30 November 2016
Suomi Satellite Sees the Gatlinburg Fire through Thick Cloud
Posted by Dan Satterfield
The VIRRS instrument on the Suomi Satellite saw the Gatlinburg fire Monday night very clearly, through a thick deck of clouds. The image below is a day-night channel. We can often see clouds at night, especially when there is a bright Moon. This data is also useful to see growth patterns of cities, and even to estimate population changes in towns and cities.
From NASA/Suomi Satellite.
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.