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Wind Estimates from Satellite Pictures |
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Click here to Order your Radar Equipment Online Wind Estimates from Satellite Pictures Clouds over the tropics, viewed from satellite altitude, reveal many features of the flow. The distribution of widespread cloud systems has definite relationships to major trough and ridge positions, and wind estimates for both upper and lower tropospheric levels can be obtained from analysis of cumulus and cirrus cloud formations as seen in singular satellite pictures or from cloud motion measurements taken from a series of pictures. Two levels of the tropical atmosphere are usually plotted and analyzed: in the lower troposphere, it is the gradient level, and in the upper troposphere, it is the 300-or 200-mb level. LOW-LEVEL STREAMLINES. Gradient level (2,000 to 3,000 feet) winds are most often chosen for analysis, because the wind frequency is fairly equal, and since cloud bases average 2,000 feet, balloons are often lost above this level. Ships surface winds can also be used to supplement the winds of this field, and satellite pictures permit wind determination from low-level cloud fields.Research has shown that many cumulus cloud lines observed between 10N and 10S over the Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans are oriented in approximately the same direction as the surface wind. However, because the orientation of cloud lines relates to wind shear, these lines may depart considerably from the surface wind direction. Therefore, a great deal of caution must be exercised when using cloud lines to define low-level wind flow. There are no hard-and-fast rules that permit positive identification of the particular cloud lines that approximately parallel the surface wind. It has been observed that cloud lines that are very long, very narrow, and either wavy, zig-zag, or have knots (wide places along a line) are the type that most often parallel the surface wind. Figure 9-2-3 shows cloud lines that approximately parallel the wind flow. Surface wind reports are entered on the picture as white arrows. Two drawbacks to using the gradient level are (1) the orographic influences and (2) in the trade wind belt, tropical disturbances are not readily apparent at this level; the wind fluctuations at 2,000 feet may be small and noninformative. Thus, the choice of level to be analyzed must be based on local and synoptic peculiarities of the area. UPPER-LEVEL STREAMLINES. All the rules applicable to low-level streamlines also apply to the streamlines of the upper troposphere. Upper-level streamline analyses are primarily used to locate areas of cyclonic and anticyclonic flow. Anticyclonic outflow areas are the most important
Just as low-level winds are estimated from
cloud patterns seen in satellite imagery, so too are
upper-level winds. Two of the most useful cloud
patterns used in determining upper-level flow are
plumes from the tops of cumulonimbus (Cb)
clouds and cirrus cloud shields associated with
subtropical jet streams. |
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