A New Type of Red-Green-Blue Composite and Its Application in Tropical Cyclone Center Positioning

Abstract

Weak tropical cyclone (TC) center positioning is difficult work in operational forecasting. In the present study, a TC-red-green-blue (TC-RGB) composite was designed by using satellite multichannel observations (reflectance, brightness temperature, and brightness temperature differences). Compared with single channel images, TC-RGB composites can clearly show the exposed low-level circulation (LLC) of weak TCs under large vertical wind shear. Based on the guidelines of TC-RGB composites for TC center positioning, we repositioned 83 western North Pacific (WNP) TC cases during 2017–2019. Then, the comparisons of TC center positions were made between the TC-RGB composite and the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre-Tokyo (RSMC-Tokyo), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the China Meteorological Administration-Shanghai Typhoon Institute (CMA-STI). Via case analysis of TC Kalmaegi (2019), it was found that the best-track data from the RSMC-Tokyo, JTWC and CMA-STI would have over 100 km biases at the early stage of TC life history. Taking all the 83 TC cases into account, the results show that the average center position biases and standard deviations for weak TCs under small vertical wind shear in the daytime are 5 km larger than those under large vertical wind shear at nighttime. When considering the 83 TC cases with clear LLC centers, the difference of these two biases is 10 km. The average biases are mostly above 20 km in the areas south of 18° N and north of 36° N over the WNP. Conversely, in the areas between 18° N and 36° N over the WNP, they are mostly below 20 km.