Tropical Cyclone Structures Captured by Satellite Total Ozone Instruments

Satellite total ozone observations from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME-2) within and around tropical cyclones (TCs) are examined in this study. All the TCs in the 2010-2012 Atlantic Hurricane season are used. Detailed comparison of total ozone from GOME-2 and geopotential heights at isentropic surfaces from the ECMWF's Interim reanalysis is carried out for the representative case of Hurricane Earl in 2010. The along-track profiles of total ozone show that the hurricane center is often associated with a low value of total ozone at the formation and dissipating stage of the TCs. This was even seen while the TC exhibited TD status. An increase in hurricane intensity often corresponds to a decrease of total ozone content within the storm. Within this low ozone area, a hurricane eye can occasionally be seen in the total ozone data corresponding to a local maximum of total ozone embedded in a larger region of low ozone content. Radial sysmetric profiles of GOME-2 total ozone present similar features. The relative locations of the local minima and maxima of the total ozone closest to the storm center are further shown to help diagnose the intensity variations of the storms. The geopotential heights at isentropic levels from 310K to 360K at every 5 K from the ECMWF Interim reanalysis are then examined in an attempt to find the relationship between the observations and the analysis fields. It is found that the stronger the storm, the slope of the regression model tends to be steeper. The regression models derived in this study will be used for hurricane vortex initialization. The initial field of geopotential height will be adjusted by the distribution of total ozone through these regression models.