When studying the satellite pictures, remember that with the visible
images you are viewing reflected sunlight (reflected from the earth
or the clouds). In general, the brighter the cloud appears, the
thicker it is.
The visible
satellite images are updated once a day.
The infrared images are effectively showing the temperature of
the cloud or the ground. The images are usually prepared in such
a way that cold surfaces appear white, and warm ones darker.
The infrared
satellite images are updated four times a day.
A combination of visible and infrared images is very useful, if
both images are bright in a particular area there is likely to
be thick, high cloud. If the visible image shows areas of bright
cloud but the infrared image in the same area is dark, then there
is low cloud or perhaps fog.
Animated
images show the movements of clouds and therefore of the associated
systems.
The interpretation
pages describe satellites in more detail.
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