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Winter Cold Fronts & Air Masses - December 1989
On December 25, 1989 the coldest air of the previous ten years entered Florida. Record lows were set throughout the state. While the winds with the cold front that preceded the cold air were not strong, the cold air and clear skies caused the temperatures in Florida Bay to plummet. Temperatures as low as 10° Celsius (below 50° Fahrenheit) were observed. (Severe stress and mortality of tropical organisms occurs at temperatures below 15° C). The winds were moderate and caused some resuspension in the Bay, resulting in higher reflectance than normal.
December 25, 1989 full-resolution image [215KB GIF]
InterpretationReflectance can be related to attenuation, Secchi disk depth, or total suspended solids. In Florida Bay, nominally, 10% reflectance corresponds to sediment concentration of 20 mg/l or a Secchi disk depth of 0.5 m. Imagery data sets are provisional and the values are subject to change. The reflectances correspond to the brightness (or turbidity) of the water; however they have not been corrected for bottom reflectance. The images were produced from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on NOAA weather satellites. Clouds are masked in gray; land in brown. The December 1989 imagery was derived from raw data acquired from NOAA National Climatic Data Center. |
U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
