Monitoring and Tracking Global Tropical Cyclones from Satellite Passive Microwave Observations
Abstract
Tropical cyclones (TCs) are among the most severe weather systems and can lead to catastrophic damage to lives, property, and society. TC intensity, structure and track are major parameters in forecasting TC activity. Satellite sensors provide the only method of global and near real-time observations of TC life cycles. Passive microwave (PMW) sensors, such as Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR-2), Global Precipitation Measurement microwave imager (GMI), and Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), present unique observations of TC intensity, center position, eyewall, and spiral convection zones because of the ability for microwave frequencies to penetrate clouds. Multi-satellite sensors are required to provide near real-time global coverage of TCs because each PMW sensor onboard a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite can make observations only twice per day over a given location. The Naval Research Laboratory-Monterey (NRL-MRY) TC web page is a one-stop site where people can search for available PMW sensor observations of all active TCs as well as links to archived storms dating back 20+ years. This TC web page, with a long history of providing information of near real-time TC observations to supplement materials used by decision-makers in order to mitigate potential TC damages, has been implemented with recent advances on the rich resources of satellite-based TC observations. This presentation will brief the history of the NRY-MRY TC webpage and describe those advances in the framework of the Geo-located Information Processing System (GeoIPS®) developed at NRL-MRY, including the inter-sensor calibration on frequency shift between sensors for consistent view of TC brightness temperatures (TBs) among these sensors, re-center of TC position with the Automated Rotational Center Hurricane Eye Retrieval (ARCHER) algorithm, and a new interpolation scheme. An improved TC climatology with the NRL-MRY TC database will also be presented and discussed for better understanding of the TC structure and intensity.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.C53B..03Y
- Keywords:
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- 3360 Remote sensing;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 0758 Remote sensing;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 1855 Remote sensing;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 4275 Remote sensing and electromagnetic processes;
- OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL