MIMIC: A New Approach to Visualizing Satellite Microwave Imagery of Tropical Cyclones

摘要

Sequential satellite microwave images of tropical cyclones readily lend themselves to morphing applications, which allow for a straightforward visualization of the storms' structura trends. Polar and other low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites provide critical data for use in weather analysis and forecasting. However, the temporal sampling issue leads to the common problem of interpreting sequential images spaced at irregular and sometimes very lengthy time intervals. LEO microwave imagery of tropicalcyclones is one of the most extreme cases of this problem, because not only are the weather systems moving, but also the LEO spatial coverage gaps are largest in the Tropics. As a result, the temporal image spacing can range from less than 30 min to morethan 25 h, although the more typical spacing tends to vary between 3 and 6 h.