CloudSat Tropical Cyclone Database

Since June 2006, CloudSat has made over 3000 overpasses of tropical cyclones providing a unique opportunity to explore the inner views of the core clouds and precipitation structure in tropical systems. In conjunction with Naval Research Laboratory and multi-sensor satellite observations, data extraction is performed along track from each storm specific CloudSat overpass. This presentation will describe the data assimilation techniques and data parameters contained in the CloudSat tropical cyclone database and provide a composite look of cloud and precipitation structure as a function of r, z for intensifying versus weak storms. Individual cases and groups will focus on low vs high vertical wind shear environment and how cloud fields are affected. Storms will be grouped and analyzed by sea surface temperatures, vertical wind shear, basin and year. These observations will be analyzed within the context of other observations obtained from A-train sensors.