Comparison of Spatial Distribution of High Wind Speed Around Typhoons Derived from Amsr2 All-Weather SEA Surface Wind Speed Product with JMA Best-Track Data

The Global Change Observation Mission - Water (GCOM-W) satellite was launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in May 2012. It carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2). The all-weather sea surface wind product (ASW) was produced as a research product of AMSR2 using the 7 and 10 GHz channels to avoid contaminations due to heavy rain and provides data in high wind speed ranges, such as tropical cyclones. To assess spatial distribution of high winds around typhoons, 50-kt radii derived from the ASW wind fields were compared with the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) typhoon best-track data. The two data sets showed reasonable agreement with a correlation coefficient of 0.65. It is shown that the AMSR2 ASW product has a reliable accuracy under extreme wind conditions and will be a powerful tool for monitoring of tropical cyclones.