detectingwindsaloftfromwatervaporsatelliteimageryin.docVIP

Detecting Winds Aloft from Water Vapour Satellite Imagery in the Vicinity of Storms by Robert M. Rabin1,3, Stephen F. Corfidi2, Jason C. Brunner3, Carl E. Hane1 NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), Norman, OK1 NOAA/Storm Prediction Center (SPC), Norman, OK2 Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), Madison, WI3 January 2004 Revised for Weather Author’s address for correspondence: Dr. Robert M. Rabin NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory 1313 Halley Circle Norman, OK 73069 USA Introduction The most extensive use of water vapour imagery in recent years has been to identify upper-level wind features such as short-wave troughs and to compare their location and intensity to those produced by numerical forecast models. For example, Weldon and Holmes (1991) compiled a catalogue of water vapour imagery for use in identifying a wide range of upper air features. The identification of these features arises from spatial patterns of brightness in the water vapour images (related to the variation of radiance with moisture content in the upper troposphere). Subjective adjustments to forecasts can be made from observed differences in the location and intensity of troughs, jets, and other features in satellite imagery to those in model analyses and forecasts. In addition to the subjective use of water vapour imagery in forecasting, the imagery has been used quantitatively to provide estimates of the wind through movement of clouds and moisture features between successive images, where direct measures from weather balloons are lacking. Winds were determined by manually tracking clouds between successive images and calculating the wind from the displacement and the time interval between images, in the early years of this type of research (Stewart et al., 1985). The height of the wind estimate was derived from the cloud top temperature and a vertical profile of temperature. This presupposes tha