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Water Vapor Imagery

The 7.3 µm “Lower-level water vapor” band typically senses farthest down into the mid-troposphere in cloud-free regions. It is used to track lower tropospheric winds, identify jet streaks, monitor severe weather potential, estimate lower-level moisture, identify regions where the potential for turbulence exists, highlight volcanic plumes that are rich in sulphur dioxide (SO2) and track Lake Effect snow bands. In this imagery, bright blue and white areas indicate the presence of high water vapor or moisture content, whereas dark orange and brown areas indicate little or no moisture present.

 

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You can advance the imagery by placing your cursor over the image and using your mouse's scroll wheel, clicking the image and using the up and down arrows on your keyboard, or by clicking and dragging the scroll bar down (to go forward) or up (to go back). To save a particular image, scroll through the animation to the frame you want and right-click.