Relationship between latent heating and tropical cyclone warm core structure analyzed using satellite-based products

Latent heat release associated with convection within tropical cyclone (TC) is essential for the local atmospheric warming near the TC center, i.e., the warm core. However, in reality, to evaluate the influence of latent heating on warm core formation and development using scarce in-situ observations has limitations. This study aims to find the relationship between the latent heating and the warm core structure using satellite-based products which cover the entire TC area. Data used for this study are latent heating profile and related rain products of JAXA L2H25 (Ver.7) from TRMM/PR (Shige et al. 2004, 2007; Tao et al. 2006) and temperature profiles retrieved using 55-GHz band channel brightness temperatures of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) of NOAA and MetOp satellites (Demuth et al. 2004).

A case study using Typhoon Roke (1115) showed that the warm core intensified and the height of its peak shifted upward from the formation stage to the mature stage, concurrently the latent heating near the TC center increased with the upward shift of its peak. This result implies that the structural change of the warm core related to latent heat release within TC inner core can be diagnosed using the satellite-based products. This presentation will show results from the preliminary study for the relationship between the latent heating profile and warm core structure focusing on TC life stage, rain types within TC inner core and so on, using TCs for the western North Pacific basin.