A Technique to Determine the Radius of Maximum Wind of a Tropical Cyclone

Abstract

A simple technique is developed that enables the radius of maximum wind of a tropical cyclone to be estimated from satellite cloud data. It is based on the characteristic cloud and wind structure of the eyewall of a tropical cyclone, after the method developed by Jorgensen more than two decades ago. The radius of maximum wind is shown to be partly dependent on the radius of the eye and partly on the distance from the center to the top of the most developed cumulonimbus nearest to the cyclone center. The technique proposed here involves the analysis of high-resolution IR and microwave satellite imagery to determine these two parameters. To test the technique, the derived radius of maximum wind was compared with high-resolution wind analyses compiled by the U.S. National Hurricane Center and the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. The mean difference between the calculated radius of maximum wind and that determined from observations is 2.8 km. Of the 45 cases considered, the difference in 50% of the cases was ≤2 km, for 33% it was between 3 and 4 km, and for 17% it was ≥5 km, with only two large differences of 8.7 and 10 km.