Abstract
The real-time operational use of atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) at numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers in India are being adversely affected due to inaccurate height assignment of cloud tracers, especially in thin semi-transparent clouds. In India, the operational derivation of AMVs from the Indian geostationary satellite Kalpana-1 began few years ago. A statistical empirical method (SEM) of height assignment, based on a genetic algorithm, is currently used to estimate the height of the retrieved vectors from Kalpana-1. This method has many limitations. In this paper, attempts have been made to implement the widely used and well tested height assignment methods such as the infrared window (WIN) technique, the H2O intercept, and the cloud base method in the Kalpana-1 AMV retrieval algorithm. The new height assignment algorithm significantly improves the statistics of the retrieved winds when compared to radiosondes, especially in high and mid levels winds.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bedka, K. M., & Mecikalski, J. R. (2005). Application of satellite derived atmospheric motion vectors for estimating meso-scale flows. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 44, 1761–1772.
Deb, S. K., Kishtawal, C. M., Pal, P. K., & Joshi, P. C. (2008). A modified tracer selection and tracking procedure to derive winds using water vapor imagers. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 47, 3252–32.
Deb, S. K., Kishtawal, C. M., & Pal, P. K. (2010). Impact of Kalpana-1-derived water vapor winds on indian ocean tropical cyclone forecasts. Monthly Weather Review, 138, 987–1003.
Hasler, A. F., Skillman, W. C., Shenk, W. E., & Steranka, J. (1979). In situ aircraft verification of the quality of satellite cloud winds over oceanic regions. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 18, 1481–1489.
Hubert, L. F., & Whitney, L. F., Jr. (1971). Wind estimation from geostationary-satellite picture. Monthly Weather Review, 99, 665–672.
Kelly, G. (2004). Observing system experiments of all main data types in the ECMWF operational system. Proc. Third WMO workshop on the impact of various observing systems on numerical weather prediction, WMO Tech. Rep. 1228, Alpbach, Austria, WMO, 1228, 32–36.
Kishtawal, C. M., Deb, S. K., Pal, P. K., & Joshi, P. C. (2009). Estimation of atmospheric motion vectors from Kalpana-1 imagers. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 48, 2410–2421.
LeMarshall, J., Pescod, N., Khaw, A., & Allen, G. (1993). The real − time generation and application of cloud − drift winds in the Australian region. Australian Meteorological Magazine, 42, 89–103.
Nieman, S. J., Schmetz, J., & Menzel, W. P. (1993). A comparison of several techniques to assign heights to cloud tracers. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 32, 1559–1568.
Olander, T.L. (2001). UW CIMSS satellite derived wind algorithm user’s guide (version 1.n) prepared by Timothy L. Olander on behalf of The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. (http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/iwwg/Docs/windcoug.pdf).
Schmetz, J., Holmlund, K., Hoffman, J., Strauss, B., Mason, B., Gaertner, V., Koch, A., & van de Berg, L. (1993). Operational cloud-motion winds from Meteosat infrared images. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 32, 1206–1225.
Schreiner, A.J., Menzel, W.P., Heidinger, A., Davies, J. & Feltz, W. (2004). Comparison of cloud motion vector height assignment techniques using the GOES-12 imager. Proc. Seventh Int. Winds Workshop, EUM P42, Helsinki, Finland.
Tokuno, M. (1996). Operational system for extracting cloud motion and water vapor motion winds from GMS-5 image data. Proc. Third Int. winds workshop, EUM P18, Ascona, Switzerland, EUMETSAT, 21–30.
Tokuno, M. (1998). Collocation area for comparison of satellite winds and radiosondes. Proc. Fourth Int. winds workshop, EUM P24, Saanenmoser, Switzerland, EUMETSAT, 21–28.
Velden, C. S., Hayden, C. M., Nieman, S. J., Menzel, W. P., Wanzong, S., & Goerss, J. S. (1997). Upper-tropospheric winds derived from geostationary satellite water vapor observations. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78, 173–195.
Velden, C. S., Daniels, J., Stettner, D., Santek, D., Key, J., Dunion, J., Holmlund, K., Dengel, G., Bresky, W., & Menzel, P. (2005). Recent innovations in deriving tropospheric winds from meteorological satellites. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86, 205–223.
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their critical and insightful comments and suggestions which have significantly improved the quality and presentation of the current version of the manuscript. The first author (SKD) thankfully acknowledges the financial support from M/S Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial wing of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Space, Govt. of India, for this study. The authors are also thankful to Shri A. S. Kiran Kumar, the Director, SAC for critical comments and suggestions during the course of this work. The encouragement and help from the Deputy Director, EPSA SAC, ISRO Ahmedabad is also acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Deb, S.K., Wanzong, S., Velden, C.S. et al. Height Assignment Improvement in Kalpana-1 Atmospheric Motion Vectors. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 42, 679–687 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-013-0278-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-013-0278-z