Current Development in Oceanography
Volume 2, Issue 2, Pages 115 - 123
(June 2011)
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SATELLITE SENSING OF INTENSE WINTER MESOCYCLONES FORMING TO THE EAST OF KOREA
Leonid Mitnik and Irina Gurvich
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Abstract: The Japan/East Sea (JES) is not a northern sea geographically; however, it is a region of intense mesoscale cyclones (MCs) formation. They are fast-developing and fast-moving weather systems. The cold air outbreaks from the Asia continent and the thermal regime of the sea favor to intense convective activity that manifests itself in mesoscale cloud rolls, cells and MCs. MCs are not always marked on the surface analysis maps, and the main sources of quantitative spatial data to examine these systems are satellite observations and fields of geophysical parameters retrieved from measurements conducted by various satellite sensors. The typical region of mesoscale cyclogenesis is the sea surface adjoining the Korean Peninsula. MCs that are formed in this region have well-developed cumulus convection. Wind speed W in the MC areas can exceed 25 m/s. These MCs deteriorate the weather over the Eastern Korean Peninsula and give rise to the gale winds over most of the sea and the western Japan during their eastward and northeastward displacement. The paper considers the state of the art of satellite remote sensing of the intense MCs. Terra and Aqua MODIS and NOAA AVHRR visible and infrared images are used for their detection, tracking and cloud structure study. Aqua AMSR-E, QuikSCAT SeaWinds and MetOp ASCAT scatterometers and Envisat ASAR data allow to evaluate the evolution of the V, Q and W fields east of Korea. |
Keywords and phrases: mesoscale cyclones, multisensory data, Aqua AMSR-E, sea surface
wind, Japan/East Sea. |
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