Improving tropical cyclone forecasts in regional NWP with GOES-R imaging and JPSS sounding data

The Infrared Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) provide atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles with high vertical resolution and accuracy, while GOES-R will provide total precipitable water (TPW) with high temporal and spatial resolution. The combined JPSS/GOES-R sounding and imaging data in hurricane environment are very useful for improving tropical cyclone (TC) forecasts. Sounding data (radiances and profiles) from Aqua AIRS/AMSU, NPP CrIMSS are used together with MODIS (as proxy of GOES-R) for hurricane forecast experiments. The NCEP operational assimilation system - Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) together with high resolution regional numerical weather prediction (NWP) model – Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) are used in the data assimilation and forecasting experiments. Typical hurricane cases such as Ike and Irene are selected for experiments. Data are assimilated every 6 hours followed by 48-hour forecasting. Results show that the high resolution TPW measurements in hurricane environment are very important for improving the track and intensity forecasts. It is also found that when combined microwave and advanced infrared sounder data are used together with the conventional data, the hurricane track and intensity (central seal level pressure) forecasts have the best accuracy compared with that from single type of observing system (e.g., conventional, or microwave sounding system, or advanced IR sounder system), indicating that the integrated observations system plays key role in the regional hurricane forecasts.