The Impact of AIRS Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles on Hurricane Forecasts: Ike(2008) and Irene(2011)

Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder （AIRS） measurements are a valuable supplement to current observational data,especially over the oceans where conventional data are sparse.In this study,two types of AIRS-retrieved temperature and moisture profiles,the AIRS Science Team product （SciSup） and the single field-of-view （SFOV） research product,were evaluated with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts （ECMWF） analysis data over the Atlantic Ocean during Hurricane Ike （2008） and Hurricane Irene （2011）.The evaluation results showed that both types of AIRS profiles agreed well with the ECMWF analysis,especially between 200 hPa and 700 hPa.The average standard deviation of both temperature profiles was approximately 1 K under 200 hPa,where the mean AIRS temperature profile from the AIRS SciSup retrievals was slightly colder than that from the AIRS SFOV retrievals.The mean SciSup moisture profile was slightly drier than that from the SFOV in the mid troposphere.A series of data assimilation and forecast experiments was then conducted with the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） model and its three-dimensional variational （3DVAR） data assimilation system for hurricanes Ike and Irene.The results showed an improvement in the hurricane track due to the assimilation of AIRS clear-sky temperature profiles in the hurricane environment.In terms of total precipitable water and rainfall forecasts,the hurricane moisture environment was found to be affected by the AIRS sounding assimilation.Meanwhile,improving hurricane intensity forecasts through assimilating AIRS profiles remains a challenge for further study.

A Three-Dimensional Satellite Retrieval Method for Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles

A three-dimensional variational method is proposed to simultaneously retrieve the 3-D atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from satellite radiance measurements. To include both vertical structure and the horizontal patterns of the atmospheric temperature and moisture, an EOF technique is used to decompose the temperature and moisture field in a 3-D space. A number of numerical simulations are conducted and they demonstrate that the 3-D method is less sensitive to the observation errors compared to the 1-D method. When the observation error is more than 2.0 K, to get the best results, the truncation number for the EOF＇s expansion have to be restricted to 2 in the 1-D method, while it can be set as large as 40 in a 3-D method. This results in the truncation error being reduced and the retrieval accuracy being improved in the 3-D method. Compared to the 1-D method, the rms errors of the 3-D method are reduced by 48% and 36% for the temperature and moisture retrievals, respectively. Using the real satellite measured brightness temperatures at 0557 UTC 31 July 2002, the temperature and moisture profiles are retrieved over a region （20°-45°N, 100°- 125°E） and compared with 37 collocated radiosonde observations. The results show that the retrieval accuracy with a 3-D method is significantly higher than those with the 1-D method.

Analysis of a Vortex Precipitation Event over Southwest China Using AIRS and In Situ Measurements

A strong precipitation event caused by the southwest vortex（SWV）, which affected Sichuan Province and Chongqing municipality in Southwest China on 10–14 July 2012, is investigated. The SWV is examined using satellite observations from AIRS（Atmospheric Infrared Sounder）, in situ measurements from the SWV intensive observation campaign, and MICAPS（Marine Interactive Computer-Aided Provisioning System） data. Analysis of this precipitation process revealed that：（1）heavy rain occurred during the development phase, and cloud water content increased significantly after the dissipation of the SWV;（2） the area with low outgoing longwave radiation values from AIRS correlated well with the SWV;（3） variation of the temperature of brightness blackbody（TBB） from AIRS reflected the evolution of the SWV, and the values of TBB reduced significantly during the SWV＇s development; and（4） strong temperature and water vapor inversions were noted during the development of the SWV. The moisture profile displayed large vertical variation during the SWV＇s puissant phase,with the moisture inversion occurring at low levels. The moisture content during the receding phase was significantly reduced compared with that during the developing and puissant phases. The vertical flux of vapor divergence explained the variation of the moisture profile. These results also indicate the potential for using AIRS products in studying severe weather over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings, where in situ measurements are sparse.

Experimental investigation and numerical modeling of the hydration operation of date fruits

Hydration represents the main unit operation in the industrial thermal process of dry dates.In this work,Tunisian Deglet Nour dates were hydrated experimentally at a laboratory scale by using saturated air as it is commonly undertaken in industry.This study focuses on the modeling of this unit operation in order to control the moisture uptake phenomenon during processing.A physic-based simplified numerical model describing moisture transfer during hydration was implemented in COMSOL r
Multiphysics software.The model considers the real geometry of dates instead of approaching the fruits by simplified shapes.Moisture diffusivities of two types of Deglet Nour dry dates characterized by different maturation stages were estimated.Results showed a good agreement between experimental and numerically computed values of average moisture content.Moisture profile in dates flesh was computed numerically using estimated moisture diffusivities.The numerical model proposed in this work could be therefore employed as a predictive tool to simulate and optimize the hydration operation of dates.