APPLICATION OF “ MULTI-PLATFORM SATELLITE SURFACE WIND ANALYSIS ” IN AERODROME WIND FORECASTING DURING THE PASSAGE OF TROPICAL CYCLONES

Multi-platform Satellite Surface Wind Analysis (MSWA) provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) utilizes data from multiple satellites (Knaff et al [1]). Its merit is that geostationary and polar satellite data are assimilated and data from different channels, such as infra-red, scatterometer and microwave probes, are integrated. The analyzed wind field updated at 6-hourly intervals (a sample in Figure 1) has referential and practical value in estimating the evolution and asymmetry of tropical cyclone (TC) wind structure and high wind radii. The product is particularly useful for TCs as conventional observations are sparse over the seas.