Abstract
The combination of Low Earth Orbit (LEO and GEO stationary (GEO satellites brings significant advantages to observe, monitor, and understand convective systems (CSs and the associated vertical and horizontal dynamics. Two LEO, C-band Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR and L-band SMAP radiometer, are used to observe surface wind patterns, while the other LEO (Aeolus lidar instrument offers the measurements of intense convective downdrafts. Meteosat GEO is used to detect deep convective clouds. Four case study examples of LEO and GEO combination illustrate here the matching in location and observation time between deep convective clouds, intense downdrafts, and strong surface wind gusts. In particular, the 2D deep convective cloud patterns and surface wind patterns have the same direction displacement. The observations of surface wind patterns by two different LEO (Sentinel-1 and SMAP indicate that the high-intensity radar backscattering on Sentinel-1 images should be induced by convective wind gusts rather than hydrometeors or convective precipitation at the sea surface as suggested in previous references. Finally, the convective wind gusts estimated from Sentinel-1 and SMAP data correspond to those obtained by the high-frequency radars, small-scale numerical models, and in-situ measurements.
Highlights
ACONVECTIVE system (CS) characterized by a cumulonimbus cloud is an atmospheric feature where the atmosphere exhibits vertical displacements with some persistent upward and downward air fluxes, mutually connected by air parcel energy exchanges over a limited region around the cell
The lower part of the atmosphere is destabilized by an energy input, and the density of the lower air parcel is modified
These periods correspond to the Sentinel-1 ones, and that facilitates the collocation of Sentinel1 and SMAP data to observe the evolution of surface convective wind patterns, as presented in [14]. (b) Fig. 2
Summary
ACONVECTIVE system (CS) characterized by a cumulonimbus cloud (sometimes called storm) is an atmospheric feature where the atmosphere exhibits vertical displacements with some persistent upward and downward air fluxes, mutually connected by air parcel energy exchanges over a limited region around the cell. They illustrated a strong relationship between deep convective clouds observed by Meteosat and high-resolution surface winds on Sentinel-1 images This assumption was completed in [16] by the combination of three different LEO and GEO satellites (Sentinel-1, Aeolus, and Meteosat) for the observation of deep convective clouds (200230 K) aloft intense wind downdrafts (40 m/s) at the midlevels, and intense wind patterns (12-25 m/s) at the sea surface.
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