Hurricane Ian's Clouds, Lightning, Humidity and Winds

NOAA’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite system will expand observations of Earth that the GOES-R Series currently provides from geostationary orbit. GeoXO will watch over the Western Hemisphere as part of NOAA’s observing system that supports short-term forecasts and warnings of extreme weather and environmental hazards. The GeoXO Sounder (GXS) will provide real-time information about the vertical distribution of atmospheric moisture, winds, and temperature in clear sky scenes. GXS will increase full atmosphere sensing over the United States by ten times compared to existing low-Earth-orbiting satellites, improving storm tracking and storm strength monitoring. GXS data will feed advanced numerical weather prediction models and improve short-term severe weather forecasting. GXS will measure vertical changes in temperature and moisture – seeing a profile of the atmosphere is the key to forecasting convection. Data from the instrument will help forecasters give longer lead-time to warn residents to seek shelter from hail- and tornado-producing storms. With temperature and humidity information, weather forecasters will have new insights into convection and precipitation. GXS data will enable monitoring of these factors over time.

This visualization begins by showing a sequence of cloud and lightning images centered on the eye of Hurricane Ian provided courtesy of CIRA and NOAA. The image sequence fades to show the volume of humidity shown in blue along with the wind flows near the surface. The wind flows are colored by speed with gold indicating slower and red indicating faster winds. As the camera pulls back we see the humidity in a 9 degree by 9 degree region off the western coast of Florida with a box revealing the winds circulating over the humidity. This region is gradually extended in altitude to show the fast wind circulation up to an altitude or 17 km above Hurricane Ian.