CIRA Efforts to Improve the Utility and Display of Tropical Cyclone Centered Microwave Imagery

CIRA has researched, developed, and transitioned several tropical cyclone (TC) products into operations in support of the National Hurricane Center, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, the Department of Defense’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, and the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office user community. Part of this effort involves the collection, archiving, and display of satellite passive microwave products. At present, CIRA’s TC Realtime webpage¹ displays images in the 89 GHz frequency range from a limited subset of operational low-Earth orbiting satellites, namely the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI), and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2). These displays provide direct access to forecasters and users who may otherwise lack the resources or personnel to synthesize the necessary information to make timely decisions in the face of oncoming tropical cyclone hazards.

In this presentation, we highlight ongoing efforts to improve the quality and quantity of microwave imagery available on TC Realtime. In the past, images have been obtained directly from a NESDIS McIDAS server, limiting our ability to control how the information is displayed. We have switched to directly pulling the raw satellite data, allowing for in-house processing of the output and generation of the graphics. Through this increased control, we can deliver a more uniform display across products. In addition, we have increased the number of microwave channels displayed by providing images from the 37 GHz frequency range. Images from these channels serve as a proxy for the location of low-level liquid precipitation. By combining these low-level features with the 89 GHz channel, which serves as a proxy for the location, organization, and intensity of deep and shallow convection, we provide a more complete picture of the TC structure. We conclude with a discussion of how this infrastructure can be used to develop future passive microwave-based products and plans to make the data more accessible to the broader research community and general public.

¹https://rammb-data.cira.colostate.edu/tc_realtime/