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Estimation of size of tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean using Oceansat-2 scatterometer high-resolution wind products

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Abstract

Tropical cyclone (TC) is one of the most intense weather hazards, especially for the coastal regions, as it causes huge devastation through gale winds and torrential floods during landfall. Thus, accurate prediction of TC is of great importance to reduce the loss of life and damage to property. Most of the cyclone track prediction model requires size of TC as an important parameter in order to simulate the vortex. TC size is also required in the impact assessment of TC affected regions. In the present work, the size of TCs formed in the North Indian Ocean (NIO) has been estimated using the high resolution surface wind observations from oceansat-2 scatterometer. The estimated sizes of cyclones were compared to the radius of outermost closed isobar (ROCI) values provided by Joint Typhoon warning Center (JTWC) by plotting their histograms and computing the correlation and mean absolute error (MAE). The correlation and MAE between the OSCAT wind based TC size estimation and JTWC-ROCI values was found 0.69 and 33 km, respectively. The results show that the sizes of cyclones estimated by OSCAT winds are in close agreement to the JTWC-ROCI. The ROCI values of JTWC were analyzed to study the variations in the size of tropical cyclones in NIO during different time of the diurnal cycle and intensity stages.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, Space Applications Centre (ISRO),  Ahmedabad and the Deputy Director of EPSA, SAC-ISRO. The authors are also thankful for the guidance provided by Dr. Rajesh Sikhakolli, scientist in SAC-ISRO. The authors acknowledge the India Meteorological Department and Joint Typhoon Warning Center for providing the best track records of tropical cyclones. Acknowledgement goes to the JPL/PODAAC (https://www.podaac.jpl.nasa.gov) and SAC/ISRO (www.mosdac.gov.in) for providing the high-resolution wind products of Oceansat-2 scatterometer. Authors pay their sincere thanks to the reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric Sciences Division, AOSG, EPSA, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, 380015, India

    Neeru Jaiswal & C. M. Kishtawal

  2. Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Doan Thi Thu Ha

Authors
  1. Neeru Jaiswal
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  2. Doan Thi Thu Ha
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  3. C. M. Kishtawal
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Correspondence to Neeru Jaiswal.

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Jaiswal, N., Ha, D.T.T. & Kishtawal, C.M. Estimation of size of tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean using Oceansat-2 scatterometer high-resolution wind products. Theor Appl Climatol 136, 45–53 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2464-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-018-2464-y

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