Canadian Space Agency&amp;#x2019;s Hurricane Watch Program: Archive contents, Data Access and improved planning strategies

Banal, S.; Iris, Steve; Saint-Jean, Robert

doi:10.1109/igarss.2007.4423599

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…These campaigns of dedicated acquisitions are named as SHOC, for Satellite Hurricane Observations Campaign (Mouche et al, ). Fully coordinated as for the hurricane watch program approach (Banal et al, ), SHOC campaigns help maximize the number of SAR acquisitions for both Copernicus/ESA Sentinel‐1 and also MDA/CSA Radarsat‐2 missions. For this study, the strategy to collect the data includes two different approaches.…”

Section: Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Copolarized and Cross‐Polarized SAR Measurements for High‐Resolution Description of Major Hurricane Wind Structures: Application to Irma Category 5 Hurricane

et al. 2019

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C‐band high‐resolution radar (synthetic aperture radar [SAR]) is the only spaceborne instrument able to probe at very high resolution and over all ocean basins the sea surface under extreme weather conditions. When coanalyzed with Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer wind estimates, the radar backscatter signals acquired in major hurricanes from Sentinel‐1 and Radarsat‐2 SAR reveal high sensitivity in the cross‐polarized channel for wind speeds up to 75 m/s. The combination of the two copolarized and cross‐polarized channels can then be used to derive high‐resolution surface wind estimates. The retrieval methods and impacts of intense rainfall are discussed in the context of a Hurricane Irma (2017) case study. On 7 September 2017, Sentinel‐1 measurements intercepted Hurricane Irma when it was at category 5 intensity. When compared to Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer, SAR‐derived wind speeds yield bias and root‐mean‐square of about 1.5 and 5.0 m/s, respectively. The retrieved wind structure parameters for the outer core are found to be in agreement with the Best‐Track and combined satellite‐ and aircraft‐based analyses. SAR measurements uniquely describe the inner core and provide independent measurements of the maximum wind speed and the radius of maximum wind. Near the radius of maximum wind a 65‐m/s increase in wind speed in less than 10 km is detected, corresponding to an instantaneous absolute vorticity of order 210 times the Coriolis parameter. Using a parametric Holland model and the environmental surface pressure (1,011 hPa), SAR‐derived wind speeds correspond to a central surface pressure of 918 hPa (921 hPa from the Best‐Track) in Irma's eye.

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Section: Data Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, first studies documented rain cell signatures associated with downdraft (Atlas, 1994a(Atlas, , 1994b.…”

Section: Rain Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

Copolarized and Cross‐Polarized SAR Measurements for High‐Resolution Description of Major Hurricane Wind Structures: Application to Irma Category 5 Hurricane

et al. 2019

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“…A dedicated acquisition strategy is thus mandatory to maximize tropical cyclone (TC) observations. The hurricane watch program (Banal et al 2007) for RadarSat, and more recently, the Satellite Hurricane Observation Campaign (SHOC) (Mouche et al 2019) for Sentinel-1 and RadarSat-2 were dedicated efforts that have maximized the collection of SAR measurements over TCs.…”

Section: Data and Methods For Sar Analysis A Synthetic Aperture Radarmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, since 2016, Sentinel-1 acquisition campaigns have thus been specifically designed, to test the instrument capabilities for mapping TCs (see Mouche et al (2019) for details). A similar TC data acquisition program using RadarSat-2 was also conducted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) (Banal et al 2007). Today, the combined efforts of these campaigns have provided many TC cases-strongly maximizing the utility of SAR acquisitions from both Copernicus/ESA Sentinel-1 and MDA/CSA RadarSat-2 missions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive High-Resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Data Analysis of Tropical Cyclones: Comparisons with SFMR Flights and Best Track

Combot

Mouche

Knaff

et al. 2020

Monthly Weather Review

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To produce more precise descriptions of air-sea exchanges under Tropical Cyclones (TCs), spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instruments provide unique capabilities to probe the ocean surface conditions, at very high spatial resolution, and on synoptic scales. Using highly-resolved (3 km) wind fields, an extensive database is constructed from Radarsat-2 and Sentinel-1 SAR acquisitions. Spanning 161 tropical cyclones, the database covers all TC intensity categories that have occurred in five different TC basins, and include 29 cases coincident with SFMR measurements. After locating the TC center, a specific methodology is applied to filter out areas contaminated by heavy precipitations to help extract, for each acquisition, the maximum wind speed (Vmax), its associated radius (Rmax), and corresponding outer wind radii (R34/50/64-kt). These parameters are then systematically compared with Best-Track (BTK), and when available, SFMR airborne measurements. For co-located SFMR and SAR observations, comparisons yield root-mean-squares of 3.86 m s−1 and 3 km, for ocean surface wind speeds and TC Rmax, respectively. High correlations remain for category 5 cases, with Vmax exceeding 60 m s−1. The largest discrepancies are found between BTK and SAR Rmax estimates, with Rmax fluctuations poorly captured by BTK, especially for rapidly evolving category 3,4 and 5 TCs. In heavy precipitation (>35 mm h−1), the SAR C-band measurements may be impacted, with local ambiguities associated to rain features, as revealed by external rain measurements. Still, this large dataset demonstrates that SAR measurements have unique high-resolution capabilities, capturing the inner- and outer-core radial structure of the TC vortex, and provide independent and complementary measurements than those used for BTK estimates.

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“…C-Band SAR is the only space-borne instrument able to probe at very high resolution under extreme conditions. Moreover, dedicated acquisition strategy based on hurricane forecast tracks such as the Hurricane Watch program in Canada (Banal et al, 2007) or SHOC in Europe (Mouche et al, 2017) have proven to be efficient to mitigate the time sampling limitations (due to duty cycle) and provide comprehensive dataset over hurricane eyes (Li et al, 2013;Mouche et al, 2017). To note, the potential of both cross and co-polarization yielded to several proposals of concept missions, including the scatterometer onboard the Metop-SG series (Stoffelen et al, 2017b).…”

Section: High Wind Speed Retrievalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remotely Sensed Winds and Wind Stresses for Marine Forecasting and Ocean Modeling

et al. 2019

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Canadian Space Agency’s Hurricane Watch Program: Archive contents, Data Access and improved planning strategies

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Copolarized and Cross‐Polarized SAR Measurements for High‐Resolution Description of Major Hurricane Wind Structures: Application to Irma Category 5 Hurricane

Copolarized and Cross‐Polarized SAR Measurements for High‐Resolution Description of Major Hurricane Wind Structures: Application to Irma Category 5 Hurricane

Extensive High-Resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Data Analysis of Tropical Cyclones: Comparisons with SFMR Flights and Best Track

Remotely Sensed Winds and Wind Stresses for Marine Forecasting and Ocean Modeling

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