Effectiveness Of QuikSCAT's Ultra-High Resolution Images in Determining Tropical Cyclone Eye Location

Abstract

The 25km resolution standard wind products (L2B) are available operationally in near-real time from SeaWinds on QuikSCAT. This relatively low resolution can be enhanced to yield a 2.5km ultra-high resolution (UHR) product that can be used to identify hurricane eye centers more accurately. A comparison is made between the analyst's choice of eye location based on UHR images and interpolated best-track position. In this analysis, the UHR images are divided into two categories based on the analyst's confidence level of finding the eye center location. In each category, statistical error quantities are computed. UHR images within the high-confidence category can provide, for a given year and basin, mean error distance as small as 15km with a 9km standard deviation. The use of these categories may facilitate the realization of QuikSCAT's effectiveness in helping to identify and track hurricane eye centers.

Tropical Cyclone Wind Field Reconstruction and Validation Using Measurements from SFMR and SMAP Radiometer

“…According to the track data provided by the US agency in IBTrACS, the location of the lowest wind speed in ERA5 within 150 km from the center of the best track is taken as the cyclone center (position of longitude and latitude). A similar method is also used to extract the tropical cyclone eye location from remote sensing data and compare it with the best-track data [57]. The geodesic distance between the cyclone center and the location of maximum wind speed in ERA5 is regarded as the RMW of a tropical cyclone, used as an indicator of tropical cyclone eye size [58].…”

Validation of the CFOSAT Scatterometer Data With Buoy Observations and Tests of Operational Application to Extreme Weather Forecasts in Taiwan Strait

“…Compared with optical remote sensing, microwave scatterometer is an all‐weather and all‐day sensor and able to quickly scan the area of interest. Particularly, it can play a key role in monitoring and forecasting of extreme weather conditions such as tropical cyclones and winter storms (Katsaros et al., 2001; Said & Long, 2008; Williams & Long, 2008; Zhang et al., 2009). Thus, this study focuses on the calibration analysis of the CFOSAT wind retrievals with moored buoy measurements under extreme weather conditions during the processes of typhoons and cold air passages.…”

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

“…In addition, several studies have made use of QuikSCAT data to examine circulation or vorticity about tropical disturbances [55], to examine various types of cyclone formation [98], and to use more accurate positioning techniques in conjunction with other remote sensing measurements, to better understand the movement and development of the TC from genesis to dissipation [27; 35]. OSVW interpretation can also be improved when the use of high resolution wind techniques [95] are employed (Fig. 3).…”