Flash Extent Density (blue to red color enhancement) and GLM Flash Point (filled white circle) at 1807 UTC on May 30, 2026 -- showing the signature of a bolide (bright meteor) that was entering the Earth's upper atmosphere over far eastern Massachusetts.

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Figure: GOES-18 SUVI image showing a moderate (M9.3-rated) solar flare that peaked at 0138 UTC on June 3, 2026 -- which prompted the issuance of a G3 Geomagnetic Storm Watch by the Space Weather Prediction Center.

PUBLICATIONS:

NOAA-21 CrIS paper published: As part of the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) Sensor Data Record (SDR) Cal/Val team, Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) scientists contributed to prelaunch and postlaunch activities of the CrIS sensor on the NOAA-21 JPSS satellite. The calibration, commissioning, and validation methodologies and results are described in the early access paper "The NOAA-21 CrIS Sensor: A NOAA Operational Asset Providing Continuity for Weather Forecast and Environmental Monitoring" by F. Iturbide-Sanchez et al. in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2026.3698463). (D. Tobin, CIMSS, 608-265-6281)

OTHER: