On 18 June one pyroCu formed in Alaska. GOES-15 detected the smoke plume and pyroCu cloud, as well as the fire hot spot. The pyroCu (64.5 N 153.2W) occurred at around 1:30 UTC . Starting at 22:00 UTC on 21 June, the animation below shows visible (.63 μm) on the left and shortwave IR (3.9 μm) on the right (click image to play animation). In the shortwave IR images the red pixels indicate very hot IR brightness temperatures exhibited by the fire source region.
GOES-15 0.63 µm visible channel (left) and 3.9 µm shortwave IR channel images (right) (click to play animation)
In addition, using GOES-15 10.7 μm IR channel the cloud-top IR brightness temperature could be found. The animation below, starting at 1:00 UTC on 18 June, shows the brightness temperature for the pyroCu was ~ -27ºC at 3:00 UTC (dark blue color enhancement) The minimum brightness temperature for a pyroCb is -40ºC, meaning this is a pyroCu.
GOES-15 10.7 µm IR channel images (click to play animation)