The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A)

Abstract

The Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) developed a new method for estimating tropical cyclone (TC) minimum sea level pressure (MSLP) from TC warm core intensity as observed using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A). This approach is based on regression between TC warm core intensity data obtained from AMSU-A 55-GHz band brightness temperatures and MSLP values in best-track data archived by the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) Tokyo Typhoon Center for TCs in the western North Pacific basin during the 2008 TC season. The root mean square error and bias of MSLP values estimated using the new method with reference to best-track data for TCs observed in 2009–2011 were 10.1 hPa and 0.3 hPa, respectively. Based on several TCs as examples, this paper also explains the characteristic aspects of MSLP values estimated by the new method in relation to TC cloud pattern and TC size.