Daily Hurricane Variability Inferred from GOES Infrared Imagery

Abstract Using the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service–Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (NESDIS–CIRA) tropical cyclone infrared (IR) imagery archive, combined with best track storm center fix information, a coherent depiction of the temporal and azimuthally averaged spatial structure of hurricane cloudiness is demonstrated. The diurnal oscillation of areal extent of the hurricane cirrus canopy, as documented in a number of previous studies, is clearly identified but often found to vanish near the convective region of the hurricane eyewall. While a significant diurnal oscillation is generally absent near the storm center, a powerful and highly significant semidiurnal oscillation is sometimes revealed in that region. This result intimates that convection near the center of tropical storms and hurricanes may not be diurnally forced, but might, at times, be semidiurnally forced. A highly significant semidiurnal oscillation is also often found in the near environ...

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