Date of Award
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Atmospheric Science
Committee Chair
John Mecikalski
Committee Member
Udaysankar Nair
Committee Member
Andrew L. Molthan
Subject(s)
Nowcasting (Meteorology), Convection (Meteorology), Geostationary satellites, Cumulus--Analysis
Abstract
Convective initiation (CI) is one of the most challenging topics in atmospheric science because it is a complicated yet short-lived phenomenon. The Himawari-8 satellite is utilized to understand cloud-top properties of growing cumulus clouds prior to CI in Guam and Japan. Infrared (IR) and near-IR data from Himawari-8 are used to infer four cumulus cloud properties: cloud depth, cloud-top glaciation, updraft strength, and cloud-top particle characteristics. Using data from 233 manually identified CI samples, this study shows how the added channels in Himawari-8 could be used to detect CI samples. From a total of 151 “interest fields”, the top 28 fields are considered to be the best candidates in demonstrating the aforementioned four attributes of cumulus clouds after the completion of correlation coefficient and principal component analyses. Further analysis with 17 testing CI samples illustrates the final 14 fields that could be used in a future CI algorithm with promising results.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Seongmin, "An analysis of cumulus cloud-top properties for 0-1 hour convective initiation nowcasting using Himawari-8 infrared and near-infrared fields" (2017). Theses. 201.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/201