Satellite and ground observations of the evolution of Typhoon Herb near Taiwan

This study shows the evolution of water vapor content, cloud liquid water, rain rate, and surface wind speed in Typhoon Herb. The use of both passive and active microwave observations from different satellites, together with ground weather radar data, has allowed us to consider changes in the typhoonʹs structure at a higher temporal resolution. It may be assumed that the adaptation of both traditional and new types of remote sensing data in numerical weather prediction models will improve the forecasting of a typhoonʹs wind field and intensity. A comparison of the fields for wind, precipitation, total cloud liquid water content, and total water vapor content, with weather radar data and the Okean image demonstrate the mutually supplementary character of lower resolution passive microwave data within a 1400-km swath, as well as medium resolution radar data. The results indicate that the intensification of Herb before its landfall was associated with increases in the derived total latent heat release. The set of water vapor distributions revealed a cyclonic movement of dry airflow around the typhoon center, which was confirmed by radiosonde reports. The evolution of the amount of water vapor, cloud liquid water, precipitation, and total latent heat release in circular areas within a radius of 1°, 2.5°, and 4° of latitude relative to Herbʹs center was estimated.