Since 1977, Doppler radar observations have permitted researchers to deduce the internal kinematic, thermodynamic, and microphysical structure of tropical cyclones. Such information can be obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) WP-3D research aircraft or by operational ground-based Doppler radars. These observations have provided a wealth of information that has enabled numerous studies on tropical cyclone structure and evolution to be performed.

One area that can greatly benefit from the use of radar data is model initialization. Numerous studies have shown the importance of introducing an initialization procedure that provides a more realistic initial vortex from what is obtained from conventional large-scale analyses. In this study, we intend to show that it is possible to simulate realistic characteristics of Hurricane Bret over the Gulf of Mexico using an original initialization technique based on the introduction of information derived from Doppler radar at the beginning of the simulation. The evolution and propagation of the simulated cyclone using the French Meso-NH nonhydrostatic mesoscale numerical model will be presented. A comparison of these results with those from the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 will also be presented.