ADT v8.1: tropical cyclone intensity beyond Dvorak

The Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) of NOAA's Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS) has collaborated with the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), University of Wisconsin, since 1997 on the development of an objective technique for estimating the intensity of tropical cyclones. What began initially as an attempt to automate the internationally recognized Dvorak technique has, more than a decade later, evolved into a robust statistical algorithm that increasingly bears less resemblance to the subjective Dvorak technique. For example, the release of v8.1 in October 2009 incorporated microwave imagery in an effort to identify nascent eyes prior to their appearance in conventional infrared satellite imagery. The results of a comparison between the ADT v8.1 and SAB's subjective Dvorak intensity estimates during the 2009-2010 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season are described.