Hurricane Satellite (HURSAT) data sets: Low-Earth orbit infrared and microwave data

Given the recent hypotheses relating long-term trends in tropical cyclone (TC) activity and global warming, there is a growing need for consistent reanalyses of the historical TC data. The hurricane satellite (HURSAT) data set provides a basis for consistent analysis. It has been used to objectively estimate the strength of tropical cyclones from 1983 through 2005. The HURSAT objective is to provide data to as wide a user base as possible for tropical cyclone research. This entails providing satellite data in a standard format having a calibration showing no temporal bias. The initial release of the data set is the HURSAT-B1 based on the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) B1 data set. ISCCP B1 data are collected from Japanese, European and U.S. geostationary satellites. Infrared window channel data provided on a 0.07°×0.07° (~8km) Lagrangian grid that follows the TC center at 3-hourly intervals. The HURSAT-B1 data set is updated annually. Other variations of HURSAT have also been developed. In particular, HURSAT-AVHRR makes use AVHRR data to provide 4km observations that will allow the application of the objective Dvorak technique. Also, HURSAT-Microwave data is based on SSM/I, providing information on storm structure.