89th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Impact of atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) and QuickSCAT satellite data on numerical simulations of tropical cyclone intensity changes
Hall 5 (Phoenix Convention Center)
Zhaoxia Pu, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; and L. Zhang
This study examines the impact of the retrieved temperature and moisture profiles acquired from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard the NASA Aqua spacecraft as well as the Quick Scatterometer (QiukSCAT) ocean surface vectors on the numerical simulations of tropical cyclone intensity changes. A series of data assimilation experiments is performed with an advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model and its data assimilation system. With several tropical cyclone cases (both matured hurricanes and weak tropical storms), the impact of each AIRS retrieved component (temperature and moisture) and the combined different types of satellite [e.g., AIRS and QiukSCAT] data on the tropical cyclone intensity forecasts are investigated. In addition, diagnostic study is conducted by comparing the numerical simulation results with available in-situ and radar data. Major reasons of forecast improvement from the satellite data assimilation are discussed.

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