Seán Doran's Water World Turns GOES-16 Satellite Data into Hypnotic Film

Digital artist and filmmaker Seán Doran created Water World, a film using 2,500 infrared images from the GOES-16 weather satellite, captured in late September 2024. Released through his independent project Cosma, the film transforms water vapor data over the Western Hemisphere into a cinematic portrait. Doran reconstructed missing frames, removed artifacts, and assigned each infrared band to a color channel, producing 4K Ultra High Definition imagery with frame interpolation. The film features ordinary weather patterns over six days, paired with Stellardrone's ambient track 'Journey to the Sun.' Doran emphasizes the work is independently produced, not an official NASA or NOAA project.