SCALE ANALYSIS OF INFRARED WATER VAPOR BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES FOR
TROPICAL CYCLONE ALL-SKY RADIANCE ASSIMILATION
Abstract
We analyzed the scale features of satellite infrared (IR) water vapor
(WV) brightness temperature observations of tropical cyclones (TCs).
This is to characterize the storm information at dominate scales in
all-sky radiance assimilation for TC numerical weather prediction. This
paper presents the results from the study of Hurricane Patricia (2015).
Our study shows that IR WV brightness temperatures have the ability to
observe multiscale structures of TCs, ranging from a size of above 1,000
km that covers the entire storm and its surrounding areas to a scale
resolving individual convective clouds embedded in the TC. The
atmospheric moisture for TC development is mainly represented by large
scales covering the storm and surrounding areas while the storm
structures are characterized basically by all scales. The large-scale
moisture and small-scale convection demonstrate strong correlation and
are closely related to the TC development, suggesting the need for
all-sky radiance assimilation at multiple scales.