Tropical Cyclone Eye Morphology and Extratropical-Cyclone-Forced Mountain Lee Waves on SAR Imagery

Abstract

This chapter introduces an objective method for determining the center of the tropical cyclone (TC) from spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data based on the structures of the well-defined TC eyes in the SAR images. A series of Radarsat-1 SAR images are used, which capture the TCs over the world ocean basins during the years from 2001 to 2007. Also, a case study of the atmospheric gravity waves over the Kuril Islands observed in a Sentinel-1A SAR image during the passage of an extratropical cyclone will be presented together with the use of the state-of-the-art atmospheric numerical model. The objective is to obtain a more complete understanding of the generation mechanism and the dynamics governing the gravity waves.