Recent advancements in aircraft and in situ observations of tropical cyclones

Observations of tropical cyclones(TC)from aircraft and in situ platforms provide critical and unique information for analyzing and forecasting TC intensity,structure,track,and their associated hazards.This report,prepared for the tenth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones(IWTC-10),discusses the data collected around the world in TCs over the past four years since the IWTC-9,improvements to observing techniques,new instruments designed to achieve sustained and targeted atmospheric and oceanic observations,and select research results related to these observations.In the Atlantic and Eastern and Central Pacific basins,changes to operational aircraft reconnaissance are discussed along with several of the research field campaigns that have taken place recently.The changes in the use and impact of these aircraft observations in numerical weather prediction models are also provided along with updates on some of the experimental aircraft instrumentation.Highlights from three field campaigns in the Western Pacific basin are also discussed.Examples of in-situ data collected within recent TCs such as Hurricane Ian(2022),also demonstrate that new,emerging technologies and observation strategies reviewed in this report,definitely have the potential to further improve ocean-atmosphere coupled intensity forecasts.

RECENT ADVANCES IN RESEARCH AND FORECASTING OF TROPICAL CYCLONE RAINFALL

In preparation for the Fourth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclone Landfall Processes(IWTCLP-IV), a summary of recent research studies and the forecasting challenges of tropical cyclone(TC) rainfall has been prepared. The extreme rainfall accumulations in Hurricane Harvey(2017) near Houston, Texas and Typhoon Damrey(2017) in southern Vietnam are examples of the TC rainfall forecasting challenges. Some progress is being made in understanding the internal rainfall dynamics via case studies. Environmental effects such as vertical wind shear and terrain-induced rainfall have been studied, as well as the rainfall relationships with TC intensity and structure. Numerical model predictions of TC-related rainfall have been improved via data assimilation, microphysics representation, improved resolution, and ensemble quantitative precipitation forecast techniques. Some attempts have been made to improve the verification techniques as well. A basic forecast challenge for TC-related rainfall is monitoring the existing rainfall distribution via satellite or coastal radars, or from over-land rain gauges. Forecasters also need assistance in understanding how seemingly similar landfall locations relative to the TC experience different rainfall distributions. In addition, forecasters must cope with anomalous TC activity and landfall distributions in response to various environmental effects.