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Microwave Remote Sensing of Tropical Cyclones from Space

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Abstract

This article reviews several microwave instruments employed in research and analysis of tropical cyclones (TCs), typhoons, and hurricanes. The instruments discussed include scatterometers, microwave radiometers, synthetic aperture radars (SARs), and rain radar from space. Examples of the particular contribution by one or more of these instruments in analysis of several storms illustrate the comprehensive new views provided by the SeaWinds scatterometers, the detailed high-resolution wind field provided by RADARSAT-1 SAR, particularly inside and in the vicinity of hurricane “eyes,” and the presence of secondary flows in the region between rainbands in TCs. The high spatial resolution of precipitation data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's rain radar, combined with scatterometer or SAR data, give a significant improvement in the details that can be seen from space, at the surface, and in the precipitating areas of TCs. The microwave instruments provide a penetrating view below the upper level cirrus clouds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NOAA/Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, U.S.A

    Kristina B. Katsaros & Peter G. Black

  2. Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, 588 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0Y7, Canada

    Paris W. Vachon

  3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109-8099, U.S.A

    W. Timothy Liu

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  1. Kristina B. Katsaros
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  2. Paris W. Vachon
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  3. W. Timothy Liu
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  4. Peter G. Black
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Katsaros, K.B., Vachon, P.W., Liu, W.T. et al. Microwave Remote Sensing of Tropical Cyclones from Space. Journal of Oceanography 58, 137–151 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015884903180

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