# Can We Improve Parametric Cyclonic Wind Fields Using Recent Satellite Remote Sensing Data?
## Data and Methods  
### CyclonesSelection  
The Atlantic Ocean had a very active hurricane season in 2017, with six major hurricanes, two of which reached category 5. Thanks to aircraft reconnaissance, large quantities of high-quality in-situ data were collected and incorporated into models to better reproduce the hurricanes and their evolution for a wide range of intensities and sizes. The CYGNSS mission of NASA, dedicated to surface wind speed measurements in extreme conditions, was launched just in time to collect data for this season. In this study, we considered most of the hurricanes that occurred in both the Atlantic (ATL) and East Pacific (EP) during the 2017 season. In total, 16 storms were selected (Table 1).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Number** & **Name** & **Basin** & **Dates** & **TCCategory** & **Min/Max** & **Min/Max** & **Min/Max** \\  & & & **(Year 2017)** & **(Max W5)** & **R34** & **R50** & **R64** \\ \hline
1 & Dora & EP & 25/06 \(\sim\) 28/06 & 1 (80 kt) & 40/70 & 20/40 & 15/25 \\
2 & Eugene & EP & 07/07 \(\sim\) 10/07 & 3 (100 kt) & 60/110 & 40/80 & 20/30 \\
3 & Franklin & ATL & 07/08 \(\sim\) 10/08 & 1 (75 kt) & 60/130 & 30/50 & NA/30 \\
4 & [PERSON] & ATL & 13/08 \(\sim\) 17/08 & 2 (90 kt) & 50/120 & 15/60 & NA/30 \\
5 & [PERSON] & ATL & 17/08 \(\sim\) 30/08 & 4 (115 kt) & 70/120 & 40/60 & 20/35 \\
6 & [PERSON] & EP & 24/08 \(\sim\) 30/08 & 2 (90 kt) & 60/90 & 30/50 & 15/20 \\
7 & Irma & ATL & 30/08 \(\sim\) 11/09 & 5 (160 kt) & 80/160 & 50/100 & 30/45 \\
8 & [PERSON] & EP & 23/07 \(\sim\) 01/08 & 1 (80 kt) & 30/60 & 10/30 & NA/15 \\
9 & [PERSON] & ATL & 05/09 \(\sim\) 22/09 & 4 (135 kt) & 50/120 & 30/50 & 20/30 \\
10 & Katia & ATL & 06/09 \(\sim\) 09/09 & 2 (90 kt) & 60/60 & 20/40 & 15/20 \\
11 & [PERSON] & EP & 19/08 \(\sim\) 23/08 & 4 (115 kt) & 60/90 & 30/50 & 15/25 \\
12 & [PERSON] & ATL & 16/09 \(\sim\) 30/09 & 3 (100 kt) & 60/80 & 40/50 & 25/30 \\
13 & [PERSON] & ATL & 16/09 \(\sim\) 30/09 & 5 (150 kt) & 100/150 & 60/80 & 35/50 \\
14 & [PERSON] & EP & 13/09 \(\sim\) 15/09 & 1 (70 kt) & 30/40 & 20/20 & 10/10 \\
15 & [PERSON] & EP & 14/09 \(\sim\) 19/09 & 1 (65 kt) & 70/80 & 30/50 & NA/25 \\
16 & [PERSON] & EP & 16/09 \(\sim\) 19/09 & 3 (100 kt) & 40/60 & 20/40 & 10/20 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: List and characteristics of the 16 hurricanes considered in this study. The minimum and maximum radii at 34-kt, 50-kt, and 64-kts (R34, R50, and R64, respectively) are given in nautical miles at the time of peak intensity. WS stands for wind speed. The data sources are the best tracks provided by the National Hurricane Center (NHC).  
For each of these events, we consider the following data provided by the NHC (National Hurricane Center, [[https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/)]([https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/))) advisories: Location of the cyclone center, minimum pressure, maximum wind speed, and radii of the 34-, 50-, and 64-knot winds in the four quadrants every 6 h. These data were obtained using a number of methods, such as infrared satellite imagery (Dvorak technique), microwave data, and aircraft reconnaissance. According to the NHC, the potential error on these values generally amount to several nautical miles for the location and a few knots for the maximum velocity. Although this is clearly non-negligible, it remains relatively small in most cases compared to the maximum velocity and the wind radii considered here (Table 1). A notable exception to this are wind speeds close to the core of cyclones. We will see below (Sections 3 and 4) that potential errors on data provided by the NHC may be a limit of the approach described here in this specific case.