Satellite Radiothermovision of Tropical Cyclones

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates the unique capabilities of the satellite radiothermovision approach for studying the processes of evolution of tropical cyclones (TC). A general description of these atmospheric phenomena and the justification of the importance of their study by remote sensing methods is given in Chap. 2. Satellite radiothermovision provides the possibility of calculating convergent and divergent latent heat fluxes generated in the vicinity of an existing TC, and, as shown in the examples of processing specific data of satellite radiometry observations, which play the determining role in his energy budget. To this end, the first section of the chapter indicates the most common characteristics and methods for assessing the energy (power) of a TC and briefly discusses the main factors that can influence its intensification and dissipation, and some approaches to their analysis. The second section describes the data used and the methods of their processing in the framework of the satellite radiothermovision approach (Ermakov et al. 2019a,b,c). The third section describes the results of an analysis of the evolution of a number of specific TCs in the field of total precipitable water (TPW) of the atmosphere, and shows the relationship between the intensification (dissipation) of TCs and the formation of convergent (divergent) latent heat fluxes that are sufficient in absolute value to explain the evolution of TCs (Ermakov et al. 2019b, 2015). The fourth section provides examples of the integrated processing of combined satellite remote sensing data that allow the study of the evolution of TCs simultaneously in the fields of TPW and the temperature of the surface layer of the ocean (SST) (Ermakov et al. 2015). Finally, in the fifth section, using the analysis of the evolution of a system of interacting TCs (twin typhoons) as an example, the flexibility is demonstrated of adapting the previously used research methods to study a wide range of diverse mesoscale atmospheric processes (Ermakov et al. 2017).