Description:

In Summer 2023, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission. TROPICS is a constellation of up to four smallsats in a medium inclination orbit that provides a median revisit rate approaching one hour in the tropical regions of the globe. Each satellite contains a TROPICS Millimeter-wave Sounder, which is a cross-track scanning instrument that provides imagery near 91- and 205-GHz, along with vertical profiles of temperature and humidity derived from channels near 118 and 183 GHz, respectively. Official TROPICS products include Level 1 brightness temperatures, along with Level 2 thermodynamic soundings, rain rate, and tropical cyclone intensity estimates. Process studies and data assimilation experiments using TROPICS data have demonstrated its utility in hurricane analysis, and the data have been incorporated into decision support systems at the National Hurricane Center and US Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Broader applications of TROPICS data include tropical rainfall and global temperature climatologies. For this session, we solicit presentations on TROPICS products, research, and applications, including both tropical cyclone and non-tropical cyclone topics.