Hurricane and Monsoon Tracking with Driftsondes
Definition of the Subject
Tropical cyclones (TCs) are a typical weather threat. The threat can apply to humans, their properties, and activities. Their prediction, particularly their trajectory and intensity, remains difficult. In addition, TCs develop above the tropical oceans where the coverage by in situ observations is poor and within cloud clusters (mesoscale convective systems, MCSs) that limit the ability of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models to assimilate satellite data [18]. Improved forecast of TC trajectories is a huge benefit in terms of material costs of evacuations and damage, not being able to quantify saved life.
The deployment of additional observations to improve understanding and forecasting TCs started very early in the USA, from the early 1980s. This approach is called adaptive observation and was initiated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The philosophy of adaptive observation is the adjustment of the usual (so-called routine)...
Keywords
Tropical Cyclone Planetary Boundary Layer Numerical Weather Prediction Tropical Storm Mesoscale Convective SystemNotes
Acknowledgments
We are thankful to J. Fox, K. Romberg, J. VanAndel, H. Cole, C. Martin, G. Granger, D. Flanigan, and D. Lauritsen (NCAR) for the assistance in operation of the driftsonde system. Based on French initiative, AMMA was built by an international scientific group and is currently funded by a large number of agencies, especially from France, UK, Germany, USA, and Africa. It has been the beneficiary of a major financial contribution from the European Community’s Sixth Framework Research Program. Detailed information on scientific coordination and funding is available on the AMMA International website http://www.amma-international.org.
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