Water vapor images are useful for pointing out regions of moist and dry air, which also provides information about the swirling middle tropospheric wind patterns and jet streams. The example below is a composite of data from GOES-8 and GOES-10 satellites.

Darker colors indicate drier air while the brighter the shade of white, the more moisture in the air. In the image above, very dry air was present from Oklahoma into Illinois (indicated by the dark colors). Bright white plumes stretching from Missouri to South Carolina indicate the very moist air associated with thunderstorms occurring in the area.

color enhanced ir

Terms for using data resources. CD-ROM available. Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010. Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

vis -vs- ir -vs- wv