TCI: Tropical Cyclone Intensity Experiment

Summary

The goal of the Tropical Cyclone Intensity (TCI) initiative is to improve the prediction of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity and structure change. The specific focus is an improved understanding of TC upper-level outflow layer processes and dynamics. This will be investigated in a comprehensive manner using the observations obtained during the TCI field phase in 2015 and high-resolution tropical cyclone models.  Our ultimate goal is to improve the prediction of tropical cyclone intensity change, especially rapid intensification (RI) and rapid decay (RD) as well as TC structural changes that are hypothesized to occur through synergistic interactions with outflow.

TCI is an Office of Naval Research Direct Research Initiative collaborative experiment with the Naval Research Laboratory, industry, and Universities. The TCI experiment will take place over the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and potentially the Eastern Pacific when a storm is approximately in range between 600-900 nm from the aircraft site. Key field observations will be taken from the NASA WB-57 aircraft. The sensors carried by the WB-57 are expected to include the High Definition Sounding System (HDSS) Dropsondes and the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD). The HDSS deploys eXpendable Digital Dropsondes (XDD) with a dual Automated Dropsonde Dispenser (ADD) to measure air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, horizontal wind speed, wind direction, and sea surface temperature. HIRAD is an airborne passive microwave radiometer to collect ocean surface wind speeds in Tropical Cyclones.