Data · dataset · 2026
Tropical cyclone cloud-top height and vertical temperature structure detection using GPS radio occultation measurements
Listed in National Center for Atmospheric Research
The accurate determination of tropical cyclone (TC) cloud-top height and its vertical thermal structure using the GPS radio occultation (RO) technique is demonstrated in this study.
Description
Cloud-top heights are determined by using the bending angle anomaly and the temperature anomaly profiles during the TC events, and the results are compared to near-coincident cloud-top heights determined by Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) measurements.
Based on 34 closely located RO-CALIOP pairs during 2006 to 2009, TC cloud-top heights from RO are highly correlated with CALIOP (r=0.84), with a mean RO-CALIOP cloud-top height difference of approximately 500 m and a root-mean-square difference near 1 km. GPS RO data also allow analysis of the TC thermal structure, showing warm anomalies in the middle troposphere and cold anomalies in the upper levels, with a strong inversion near cloud top.
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We further investigate the thermal structure of the TCs from collocated radiosondes, and identify 246 RO-radiosonde pairs from 2001 to 2009. Radiosonde data confirm the thermal structure identified in GPS RO, with a strong inversion near the inferred cloud top. The mean difference between RO-derived inversion heights and those from radiosonde temperature profiles is approximately 500 m.
Results show that, while cloud-top height detected from nadir-viewing satellites can be easily biased by a few kilometers, the biases of RO-derived cloud-top height are within ~500 m.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page n2t.org/ark:/85065/d79887xq ↗
documentation · download · from data ucar edu
Where it is published
- data.ucar.edu /dataset/tropical-cyclone-cloud-top-height-and-vertical-tempera… ↗
National Center for Atmospheric Research dataset page
landing page · from data ucar edu
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ucar.edu/api/3/action/package_show?id=34eeb163-236b-4e20-a1cc-00a3d6f9f… ↗
metadata API · from data ucar edu
Topics
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science · Ocean & Atmospheric Science
Provenance · 1 source records, 7 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Center for Atmospheric Research | 34eeb163-236b-4e20-a1cc-00a3d6f9feca | 12 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].local:field:ocean-atmospheric | mapping · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| created_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /notes |
| publication_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ucar edu | connector:data_ucar_edu@1.0.0 |