Group for Earth Observation

No 65 - March 2020

This was the scene viewed by the European Metop-B satellite in late morning on February 15 thisyear as Storm Denis engulfed the British Isles, bringing gales of 120 kph and causing widespreadflooding as some parts of the country received more than a full month’s rainfall in just 48 hours.
Image: NOAA CLASS ArchiveUseful User Groups

GEO MANAGEMENT TEAM
Director and Public Relations

Weather Satellite Reports

Francis Bell,

This group provided weekly reports, updates and news
on the operational aspects of weather satellites.

Coturnix House, Rake Lane,
Milford, Godalming, Surrey GU8 5AB,
England.
Tel:

01483 416 897

email: francis@geo-web.org.uk

https://groups.io/g/weather-satellite-reports
SatSignal
This end-user self help group is for users of David
Taylor’s Satellite Software Tools, including the orbit
predictor WXtrack, the file decoders GeoSatSignal and
SatSignal, the HRPT Reader program, the remapper
GroundMap, and the manager programs - MSG DataManager, GOES-ABI Manager, AVHRR Manager etc.

https://groups.io/g/SatSignal

General Information
John Tellick,email: information@geo-web.org.uk

GEO Newsletter Editor

MSG-1
This forum provides a dedicated area for sharing
information about hardware and software for receiving
and processing EUMETCast data.

https://groups.io/g/MSG-1

Les Hamilton,
email: geoeditor@geo-web.org.uk

Technical Consultant (Hardware)David Simmons

GEO-Subscribers
This is the official group is for subscribers of the Groupfor Earth Observation (GEO), aimed at enthusiasts
wishing to exchange information relating to either GEO
or Earth Observation satellites.

https://groups.io/g/GEO-Subscribers/

email: tech@geo-web.org.uk

Webmaster and Website Matters
Alan Banks,e-mail: webmaster@geo-web.org.uk

Management TeamDavid Anderson
Rob Denton
Nigel Evans
Clive Finnis
Carol FinnisPeter GreenDavid SimmonsDavid Taylor

www.geo-web.org.uk

2

Les HamiltonT

he past few months have been remarkable in terms of the extremes of weather
experienced world-wide: from severe forest ﬁres followed by torrential rainfall
in Australia, record high temperatures in the Antarctic, and a succession of severe
Atlantic storms that have beset the UK and western Europe. Much of the British
Isles has experienced severe gales accompanied by torrential rains that haveresulted in widespread ﬂooding on an unprecedented scale. It has proved to be thewettest February on record, with some areas enduring more than a full months
rainfall in a single weekend.

R

ussia is not having the best of fortune with its Meteor M2 satellite programme.
Following the loss of Meteor M2-1 following a failed launch in November 2017,and more recently the loss of Meteor M2-2 last December, following a collision witha micrometeorite. The original Meteor M2 is the only member of its class still active
although there are hopes that Meteor M2-3 will launch before the end of this year.

On a happier note we can look forward to summer as interest mounts towards
the GEO/Werkgroep Kunstmanen trip to EUMETSAT HQ in Darmstadt on
July 2/3. Francis Bell outlines the details on pages 3-4. Readers still contemplatingtaking part have till the end of March to make their provisional registrations.

D

avid Taylor, well known to most readers as a proliﬁc software author, hascompiled a new version of his LRPT Image Processor for creating products
from the Meteor M2 Russian satellite. The software was originally made available,
gratis, a few years ago, but now has a new feature: the ability to add accurate
country outlines to the images. You can read my review from page 13 while, forcompleteness, David Taylor’s original article is reprinted from page 23.

Contents
GEO Report and Quarterly Question
Meteor M2-2 Critically Damaged
Smoke and Flames in Australia
Adding Country Boundaries to Meteor Images
Support for Ayeka SR1 Users
An Atmospheric Phenomenon
News from Dundee Satellite Receiving Station
The Island Shaped like a Horseshoe
LRPT Image Processor (reprint from 2005)
Flevoland, The Netherlands
Bloom in McMurdo Sound
Widespread Melt on the George VI Ice Shelf
Satellite Status

Francis BellLes Hamilton
European Space Agency
Les Hamilton
Nigel Evans
Rob Denton
Neil Lonie
NASA Earth Observatory
David Taylor
European Space Agency
NASA Earth Observatory
NASA Earth Observatory

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9
11
13
18
18
19
21
23
26
29
31
33

3

Francis Bell

Your chance to join our Group Visit to EUMETSAT and ESOC in Darmstadt July 2020

EUMETSAT Headquarters in Darmstadt
Photo © EUMETSAT

Our group visit to EUMETSAT’s HQ in Darmstadt Germany
is confirmed for the date of 2nd July 2020. This is to bea joint visit by both GEO members and members of the
Dutch group Werkgroep Kunstmanen. Both groups will
accept requests to join the planned visit but if you live in
the UK I suggest that you register with Francis Bell (details
below). Continental residents should register with Ben
Schellekens of Workgroups Kunstmanen, who lives in The
Netherlands. His email address is
ben@towerhouse.nl

If you do wish to be included in the visiting group, I
suggest that you register as soon as possible in case
we are limited by number for the size of group that
EUMETSAT can accommodate. A positive start has
already been made relating to the itinerary for our visit.
Below is the current plan for Thursday July 2, which will
be a full day at EUMETSAT’s HQ. We hope on July 3 tovisit the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC ). At
the time of writing I do not have a specific programme forthat day, but if it turns out to be as interesting as on ourprevious visits to ESOC, it should turn out to be great day.
If you wish to join us for this Darmstadt visit, please
register by email toadministrative background costs to be covered—not morethan 10 or 20 euros each. Personal travel arrangements
are left with the individuals because we will be comingfrom so many directions
I expect we will all need overnight accommodation andin the past some of us have used the Ibis Hotel which isabout a 15 minute walk to the EUMETSAT HQ buildings.
I hope to use this hotel myself again this year and its
contact details are given below.
Ibis Hotel (also named ETAP Hotel)
Kasinostrasse 464293 Darmstadt
Germany
Tel:- +49 6151 3973720
Email address:- h3521@accor.com
On the web, search for ‘Ibis Hotel Darmstadt Germany’
Price guidance
When I enquired in January 2020, prices were, for one
person in a twin room, £51 per night and or two people ina twin room £60 per night.

francis@francisbell.com

as soon as you are able, and by March 31 at the latest,
as there may eventually be an upper limit to the numbers
who are allowed to visit. A number of UK GEO members
have already registered with me and I will keep in touchwith them as necessary. Remember, there are no specificcharges for these visits but there may be some small

EUMETSAT Headquarters viewed from the air
Photo © EUMETSAT

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EUMETSAT’s official Group Photograph of the delegated who attended the inaugural 2007 visit to their HQImage © EUMETSAT

Joint GEO/Werkgroep Kunstmanen
visit to EUMETSATAgendaESOC Visit - July 3, 2020.
This visit is confirmed for a party of 20 to 30 visitors with
the initial session located in ESOC’s meeting room.
The check-in time for this event is 10.00 a.m. but, because
of security, we will try to be there a little earlier.

July 2, 2020 in the EUMETSAT
Briefing Gallery
09:00 - 17:00 (Registration at 08:30)
09:00 - 09:05

Welcome address

09:05 - 09:15

Overview of current satellite operations

09:15 - 09:45

Overview of the MTG mission

09:45 - 10:15

Overview of the EPS-SG mission

10:15 - 10:30

User preparation for MTG and EPS-SG

10:30 - 10:50

Coffee break

10:50 - 11:30

Data access evolution 0 EUMETCast

11:30 - 12:00

Data access evolution - New data services

12:00 - 13:30

Group mphotograph and lunch break

13:30 - 15:00

Data reception systems

15:00 - 15:20

Cofee break

15:20 - 15:35

Update on User Service Activities

15:35 - 16:10

Presentation of selected case studies

16:10

Wrap up

16:15 - 17:00

Tour of Mission Control Centre

The day’s agenda in not fixed but is anticipated to beapproximately as follows.
• A general introduction to ESA/ESOC• A number of presentations by their Earth Observation
division. Note that if there are any particular
requests to cover such topics as climate change orenvironmental issues, these may possibly be covered
if agreed in time.
• After the presentations/discussions a tour of thebuildings will be on offer.
• Refreshment and coffee breaks are likely to be
included somewhere but no details are available atthis time.
• If any of our visitors has a particular topic they would
like to see as a presentation, or other information,then let this be known and ESOC may be able tocover it.
Send anay requests, which we will try to progress, tofrancis@francisbell.com
or
ben@towerhouse. nl
The ESOC buildings are about a 20 minute walk from the
Ibis Hotel mentioned above.

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5

GEO Accounts for the Year ending November 2019
The accounts for the past year are quite straightforward
because there has been little income or expenditureduring the year. Currently there are no membershipcharges for GEO, hence no income for us but almost
equally we have quite low running costs.
The major cost of printing and distributing our Quarterly
publication no longer applies: instead we publish ourQuarterly ‘News Letter’ via the website. However, running
the website with its associated emailing facilities does
have some costs.
We have two bank accounts which in the past have dealt
with membership monies and shop business separately.
Looking into the future the two accounts may now be
judged unnecessary and will soon be amalgamated into asingle account.
The accounts for 2019
Bank Account Number 2
Opening balance£13,805
Expenditure£325
Closing balance£13,480
These expenses relate to running the website and somecosts incurred in attending rallies.
Bank Account Number 1
Opening balance
Expenditure
Closing balance

£258
£208
£50

Francis Bell
Question 64
My thanks to those members/readers who responded
to the last Quarterly Question. The question related toa satellite image showing part of the Persian Gulf andspecifically showed the island country of Bahrain.
I was particularly interested in this image because Bahrain
has been newsworthy recently because of the oil issues
in the area relating to the potential disputes between Iranand the USA, plus some European countries including theUK.
I also like to ask a question about a country which I
have visited. I’m not sure if in this case ‘visited’ is quite
the correct expression but I have been in transit throughBahrain’s international airport a number of times in thepast (the 1990s) while flying between the UK and Goa,
India. In those past days a refuelling stop was necessary
for this long distance flight but nowadays long haul aircraft
can achieve this particular route none stop.
Question 65a

These expenses include subscription to the ‘Groups.Io’
web user group, Companies House plus other small items.
It should be noted that our donation to the Dundee
Satellite Station will be shown in next year’s accounts
because the bank transfer took place in December 2019.
Our combined accounts currently have a total value of£8,440. Perhaps we have some small stock items but
they are not valued for the purpose of the accounts. We
are currently reviewing the cost of running the website
because the general opinion indicates they are too highfor our current requirements. However, it must be notedthat this is not a criticism of our website, which I judge to
be of outstanding quality and informative. Congratulations
to our webmaster and those who contribute to our GEO
website.

This Quarterly Question relates to the image of Antarctica
reproduced below, which is a composite from a number ofradar images taken over the continent by a polar orbiting
NOAA Earth Observation satellite about three years ago. It
is important to note that this is a composite image, where
several images from different satellite passes, but using
the same instruments, have been combined into a single
image of Antarctica.
Question 65a is this: Why is there a white hole inthe centre of this composite image?

Rallies
GEO has only one booking for a forthcoming rally or show
and that is the ‘London Computer and Amateur Radio Rally’
to be held at Kempton Park, SW London on Sunday, April
19, 2020. Please attend this rally if you can as it’s always
great to meet established GEO members again, while newfaces are always welcome. There is a small entrance fee,
about £3.00 I think. On the stand we hope to be running
live EUMETCast, showing archived satellite images
and giving away substantial amounts of EUMETSAT
promotional material which has been specifically provided
by them.
cntinued on page 7

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6

If you feel ‘inclined’ to answer thequestion, you should consider orbitalgeometry rather than any instrument
failure on the satellite which justmissed part of a possible image. For
acknowledgement of answers in thenext newsletter please submit you
answer, by May 20, 2020, by email to:

francis@francisbell.com
Question 65b
An image I recently encountered reallyappealed to me, and I decided to use
it for a ‘bonus’ additional Quarterly
Question
This Question should be quite
straightforward. Name the islandgroup shown in the satellite image
opposite. The image was taken bya Copernicus Sentinel- 2 satellite on
January 10, 2020 using the visible
spectrum. I think that, without any
further information, it would be difficult
to name the islands, so have included
ithe following edited text which I
extracted from Wikipedia and ESA.
“The islands are particularly known for
their dramatic landscape, grass-roofedhouses and treeless moorlands.
The islands boast over 1000 kmof coastline, and because of theirelongated shape one can never bemore than five km from the ocean
from any point of the islands
These islands are a North Atlanticarchipelago located 320 kilometres
north-northwest of Scotland, andabout halfway between Norway and
Iceland. It is an autonomous territory
within the Kingdom of Denmark. They
have a total area of about 1,400
square kilometres with a population of
51,783 as of June 2019.
The terrain is rugged; the climate
is sub polar oceanic climate, windy,
wet, cloudy, and cool. Temperatures
average above freezing throughout
the year because of the Gulf Stream
and summers normally hover around
12°C. Average winter temperatures
are 5 °C. The northerly latitude
location also results in perpetual civil
twilight during summer nights andvery short winter days.
Between 1035 and 1814 these islands
were part of the Kingdom of Norway,
which was in a personal union with
Denmark from 1450.

© contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018),
processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO©

In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel transferred
Norway to the king of Sweden, on thewinning side of the Napoleonic wars,
whereas the king of Denmark, on thelosing side, retained these islands,
along with the two other historical
Norwegian island possessions in the
North Atlantic. These islands shown in
the image have been a self-governingpart of the Kingdom of Denmark since
1948.

justice department, currency, andforeign affairs. However, as they are
not part of the same customs area
as Denmark, the islands have an
independent trade policy and canestablish trade agreements withother states. The islands also haverepresentation in the Nordic Council
as members of the Danish delegation.
The islands have their own national
teams competing in certain sports.

The islands control most of theirdomestic affairs. Those that remain
the responsibility of Denmark include
military defence, policing, and thePlease send your answer, by May 20,
2020 towww.geo-web.org.uk

francis@francisbell.com

7Storm Denis
The MODIS instrument
aboard NASA’s Terrasatellite captured this fineimage of storm Denis over
the Atlantic Ocean on
February 13, 2020, twodays before it unleased
gale-force winds andtorrential rainfall overmuch of the UK

Image: LANCE, Rapid
Response, Global Imagery
Browse Services (GIBS),Worldviewwww.geo-web.org.uk

88Meteor-M 2-2 critically damaged by a micrometeorite
No further APT and AHRPT imagery expected from this satellite
Les Hamilton
Readers who had been enjoying imagery from
Russia’s latest meteorological satellite, Meteor M 2-2,
had a nasty surprise on December 18, 2019 whentransmissions abruptly ceased. A few days later,
Roscosmos (Russia’s State Corporation for Space
Activities) explained as follows:
An abnormal situation was recorded on the
Meteor-M spacecraft No. 2-2, associated with an
external impact (presumed to be a micrometeorite)
on its structure. As a result, Meteor’s orbit wascompromised and all on-board systems not involvedin ensuring its functioning were turned off.
The RIA Novosti news agency issued further
clarification on December 24, in the following report:
Meteor-M 2-2 has suffered a collision with amicrometeorite, which caused a change to thesatellite’s orbit and resulted in it temporarily losing
its orientation. Following the emergency, power toall systems aboard the satellite were automaticallyturned off until it came within the range of Russian
tracking stations.
Work then started to damp Meteor’s angularvelocity and return it to its standard operations
orientation in order to be able to receive telemetry
and target information. Now that the connection
has been restored, regular control sessions arebeing conducted with the reception of telemetry
information and data from the target equipment.
Technical details of what happened
According to space-track.org, the specialised website of
the US Air Force, on the night of December 17-18(between 23:08 and 06:06 Moscow time) the
perigee of Meteor’s orbit fell by 2.4 kilometres (from806.5 to 804.1 kilometres) while its apogee fell by
0.1 kilometre (from 821.8 km to 821.7 km).

Meteor M2-2
Image: Roscosmos

There are currently three Meteor-M series satellites
in orbit. The first, Meteor-M1 is no longer fully
operational and does not disseminate imagery
although some of its additional scientific equipment
is still in operation.
The second satellite in the series is Meteor M2,
which is still fully operational despite now having
exceeded its optimum design lifetime. Its successor,
Meteor M2-1 was lost due to a launch failure in2017 and it seems that the latest member of theseries, Meteor M2-2, has been rendered incapableof delivering any further LRPT/AHRPT imagery.
We must now await the launches of Meteor M2-3,
scheduled for this year and Meteor M2-4 which
could be launched in 2012.
On January 17, 2010, Roscosmos admitted that
although they had regained control over Meteor
M2-2 there was particular concern over the conditionof the satellite’s batteries, which were quickly
becoming overheated and switching over to the
backup units. This meant that could be only shortterm power-ups as the battery life was reduced
tenfold.

The instruments aboard Meteor M2-2 were housed
in a pressurised environment in which circulatinggases acted as a coolant and heat transfer agent. It
is conjectured that, during depressurisation of thischamber, the escaping gases provided thrust thatsent the satellite into a spin and altered its orbit. At
the same time, the instrumentation became prone tooverheating because of loss of coolant.
Meteor-M 2-2
The satellite was launched from Vostochny in July
2019 by a Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Frigate
booster and, following completion of flight tests on
December 7, Roscosmos announced the spacecraft tobe was fully operational.

www.geo-web.org.uk

Meteor M 2-2 prior to launch
Image © RIA Novosti / Pavel Lvov9

Unfortunately, the power supply situation no longer
allows the 137 MHz transmitter to be used eventhough it is still technically in working order, andas a result there will be no future LRPT/HRPT
transmissions.
The following is an extract from a report on the‘Hackaday’ website by Dan Mahoney, which adds
further insight into the matter.
As is often the case, an amateur radio operator
was among the first to notice the problem withMeteor M2-2. Dmitry Pashkov (R4UAB), a satellite
monitoring fan, had been capturing images fromweather satellites for years. But when he tried tofind Meteor-M 2-2 on December 18, 2019, all he
got was dead air. It seemed like the satellite wasgone, and once he announced his findings, it wasn’tlong before other satellite watchers pieced together
a story, one that would eventually be confirmed by
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
Based on the data, it appears that Meteor-M
2-2 was struck by a micrometeoroid—either anatural chunk of space rock or some piece of manmade debris. The SUV‑sized satellite was sent
spinning violently out of control by the impact. It
immediately put itself into a safe mode to protect
its instrumentation and give ground controllers
time to regain control, which they eventually did.
Subsequent analysis of the orbital data revealed
that the satellite had also lost two kilometres oforbital altitude immediately after the impact.
Such a violent disruption of a satellite as big as
Meteor-M 2-2 would imply a large, very energetic
collision. But that would probably break the satellite
into multiple pieces, and there’s no evidence thatanything like that happened. That means theimpactor was small, which appears at odds withthe outsized effect it had on the spacecraft. Thatleaves operators considering whether the impact
penetrated a pressurised part of the satellite’s hull.
That could explain the drastic change in attitude
and altitude.
Unfortunately, it could also mean the end of
Meteor‑M2‑2’s mission. Many of the instruments
aboard the satellite require constant temperatures
to work, and the electronics controlling the bird may
now be exposed to the vacuum of space. Roscosmos
has regained control of the spacecraft and damped
down its spin, and there are even reports that an
X-band signal from the satellite has been detected.
With a depressurized hull, the spacecraft is most
likely doomed to follow in the sad footsteps of its
predecessors. It’s yet another in a long string of
failed or marginal weather satellites, the passing ofeach of which is mourned by the satellite monitoring
community. There are still plenty of satellites
up there providing realtime weather and climate
imagery, but the likely loss of Meteor-M 2-2 shows
just how dangerous it can be up there.

This X-band image from Meteor M2-2 appeared on the@MeteoOleg Twitter feed on December 26, 2019, with thecaption ‘Meteor M N2-2 still alive. Now in X-band 61.44MS/s
QPSK in 8128MHz (MSU-MR instrument) ‘

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10

Smoke and flames in Australia
European Space Agency

Detail of bush fires burning some 200 kilometres south of Sydney, New South Wales, during January 2020.
Copyright contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO License

Ferocious bushfires have been sweeping acrossAustralia since September 2019, fuelled by recordbreaking temperatures, drought and wind. The
country has always experienced fires, but thisseason has been horrific. As of January 9, 2020,a staggering 10 million hectares of land have been
burned, at least 24 people have been killed and it
has been reported that almost half a billion animals
have perished.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission has been used toimage the fires. The Sentinel-2 satellites each carryjust one instrument—a high-resolution multispectral
imager with 13 spectral bands. The smoke, flames
and burn scars can be seen clearly in the fullimage—on the following page—which was captured
on 31 December 2019. The large brownish areas ofburned vegetation provide an idea of the size of thearea affected by the fires. The brown ‘strip’ running
through the image has a width of approximately
50 kilometres and stretches for at least 100 km
along the Australian east coast. Jervis Bay isprominent at the top of the image. The image zoom
above reveal starkly the extent of the flames.

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11

www.geo-web.org.uk

12Adding Country Boundaries and Station Data to
Meteor LRPT Imagery
Les Hamilton
Overview
In GEO Quarterly No 47 (2015) David Taylor
introduced his LRPT Image Processor software which
was designed to analyse the three data channels
disseminated by Russia’s Meteor M2 satellite andderive a number of geographically rectified products
from them.
What this software has been unable to achieve—until
now—is the addition of country boundaries andstation data overlays to the Meteor images.
This updated version of LRPT Image Processor can be
downloaded from David Taylor’s website athttps://satsignal.eu/software/LRPT-processor.html

At the present time the only active Russian weather
satellite is Meteor M2, currently transmitting
channels 1, 2 and 5. By feeding all three datachannels into LRPT Image Processor, either as an
RGB125 image (figure 1) or individual greyscalechannel images, derived products can be created.
One of the more useful derived products is the false
colour image produced by assigning channel‑1 tored and channel‑2 to both green and blue (figure 2).
Partly due to low solar illumination at this time

Figure 1
This RGB125 image segment is taken from the 09.50 UT
Meteor M2 pass on February 18, 2019

Figure 2
Following processing with LRPT Image Processor, this is thefalse-colour RGB122 version of the same image.

Figure 3
The original image is rather dark and partly obscured by cloud.
The addition of country outlines clarifies the area imaged.

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13

Figure 4
This infrared image (channel 5) comes from the February 17
evening pass of Meteor M2.

Figure 5This is the same evening Meteor M2 pass, rectified in LRPT
Image Processor, which also added the country outlines.

of year, but also to cloud cover, the image does
not show land features clearly, and the additionof country boundaries gives a more satisfying
impression (figure 3). Figures 4 and 5 illustrate how
the overnight infrared channel can also benefit fromthe application of country boundaries.

boundaries accurately on the images, in particular
the start time of decoding (Moscow time). A
typical set of three Meteor BMP images, each withaccompanying ‘stat’ file, is illustrated in figure 6.
All six files have the same stem filename, and differ
only in the final channel code: 64 (channel‑1),
65 (channel‑2) and 68 (channel‑5). To avoid any
confusion when accessing these files through LRPT
Image Processor’s Load Dialog, they are listed onlyby the stem filename, in this case: 2020_02_18_
LRPT_09-52-19. Selecting any one from these threewill load the full set into the software.

The New Features
Depending on the settings in its ‘ini’ file, Oleg
Bekrenov’s LRPT Decoder can generate not only
composite RGB125 Meteor images (figure 1) but
also greyscale images of each of the three individual
data channels. If these three greyscale images arepresent, LRPT Image Processor will combine them
to form its products: if only an RGB125 or RGB123
image is present, the software will extract theindividual data from these. To be certain that LRPT
Decoder generates greyscale BMP Meteor images, its
minimalist ini file should read as below:[IN]
mode=72k; current PSK Symbol Rate for M2[OUT]
rgb=125.bmp ; Current channels being transmittedmono=bmp ; Single channel BMPs in greyscale
logs=no; inhibits developer’s log files
Each original image generated by Oleg’s LRPT
Decoder is accompanied by a ‘stat’ text file whichcontains essential data for superimposing country

Overlays
The current setup file for LRPT Image Processor
contains two datafiles: Countries.dat which createsthe country boundaries and Stations.dat which adds
markers for principal cities, points of interest, and
EUMETSAT ground stations.

Figure 6
A typical set of Meteor M2 greyscale-BMP channel files

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14

These overlays are initialised by right-clicking over a
generated image to reveal the pop-up menu shownin figure 7. Click on ‘Boundaries’ to toggle theoverlays on or off. Note that these overlays do not
automatically save with the images. To save images
with overlays intact you must, additionally, checkthe ‘Save with overlay’ option on the Setup panel(figure 8). A recent Meteor M2 image is reproducedon page 16 both with and without country
boundaries to illustrate the effect (figures 9a/b).
Overlay Accuracy
To ensure the best possible registration of country
boundaries it is vital that LRPT Image Processor
has access to the most up-to-date set of Keplerianelements. The Setup panel includes a ‘Browse’ option
for the location of a file of Keplerian orbital elements
for Meteor M2: most commonly the file ‘weather.txt’
from Celestrak. Browse to a folder containing this file(not the file itself) and the software will do the rest.
One of the safest options is to use the element filewithin your favoured tracking software, as this will
be updated regularly through use.
The most likely candidates are David Taylor’s own
WXtrack and Sebastian Stoff’s Orbitron. Figure 8
shows, for my own system, the Kepler path set tothe ‘tle’ folder in Orbitron. If you don’t run a tracking
program, you can download an element set fromhttps://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/weather.txt

and store it in a folder of your choice: this element
file will actually work perfectly from within the LRPT
Image Processor folder itself.

Figure 7
A right-click of the mouse over the generated images reveals
this menu for controlling boundary data, image attitude andsharpening.

Registration of country boundaries is generally very
accurate, but if necessary they can be nudged into
better alignment by means of your keyboard’s arrow
keys (and Shift+arrow keys for larger movement). But
it is advisable to update the Keplerian elements atleast once weekly to minimise this. In the Orbitron
tracking program which I use to control my receptionof the Meteor satellites, I have set it to automatically
update the Keplers at 2-day intervals.
There is also a choice of colour for the outlines: the‘Colour’ button on the Setup panel opens a colour
palette which you can click to make your choice.
RGB123 Mode
When LRPT Image Processor was originallyreleased in 2015, Meteor M2 transmitted visible
channels 1 and 2 alongside infrared channel-5
continuously all year long. The only deviationfrom this occurred when the infrared channel
was occasionally deactivated for one or twodays and replaced by channel-3 (presumably fordecontamination of the infrared sensor).
text continues on page 18

Figure 8
The Options-->Setup window in LRPT Image Processor

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15

Figure 9a - This IR image comes from the 19:40 UT pass of Meteor M2 on February 23, 2020, processed in LRPT Image Processor.

Figure 9b - This is the same image with country boundaries added.
Note that there are no colour options for boundaries over images on the Infrared tab as these are greyscale images.

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1616

Figure 10a - This is the greyscaled False-Colour Meteor M2 image from the 08:50 UT pass on February 26, 2010.

Figure 10b - This is the composite Day-Night image from the same Meteor M2 pass where detail from the infrared
channel has been added to the above image to provide enhanced detail in the darker areas.

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1717

However, starting in 2018, Roscosmos began ‘resting’the infrared LRPT transmission for several months
at a time, allowing enthusiasts access to regular
RGB123 visible-light imagery. This lasted for threemonths (from May to August) in 2018, and wasincreased to six months (from April to October) in
2019. This has now been catered for with a new
RGB123 tab on the program interface and an option
on the Setup panel (figure 8). Hopefully Meteor M2
will continue disseminating channel‑3 this summer.
Day/Night Mode
Another innovation in the software is what is termed
Day/Night mode, in which a greyscaled version of
the false-colour image and the infrared image are
combined. David Taylor explains:

monochrome version of the false-colour image
that’s combined with the infrared image. You canview this as either the false-colour providing moredetail to the infra-red, or the infra-red providing
more detail to the false-colour, as you wish.”
Although the oriinal idea was for the infrared image
to lighten the dark areas of false-colour image, I
have found that it also adds enhanced land detail toinfrared images.
The February 26 Meteor M2 pass reproduced on
page 17, shows both the greyscaled ‘false-colour’image alongside the processed ‘day/night’ image(figures 10a/b).
Finally“My intention in the new Day/Night mode wasto enhance dark winter-time false-colour images
by adding infra-red content into the dark areas.
The Day/Night image aims to combine the infrared and visible images so that cloud is shownin night areas, together with the brighter visible
image detail where the clouds are thinner orabsent.

It is only fair to point out that LRPT Image Processor
is free, unsupported software and, as such, David
Taylor is unable to field queries about it.

“I had hoped to use the colouring in the falsecolour images to continue, but in practice thisproduced some artefacts: so it’s actually a

You can read David Taylor’s original article about
LRPT Image Processor, starting on page 23 of thisNewsletter.

Support for Ayecka SR1 Users
Nigel Evans
I recently heard from a GEO shop customer living inGermany who had tried to restore his SR1, had got
in a mess and needed support. His SR1 is now in
my possession and I hopefully can restore it for our
German friend as Baruch from Ayeka showed me
how to do a full factory reset.

However, he has kindly agreed that we can reprint
his original article, which should answer any queries
that first-time users in particular may have about
how to use the software.

An Atmospheric Phenomenon
Rob Denton sent us this photograph taken by aneighbour of his. It appears to show a thin wisp ofcloud, in an otherwise clear sky, sporting a brilliant
flash of colour. If any reader understands the causeof this phenomenon, the editor will be pleased tohear from you. Emails, please togeoeditor@geo-web.org.uk

Although the GEO Shop is now closed, I am still
willing to provide some support to members.
In the case of our German friend, I suggested thatrather than throw his SR1 in the bin, his only risk
should I be unable to get his SR1 working again
would be the postage cost to the UK. I do makea small charge to cover postage and time for the
restore if successful. I make no charge of the unit
is clearly ‘dead on arrival’, which has only everoccurred twice.
Also, there must be SR1s out there gathering dust
too. As I do get the odd enquiry for these, I would
be prepared to help find these new homes. I can becontacted by email at either:
nigel.m0nde@gmail.com

or

shop@geo-web.org.uk

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18

News from Dundee Satellite Receiving Station
Now a commercial entity known as Dundee Satellite Station Ltd (DSRS)Introduction by Francis Bell
Members of GEO and those who read our last
Quarterly News Letter will know that GEO have
tried to be supportive of the satellite project based
at Dundee University, which has recently been facedwith closure due to NERC withdrawing its financial
support. The project at the University has now beenclosed but is being re-established at a new site
nearby. I asked the project leaders to send us a very
brief report about their progress in re-establishing
their satellite ground station. I was delighted toreceive the following report from Neil Lonie, plus a
number of photographs.
The closure last year of the well known DSRS facility, firstbegun in 1966 by Peter Baylis and John Brush, along withstudents at the School of Engineering in the University of
Dundee, was a body blow to remote sensing observation
science in Scotland, the UK and beyond.
After NERC withdrew funding from the Station (it had
begun funding it from ca. 1976 until 2019) the University’s
senior management claimed it could no longer afford theStation or the personnel and forced its closure. However,
several of the personnel, along with long-time supportersof the facility, began a campaign to rescue the equipment
and antennas, and relocate the Station to a new site torecommence operations.

The tracking 3.7 metre dish with VHF antenna which willbe the first antenna established at Errol Airfieldshould also generate profits that will allow the pursuit ofresearch and development projects with universities andother organisations, and also provide some free Earth
Observation data and imagery to both amateur users andprofessional remote sensing scientists.
DSS Ltd has recently received (13th February) planningpermission from Perth & Kinross Council to relocate its
antennas to the former RAF Errol Airfield, just west of
Dundee, where the “antenna farm” will be re-established.
This will require the installation of an on-site operations/maintenance building to support the antennas, with all therequisite antenna mount hardware, power, networking andsite security infrastructure to be constructed as well, ofcourse.
The ongoing Gofundme campaign to help fund theantennas and facilities to be used for EO data collection
has raised on-line to date, some £14,200, while additional

Dishes awaiting transfer to the new station on Errol AirfieldAs such, Dundee Satellite Station Ltd was formed, now
run by Dr Paul Crawford (RF Engineer) and Mr Neil
Lonie (Station Manager and Operations Engineer).
Faced with the realities of creating the necessary
income stream to fund the running costs, DSS Ltd
will operate as a commercial entity providing groundstation support for small satellites, for example. ThisAn aerial view over Errol airfield, where planningpermission has been give for establishing the new
Dundee Satellite Station

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19

A recent image of Exmouth Gulf Australia from a prototype ocean colour satellite supported by the Dundee station

outside donations bring that amount even higher, withan end goal of £65,000. The very kind and substantial
donation from the GEO Organisation is currently being
held in reserve until the commercial antennas arefunctioning, when it can then be used towards establishing
EO data reception once more to “keep the weather free”
and provide daily data and imagery, as had been done by
DSRS.

Oceanographer of NASA at NASA Goddard and DSSLtd, and the GEO funds may also assist with a related
research project using data from a new prototype oceancolour observation satellite. The project area would be
South Georgia Island and the surrounding South Atlantic
region. An attached sample image showing Exmouth Bay,
Australia gives an idea.

Discussions are underway between the Centre for Remote
Environments at the University of Dundee, the Satellite

Web: www.DundeeSat.co.uk

Neil Lonie, Dundee Satellite Station Ltd

Email: ntlonie@dundeesat.co.uk

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20

The Island Shaped like a Horseshoe
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Kasha Patel

Approximately 4,000 years ago, a volcano in the Southern
Ocean launched between 30 and 60 cubic kilometresof rock and magma into the sky. The eruption had thesame severity as the cataclysmic 1991 eruption of Mount
Pinatubo and was the biggest eruption around Antarctica
in the past 12,000 years.
As the volcano’s magma chamber emptied, the sudden
drop in pressure inside the volcano caused the top to
collapse and form a caldera eight to ten kilometres indiameter. A collapse of this magnitude is large enoughto induce multiple, intense high-magnitude earthquakes,
according to researchers.
In the process, the caldera gave the island its
unusual horseshoe shape. When explorer Nathaniel
Palmer approached the island in 1820, he named it
Deception Island on account of its deceptive appearance;
it appeared as a normal island from most directions, butfrom the southeast a narrow passage revealed a harbour(the flooded caldera) that explorers could sail into.

Location of Deception Island off the Antarctic Peninsula

Deception Island viewed from Landsat-8 on March 23, 2018
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Deception Island viewed from Landsat-8 on September 121, 2017.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The natural-colour image on page 21 shows
Deception Island in early autumn, as observed by
the Operational Land Imager aboard Landsat 8 on
March 23, 2018, when the top of the volcano was
visible. The image above, taken on September 21,
2017, shows the volcano and caldera covered insnow and ice.
Deception Island is one of two active volcanoes
around Antarctica, and has erupted more thantwenty times since the 19th century. The mostrecent eruptions occurred between 1967 and1970, and seismic activity has occurred asrecently as 2014-2015. Deception Island remains
one of the only places in the world where ships
can sail directly into the centre of a restless
volcano.

Despite the island’s eruptive history, its harbour—
Port Foster—is considered one of the safest in
Antarctica due to the absence of large glaciers.
At the beginning of the 19th century, people
began visiting the island to hunt seals, a popularcommercial frenzy at the time. When the seals
were hunted almost to extinction by the early
1900s, seafarers switched to whaling and set up
operations at Whalers Bay on the east side of the
port.
Today, Deception Island is home to scientificresearch stations, although some have been wipedaway by past volcanic activity. The island is also
a popular place for tourists, who can haul out on
the beach and sit in geothermal baths. Visitors
can also see one of the world’s largest rookeries ofchinstrap penguins located on the island.

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GEO
GEO Quarterly
Quarterly No
No 47
47

The
The GroupGroup forfor Earth
Earth Observation
Observation

September
September 2015
2015

David Taylor
Program Background
Like many other readers, I had been dabbling with Meteor M2
imagery in recent months, and quickly became aware of one
feature that currently available software lacked: the ability to
combine the three Meteor LRPT channels into realistic falsecoloured images.
Those of you who download NOAA HRPT imagery will bewell aware that excellent results can be formed by combining
channels 1, 2 and 4, to create the ‘classic’ RGB124 coloured
images. In theory, this can also be achieved for Meteor as thefrequency ranges of the two satellites’ channels are almost
identical, as illustrated in the tables below.
NOAA

Meteor M2

Channel 1 0.58 - 0.68 µm

Channel 1 0.50 - 0.70 µm

Channel 2 0.725 - 1.00 µm

Channel 2 0.70 - 1.10 µm

Channel 4 10.30 - 11.30 µm

Channel 5 10.55 - 11.50 µm

One problem is that Meteor M2 transmits its channel-5 image
with the warmer areas as light tones and cold regions in darktones, displaying dark clouds and light coloured land. NOAA
reverses this prior to transmission, providing images with themore familiar light cloud features and darker land and sea.

Figure 1 - The original RGB125 Meteor M2 Image from April 21, 2015

A second problem is that I have yet to ﬁnd calibration datafor digital level to brightness temperature, so I have had toestimate this by comparison with other satellite data.
Meteor RGB125 images
If you select the three Meteor LRPT channels as red, green andblue respectively in Oleg’s LrptOffLineDecoder, you end up withimages like the one shown in ﬁgure 1, where there is a strong
red bias, especially in the seas. But because these images
contain the complete sets of values for all three LRPT channels,
it is a straightforward matter to tease them apart with softwareand recombine them in more interesting interpretive ways.
LRPT Image Processor
This was the rationale behind the development of LRPT
Image Processor, a simple program that converts Meteor
RGB125 images into a number of more useful formats. Someof these are simply combinations of the original channels, whileothers result from the application of Colour Lookup Tables(CLUTs) to produce more realistic false-colour images.
LRPT Image Processor can be downloaded fromhttps://www.satsignal.eu/software/LRPT-processor.html
and is free to use. No registration is required.
To install LRPT Image Processor, extract all the ﬁles from the
ZIP archive into a directory outside the C:\Program Files\ tree: I
suggest C:\Tools\SatSignal\LRPTprocessor\.
Usage
LRPT Image Processor can remove the edge compression
present in the raw scan data from Meteor-M N2 LRPT data
(and does so by default), to create a Meteor RGB122 image,pseudo-NOAA RGB124 image, vegetation image, infrared
image, thermal image and a false-colour image based on

23

Figure 2 - The Geometrically Corrected RGB125 Meteor M2 Imagea provided 256×256 CLUT. The thermal components dorely on you initially saving an RGB125 Meteor image from
LrptOffLineDecoder, wherechannel 1 (0.5 - 0.7 µm)=>
channel 2 (0.7 - 1.1 µm)=>
channel 5 (10.5 - 11.5 µm) =>

Red
Green
Blue

You can load such an image, in either BMP or JPG format,
into LRPT Image Processor from the command-line, by usingdrag-and-drop on to the program interface, or via the File|Openwww.geo-web.org.uk

23

GEO
GEO Quarterly
Quarterly No
No 47
47

24

The
The GroupGroup forfor Earth
Earth Observation
Observation

September
September 2015
2015

Figure 3 - The standard Meteor RGB122 image

Figure 6 - Infrared image derived by inverting Meteor channel 5

Figure 4 - Mimicking NOAA’s RGB124 image

Figure 7 - The Thermal image

Figure 5 - Vegetation Index derived from channels 1 and 2

Figure 8 - The False-colour Image created by applying the
TempToColourHLS CLUT

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GEO
GEO Quarterly
Quarterly No
No 47
47

The
The GroupGroup forfor Earth
Earth Observation
Observation

September
September 2015
2015

menu. After a short delay while processing takes place, all theimages generated are automatically saved in the same directoryas the input image, and in the same format (BMP or JPG). These
images can be inspected individually by clicking on the various
tabs at the top of the screen. Initially, because each image isshown at full resolution, only a small section appears on screen.
But a left-click over the image toggles it between full size andﬁt-to-screen.
Histogram Equalisation
As readers who regularly acquire Meteor M2 imagery will bewell aware, the infrared images from Meteor’s channel-5 often
show very low contrast. When LRPT Processor’s ‘InfraRed’ tabis displayed, a right-click over the image reveals a pop-up menu
that provides four histogram equalisation options ranging from‘none’ to ‘strong’ (ﬁgure 9). Lower levels of equalisation improvedetail in light coloured areas (clouds) while higher levels reveal
progressively more detail in darker regions (land). The four levelsof equalisation are compared in ﬁgure 10.
The ‘False-colour’ tab also allows a choice of histogram
equalisation and sharpening, both accessed by a right- mouseclick (ﬁgure 12). Note that the sharpening will also make thecompression in the original data more obvious.

Figure 9 - The right-click histogram equalise menu that
operates on the Infrared tab.

Figure 10 - The Histogram Equalise options available on the Infrared Tab (from left to right): None, Mild, Normal and Strong.

The Options Menu
The ‘Options’ menu allows you to• Rotate an image: used for flipping imagery from northboundpasses into an upright position.
• Select a CLUT, which determines the appearance of theimage in the ‘False-colour’ tab.
• Reveal the ‘Setup’ panel.
This ﬁnal option allows the user to select which of the sevenimages displayed on LRPT Processor’s tabs are actually
saved when the software is activated, whether or not to apply
geometrical correction to the images, and the preferred output
format (ﬁgure 11).

Figure 11 - The LRPT Processor ‘Setup’ panel.

25

The program has been developed in Embarcadero’s Delphi
using Windows-8.1/64, but I would expect it to work on
Windows XP-SP3 and later. Windows-XP/64 and Vista/64 may
not work as expected (and these operating systems are notsupported). It will also work in Linux, under WINE.
To run LRPT Processor, my Runtime Library Bundle must also be
installed. It can be downloaded fromhttps://www.satsignal.eu/software/runtime.html

Figure 12 - The sharpening menu on the ‘False-colour’ tab.

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25

Flevoland, the Netherlands
European Space Agency

Composite Sentinel-1 radar image of the Dutch province of Flevoland© Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over part of
the Dutch province of Flevoland—the newest province in
the Netherlands and one of the largest land reclamation
projects in the world.

apart to show change in crop and land conditions overtime. The first image from May 8, 2018 is associated withred, the second from July 7 depicts changes in green, andthe third from September 5 has been linked to blue.

With almost a third of the country lying below sea level,
the Netherlands is famously known as a ‘low country,’ andhas a long history of land reclamation. After a major floodin 1953 it was decided to tame the Zuiderzee, a large,
shallow inlet of the North Sea, to improve flood protection
and also create additional land for agricultural use. The
project entailed the creation of land known as polders.
The ‘Noordoostpolder,’ or the Northeast polder is the focusof this image. Over the years, the region has developed
to become home to a modern and innovative agriculturalindustry. The province produces predominantly apples,
cereals, potatoes and flowers—with each colourful patch in
the image representing a different crop.

Along the dykes of the Ijsselmeer, west of theNoordoostpolder, lies one of the largest wind farms in the
Netherlands. The strong, almost star-shaped, reflections
that can be seen near the shore are around 86 windturbines. The wind farm is said to generate approximately
1.4 billion kWh of clean renewable energy per year,
comparable to the power consumption of over 400 000
households.

This image combines three radar acquisitions from theCopernicus Sentinel-1 mission taken about two months

Images acquired with radar are interpreted by studying
the intensity of the backscatter radar signal, which isrelated to the roughness of the ground. Cities and towns
are visible in white owing to the stronger reflection of
the signal. Emmeloord can be seen in the centre of theNoordoostpolder, as well as several farms that appear as
bright white dots along the roads.

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Joachim Scharrer sent in this composite Meteor M2 infrared image from his GIS system, showing a spectaculardepression over Iceland on February 19, 2020.

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André T’Kindt submitted this interesting NOAA 18 APT image showing a November Atlantic Storm
engulfing the UK on November 3, 2019.

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28

Bloom in McMurdo Sound
NASA Earth Observatory
Text by Kathryn Hansen

There is plenty of plant-like lifearound Antarctica; you just haveto know when and where to
look. During the austral springand summer, coastal waters
sometimes swirl with vibrant green
colour—the surface expression ofa huge phytoplankton bloom.
The floating, microscopic plantlike organisms were abundantin Terra Nova Bay and McMurdo
Sound on January 21, 2020, when
the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired
this image. Such colorful swirls
in coastal waters are sometimes
caused by sediments stirred up by
waves and currents. But scientists
say the source of the colour thismonth has a biological origin.
‘It is definitely a phytoplankton
bloom,’ said Kevin Arrigo, abiological oceanographer at
Stanford University. ‘They tend
to form every year in Terra
Nova Bay around January.’

NASA’s Aqua satellite observed this antarctic plankton bloom on January 21, 2020.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data fromNASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

Robert Dunbar, a fellow
researcher at Stanford,
agrees that the colour isa phytoplankton bloom.
‘These kinds of features arecommon in Antarctica’s coastal

Pancake ice in the Antarctic
Photo: Robert Dunbar

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polynyas in summer and latesummer.’Polynyas are areas where winds
sustain a persistent opening in thesea ice. Sunlight and near-surface
nutrients are plentiful in theseareas, making them havens for
phytoplankton. Blooms can evenoccur in polynyas in late summer
when the water is covered by thin,
new frazil crystals and pancake
ice. Research by Dunbar andcolleagues has shown that latesummer blooms can accumulate
in this ice and turn it green. The
phenomenon—most widespreadin February and March—is visible
in the photograph at left, shot by
Dunbar in 2018.
Even in the satellite image fromlate January 2020, some of thebloom appears be associated withthe sea ice, primarily north of
the Drygalski ice tongue. Still, asignificant amount of the bloomshows up farther out in McMurdo
Sound and could just be a typicalsummer bloom.

29Somewhat unusually, New Year’s Eve 2019 was mild and without wind, perfect conditions for the thousands of revellers who welcomedin the New Year. This Meteor M2 infrared image acquired on that day shows most of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and northern Englandunder starry skies completely free of cloud.

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30

Widespread Melt on the George VI Ice Shelf
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Kathryn Hansen

Even in frigid Antarctica, summer warmth can turn ice into
water. At the peak of the 2019-2020 melt season, jeweltoned ponds of meltwater spanned a vast area on the
George VI ice shelf—a huge slab of floating glacier ice
attached to the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
These images were acquired on January 19, 2020, by
the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8, and is the only
complete view of such a widespread surface melt eventon the George VI Ice Shelf during the nearly 50-yearlong Landsat record. Alison Banwell, a glaciologist at
the University of Colorado Boulder, who currently has athree-year fieldwork project on the shelf, noticed the melt
in images acquired by the European Space Agency’s
Sentinel-2 satellite, stated: “This is the biggest melt event
we know to have occurred on the George VI ice shelf”.
That’s not to say that melting hasn’t happened here before.
Satellite images, often partially obscured by clouds, show
periodic melt since it was first visible in Landsat imagery inJanuary 1973. However, none seem to cover such a large
area. The extent of the melt in the January 2020 image isimpressive, spanning a length of about 140 kilometres. It is
most likely the product of multiple days of melting.
The exact reason for the extensive melt on George VI
shelf this year is currently unclear. Previous melting had
been caused by wind patterns that brought warm air
close to the surface, and by excessive cloudiness thattrapped longwave radiation and reflected it back on to theice. Whatever the reason, the warmth probably extends
beyond the George VI ice shelf.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using
Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

“What’s worrying is that (if George VI looks like this) otherice shelves on the peninsula probably have plenty of
meltwater too,” stated Banwell. “And those ice shelves areless stable.” At the time, clouds prevented satellites fromgetting a good look at the other ice shelves.
Banwell explained that when melt ponds in surface
depressions on an ice shelf, it changes the distributionof stress placed on the ice. Ponded water can thendrain down through cracks in the ice, again shifting the
distribution of stress on the shelf and helping to destabilise
it. Banwell’s research has shown that the drainage ofsome 2500 lakes via a chain reaction process preceded
the collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002 on thepeninsula’s eastern side.
George VI is less likely to see that fate. Unlike mostice shelves that fan out over the open ocean, George
VI is sandwiched between the Antarctic Peninsula andAlexander Island. With the flow of ice compressed between
these two landmasses, the shelf sees smaller flexes and ismore stable than other ice shelves. According to Banwell,“George VI is quite stable and can probably support a lotof melt without collapsing.”.

www.geo-web.org.uk

Detail 1

Detail 231This NOAA 18 APT image with precipitation overlay from André T’Kindt dramatically shows the bands of intense
rainfall as Storm Denis leaves a battered and badly flooded England in its wake on February 16, 2010.

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