Calculating tropical cyclone critical wind RADII and storm size using NSCAT winds
By:  Scott G. Magnan
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 58
Description: Subjective and objective analyses of satellite scatterometer near- surface winds are utilized to estimate tropical      cyclone (TC) critical wind radii and size over a region of the western North Pacific. An outer wind profile      assuming a linear slope dependent on the TC latitude is used to determine the radial extent of cyclonic winds      beyond a set radius. Inside the set radius, a partial conservation of angular momentum is assumed into the TC      maximum wind radius and the 35, -50, and 100-kt radii are calculated. Nine TCs were investigated during the      operating period of the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT). Critical wind radii values in four quadrants (front, right,      rear, and left) of the TCs are found to be comparable to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) critical      wind radii values issued in warnings. The radial extent of cyclonic winds are also comparable to the radius of      zero winds estimated by determining where the cyclonic flow turned to anticyclonic flow in the NSCAT      sea-surface wind swaths.
Notes: "March 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): Russell L. Elsberry, Lester E. Carr, III.

Thesis (M.S. in Meteorology) Naval Postgraduate School, March 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 55).

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.

US Air Force (USAF) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 8/5/98.