Cyclone Center Talk

Finella - earlier imagery?

  • peterthorne by peterthorne moderator

    User MattKotowski posted the storm which got me looking at the imagery.

    http://talk.cyclonecenter.org/#/groups/GCC000016t

    The first image is of a relatively well organized #embedded storm. There must have been earlier images in this storm's lifetime. This is not the first time I have seen beginning of storm missing. Is there a way to sift earlier imagery and trace back to when the storms actually started in such cases? They seem primarily to be Indian Ocean storms so not doing this risks false conclusions? Just one for cch001 and the core science team to mull over?

    Posted

  • DZM by DZM admin

    A good question. Not my department, but well noticed. I hope there are earlier images, but I don't know why they wouldn't be here on CC.

    Definitely one for @cch001--!

    Posted

  • Knappster by Knappster scientist

    Good question. The problem lies in the dataset behind the satellite dataset. The satellite imagery is derived from locations of storms called best tracks. These are compiled by agencies around the world (e.g., MeteoFrance La Reunion for the SouthWestern Indian Ocean).

    So all imagery of the storm during its lifetime is provided. It could be possible to analyze satellite images prior to the storm's development, but this would be an arduous task. Again, we are relying on the best track positions and using those to reanalyze the storm intensity. What we can't do (using CycloneCenter) right now is find new storms or analyze storm intensity outside of this time.

    It would be good to start a collection of these storms (who weren't recorded until they were a bit stronger).

    Thanks for pointing these out.

    Posted