Advancing Tropical Cyclone Forecasts Using Aircraft Observations - Monitoring and Prediction of Tropical Cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Climate Change - page 165

Advancing Tropical Cyclone
Forecasts Using Aircraft
Observations
Frank D. Marks, Jr.
NOAA/AOML Hurricane Research Division, Miami, FL 33149
e-mail: [e-mail]
1. Introduction
Advances in the study of tropical cyclones using aircraft observations came
about through improvements (scientific and technological) in the ability to
observe different aspects of the storms. Early studies provided the basis for
understanding tropical cyclone structure and evolution (for an excellent
overview see Dorst, 2007). Technological advances in aircraft in-situ and remote
sensing observing capabilities, particularly the development of airborne Doppler
radars, revolutionized our depiction of tropical cyclone structure and dynamics
(for a review see Marks, 2003). Further technological advances in aircraft and
instrumentation design over the last 30 years provided the tools necessary to
greatly expand our knowledge of tropical cyclones (for an excellent overview
of these accomplishments see Aberson, 2006).
Five key technological advances were instrumental in improving
observations of tropical cyclones in the last 30 years: (1) the development of
new and improved in-situ flight-level instrumentation (Willoughby et al., 1982;
Jorgensen, 1984a); (2) the development of new and improved airborne
expendables such as the GPS dropwindsondes to sample the atmosphere (Hock
and Franklin, 1999) and upper ocean (Shay et al., 1989); (3) the development
of Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) (Uhlhorn and Black,
2003); (4) the development of new and improved airborne Doppler radar
systems (Marks and Houze, 1984); and (5) development of new and improved
telecommunication systems to enable real-time transmission of all of these
data directly to the ground for use by operational forecasters and to initialize
numerical models (Griffin et al., 1992). Each of these technologies started as
tools used by researchers to better understand and describe processes critical
to estimation of a tropical cyclone's location, intensity, and structure. Many