MEXICO: OLR Anomalies near epicenter of 8.1R

In view of the powerful earthquake to hit the coast of Mexico in 100 years killing at least five people and prompting warnings it could trigger tsunami waves up to 10 feet high, we created the following OLR chart animations covering the last few days. We can see clearly a high gradient near the epicenter.

Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is the emission to space of terrestrial radiation from the top of the earth's atmosphere. In physical terms it is strongly controlled by three   main   meteorological   variables,   namely   the   temperature   of   the   earth   and   the atmosphere  above  it,   the  presence  of  water   vapour  in  that   atmosphere  (which  strongly absorbs infra-red radiation attenuating the terrestrial  signal) and the presence of clouds (which may completely block all outgoing infra-red radiation from the surface). Thus, global maps   of  OLR averages   and   anomalies   reveal   information   on   the temperature,   humidity   and  cloudiness   of   the   atmosphere.