Derrick Herndon

The Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  One component of the CIMSS team is the Tropical Cyclone (TC) group.  The CIMSS TC group produces satellite imagery, derived satellite products and algorithms to assist TC forecasters in determining the intensity, structure and forecast track of tropical cyclones around the world. Both geostationary and polar orbiting satellites are used to develop and produce the CIMSS suite of products.  Imagery and output from the various algorithms are posted to the CIMSS TC web page in near real-time.   While the primary users of CIMSS products are research scientists and forecasters the page has been designed to be accessible to the casual user.  During active hurricanes the web page may receive more than a million hits per day.  Some examples of the products developed at CIMSS and used by the TC community include:

• The Advanced Dvorak Technique (ADT).  An infrared-based algorithm which is based on the logic of the subjective Dvorak Technique developed in the 1970’s and 1980’s and used around the world as the primary method to estimate TC intensity.

• Atmospheric Motion Vectors. Wind vectors derived from sequences of satellite imagery at various levels and covering much of the globe. The derived wind fields produced from this product are used to assess the environment around TC’s such as wind shear, divergence and steering flow.

• Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU).   A microwave sounder flown aboard NOAA polar orbiting satellites.  AMSU can be used to objectively determine TC intensity and size.

• Morphed Integrated Microwave Imagery at CIMSS (MIMIC).  MIMIC-TC provides radar-like visualization of the evolution of TC structure using passive microwave imagery.  MIMIC-TPW uses a similar morphing algorithm to produce animations of Total Precipitable Water (TPW) which clearly show the moisture in and around storms.

Many of the products displayed on CIMSS TC web page are operational and used by various agencies daily.  In addition experimental products which may be ready for the transition to operations are also displayed.  A summary of the products produced by the CIMSS TC group will be presented as well as projects that are in the research and development stage.