Using Channel 3 (6.7 µm) Imagery, Part I

Using Channel 3 (6.7 µm) Imagery, Part II

This water vapor image loop over the North Atlantic Ocean shown below has been remapped to the Mercator projection. Several interesting features can be seen clearly in this animation, both in the mid-latitudes and in the tropics. A mid-latitude cyclone is located at approximately 40 N and 55 W, with a fairly vigorous front attached (as indicated by the very warm region south and west of its associated cloud shield. Other large-scale features include several tropical, cold lows located in the central Caribbean, the central Atlantic and over the northwestern portion of Mexico. A mid-latitude trough, moving southward over the eastern Atlantic, is also prominent, but it is the finer scales of motion that can be resolved with 6.7 µm imagery (but not in current numerical analyses) that really justify its routine examination.