A Satellite Observational and Numerical Study of Precipitation Characteristics in Western North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones

Rodgers, E. B.; Chang, Simon W.; Pierce, Harold F.

doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1994)033<0129:asoans>2.0.co;2

Cited by 72 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The average translational speed of the 25 TCs (including Irene) as they entered the study region was 10 ms −1 , while it was 16 ms −1 upon exit (Table 1). These values exceed the thresholds of 7.7, 8, and 10 ms −1 designated for fast-moving TCs from observational studies in the Atlantic Basin by [49][50][51], respectively. Only three TCs had lower translational speeds while exiting than upon entrance.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Track Trajectoriescontrasting

confidence: 64%

Comparing the Spatial Patterns of Rainfall and Atmospheric Moisture among Tropical Cyclones Having a Track Similar to Hurricane Irene (2011)

Matyas

2017

Atmosphere

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Irene was the most destructive tropical cyclone (TC) of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season due to flooding from rainfall. This study used a Geographic Information System to identify TCs with similar tracks and examine the spatial attributes of their rainfall patterns. Storm-total rainfall was calculated from the Unified Precipitation Dataset for 11 post-1948 storms and statistics corresponding to the top 10% of rainfall values left of track were computed. Irene-type tracks occur every 6.6 years. Floyd (1999) produced the highest rainfall overall and was the closest analog to Irene, yet Irene produced more rainfall in the northeastern U.S. where higher values of precipitable water existed. Areas of high rainfall expanded as five TCs moved north due to synoptic-scale forcing during extratropical transition. However, Irene and three other TCs did not exhibit this pattern. The amount of moisture in the environment surrounding the TC, rather than storm speed or intensity, exhibited the strongest correlations with rainfall totals and their spatial distribution. These results demonstrate the high variability that exists in the production of rainfall among TCs experiencing similar steering flow, and show that advection of moisture from the tropics is key to higher rainfall totals in the mid-latitudes.

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Section: Characteristics Of Track Trajectoriescontrasting

confidence: 64%

Comparing the Spatial Patterns of Rainfall and Atmospheric Moisture among Tropical Cyclones Having a Track Similar to Hurricane Irene (2011)

Matyas

2017

Atmosphere

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“…Other works used information from multiple microwave frequencies (e.g., 19 and 37 GHz) to derive rainfall rate information associated with tropical cyclones (Spencer et al 1989;Rao and MacArthur 1994;Rodgers et al 1994;Rodgers and Pierce 1995;Bankert and Tag 2002). Rainfall rate has been noted as an estimator of the amount of diabatic heating occurring within the inner-core region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive-Microwave-Enhanced Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme

Jones

Cecil

DeMaria

2006

Weather and Forecasting

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The formulation and testing of an enhanced Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme (SHIPS) using new predictors derived from passive microwave imagery is presented. Passive microwave imagery is acquired for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific basins between 1995 and 2003. Predictors relating to the inner-core (within 100 km of center) precipitation and convective characteristics of tropical cyclones are derived. These predictors are combined with the climatological and environmental predictors used by SHIPS in a simple linear regression model with change in tropical cyclone intensity as the predictand. Separate linear regression models are produced for forecast intervals of 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 h from the time of a microwave sensor overpass. Analysis of the resulting models indicates that microwave predictors, which provide an intensification signal to the model when above-average precipitation and convective signatures are present, have comparable importance to vertical wind shear and SSTrelated predictors. The addition of the microwave predictors produces a 2%-8% improvement in performance for the Atlantic and eastern North Pacific tropical cyclone intensity forecasts out to 72 h when compared with an environmental-only model trained from the same sample. Improvement is also observed when compared against the current version of SHIPS. The improvement in both basins is greatest for substantially intensifying or weakening tropical cyclones. Improvement statistics are based on calculating the forecast error for each tropical cyclone while it is held out of the training sample to approximate the use of independent data.

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“…The effect of storm motion on TC rainfall asymmetry has been documented in various observational studies (e.g., Miller 1958;Frank 1977;Marks 1985;Burpee and Black 1989;Rodgers et al 1994;LMC). Rainfall is generally observed to have a maximum ahead of the TC center, which indicates the importance of surface friction-induced low-level convergence.…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear and Storm Motion on Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Asymmetries Deduced from TRMM

Chen

Knaff

Marks

2006

Monthly Weather Review

355

324

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Vertical wind shear and storm motion are two of the most important factors contributing to rainfall asymmetries in tropical cyclones (TCs). Global TC rainfall structure, in terms of azimuthal distribution and asymmetries relative to storm motion, has been previously described using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager rainfall estimates. The mean TC rainfall distribution and the wavenumber-1 asymmetry vary with storm intensity and geographical location among the six oceanic basins. This study uses a similar approach to investigate the relationship between the structure of TC rainfall and the environmental flow by computing the rainfall asymmetry relative to the vertical wind shear. The environmental vertical wind shear is defined as the difference between the mean wind vectors of the 200-and 850-hPa levels over an outer region extending from the radius of 200-800 km around the storm center. The wavenumber-1 maximum rainfall asymmetry is downshear left (right) in the Northern (Southern) Hemisphere. The rainfall asymmetry decreases (increases) with storm intensity (shear strength). The rainfall asymmetry maximum is predominantly downshear left for shear values Ͼ 7.5 m s Ϫ1. Large asymmetries are usually observed away from the TC centers. As TC intensity increases, the asymmetry maximum shifts upwind to the left. The analysis is further extended to examine the storm motion and the vertical wind shear and their collective effects on TC rainfall asymmetries. It is found that the vertical wind shear is a dominant factor for the rainfall asymmetry when shear is Ͼ5 m s Ϫ1. The storm motion-relative rainfall asymmetry in the outer rainband region is comparable to that of shear relative when the shear is Ͻ5 m s Ϫ1, suggesting that TC translation speed becomes an important factor in the low shear environment. The overall TC rainfall asymmetry depends on the juxtaposition and relative magnitude of the storm motion and environmental shear vectors in all oceanic basins.

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A Satellite Observational and Numerical Study of Precipitation Characteristics in Western North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones

Cited by 72 publications

References 21 publications

Comparing the Spatial Patterns of Rainfall and Atmospheric Moisture among Tropical Cyclones Having a Track Similar to Hurricane Irene (2011)

Comparing the Spatial Patterns of Rainfall and Atmospheric Moisture among Tropical Cyclones Having a Track Similar to Hurricane Irene (2011)

Passive-Microwave-Enhanced Statistical Hurricane Intensity Prediction Scheme

Effects of Vertical Wind Shear and Storm Motion on Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Asymmetries Deduced from TRMM

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