FAQ: HURRICANES, TYPHOONS, AND TROPICAL CYCLONES --- PART II: REAL-TIME INFORMATION, DATA, AND REFERENCES By Christopher W. Landsea NOAA Post-doctorate Researcher NOAA AOML/Hurricane Research Division 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, Florida 33149 landsea@aoml.noaa.gov 7 February, 1996 This is currently a two-part FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions report) that is in its sixth incarnation (version 1.6). Thus, there may be some errors or discrepancies that have not yet been found. If you do see an item that needs correction, please contact me directly. Part I contains various definitions, answers for some specific questions, and information about the various tropical cyclone basins. This file (Part II) provides sites that you can access both real-time information about tropical cyclones, what is available on-line for historical storms, as well as good books to read and various references for tropical cyclones. Keep in mind that this FAQ is not considered a reviewed paper to reference. Its main purpose is to provide quick answers for (naturally) frequently asked questions as well as to be a pointer to various sources of information. Much of the on-line information is pulled from Ilana Stern's wonderful "Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ" and I acknowledge the time and effort she has put in in originally compiling this information. OUTLINE ------- REAL-TIME INFORMATION 1) Where can I get real-time satellite images/loops and other tropical weather data? 2) Where can I get real-time advisories for tropical cyclones? 3) What computer software is available for tracking tropical cyclones? 4) How do I decode these aircraft reconnaissance reports? HISTORICAL INFORMATION 5) Where can I get historical satellite images/loops of tropical cyclones? 6) Where can I get historical data of tropical cyclones? 7) What journals have regular articles on tropical cyclones? 8) What books have been written about tropical cyclones? 9) What refereed articles were written during 1994 about tropical cyclones? ************************************************************************** Subject: 1) Where can I get real-time satellite images/loops and other tropical weather data? The most amazing improvement on the Internet most recently IMHO is the availability of the World Wide Web (WWW) for accessing images, loops, data, etc by Netscape or Mosaic. Thus I'll point you to what I've found that should help in watching the global tropics for tropical cyclone activity. Satellite images and loops are fairly common, but analyses and forecasts fields for the tropics are a bit harder to find at this point. If anyone can point out a) METEOSAT (centered over 0E) loops and b) other tropical analyses and forecasts fields over the WWW, I would appreciate it. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.html This is the homepage for the USA National Hurricane Center and the Tropical Prediction Center. In addition to providing the latest advisories being issued locally, there is a good deal of historical information and real- time data available. When they become available, NHC will provide the preliminary best track info for 1995 storms here - so far this info has been posted for Hurricane Erin. http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/index.html The University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) has a wide selection of GOES-7 (covering the Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean) and GOES-8 real-time images (covering the Eastern Pacific and western Atlantic Oceans), a global infrared composite image from the geostationary satellites (covering all of the basins), and global sea surface temperatures. http://oldthunder.ssec.wisc.edu/ At the University of Wisconsin - CIMSS home page, Chris Velden has put together real-time GMS water vapor loops in his "Tropical Cyclones" section. http://rs560.cl.msu.edu:80/weather/ This Michigan State University site in addition to GOES-7 and GOES-8 imagery also has METEOSAT imagery over the entire Atlantic basin. They also have GMS loops (both visible and infrared) that covers the Western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean regions. Loops are also available of GOES-7 infrared imagery. Lastly, they have the global infrared composite available as a loop that extends for 12 (!) days. http://www.neosoft.com/citylink/blake/tropical.html Eric Blake has put together a nice compilation of many of the above satellite picture sites together with real-time Caribbean station data, NEXRAD reflectivity and velocity displays, and the various text reports that NHC/TPC comes out with. He has now added much in the way of ECMWF, AVN, and other model analyses and forecast fields. http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/tropical.html This site at the University of Michigan is a wonderful one for both real- time information as well as an archive of operational information issued by the National Hurricane Center during 1995. This site has all of the textual reports issued by NHC/TPC, a long IR loop of Hurricane Allison, and all of the previous advisories issued on Allison. http://asp1.sbs.ohio-state.edu/tropicaltext.html When Atlantic tropical cyclones spin up, you'll find the latest storm track plotted in OSU's servers. In addition, they generate a graphic of *forecasted* NHC positions with each advisory. http://www.cira.colostate.edu This site from the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University offers real-time GOES-7, GOES-8, and GOES-9 imagery in jpeg format. These images also will go back as far as the past four months. http://www.typhoon.org.hk/ This home page is set up by Ken Fung in Hong Kong. Included are all of the tropical cyclone tracks for 1995 - for all of the basins. Ken also has several satellite pictures/loops of tropical cyclones available. http://nrlmry.navy.mil/photos.html This Naval Research Laboratory site has GOES-9 images in addition to other products: * extended N. Hemisphere with lots of Pacific and US west coast * full globe snapshots * extended S. Hemisphere that extends all the way to New Zealand * full resolution visible of Monterey area http://www.meto.govt.uk/sec2/sec2cyclone/sec2cyclone.html This United Kingdom Meteorological Office world wide web contains: * Monthly bulletins of tropical cyclone activity and verification of Met. Office forecasts. This is a document currently sent in booklet form to many individuals and Met. Services around the globe. * Graphs of mean track prediction errors for past years. * Maps of observed and forecast tracks for all storms this year and maps of observed tracks for last year. * A full list of tropical cyclone names. * Details of the recent improvements made by the Met. Office in its forecasts of tropical cyclone tracks. * Images, movies and photographs of tropical cyclones and their effects. ************************************************************************** Subject: 2) Where can I get real-time advisories for tropical cyclones? There are three good ways to get these. Either telnet to a site and peruse the advisories you would like to see via a menu, have the advisories sent directly to you via email, or visit sites via the World Wide Web. Option 1: Telnet to a site --------------------------- The site that has a very comprehensive listing is the Weather Underground at University of Michigan. Simply telnet to: downwind.sprl.umich.edu 3000 Make sure to include the '3000' at the end of the command. From there you have a simple menu driven system to get to the USA National Hurricane Center, the USA Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and the USA Joint Typhoon Warning Center products. Option 2: Advisories automatically sent to you ----------------------------------------------- WX-TROPL is available through the WX-***** lists which reside on the VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU (UIUCVMD) machine at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. It is created for people to receive as an email tropical bulletins originating from the US National Hurricane Center, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. To get information as to how to sign up onto WX-TROPL, ftp to vmd.cso.uiuc.edu and use anonymous FTP to retrieve the file WX-TALK.DOC from the directory "wx". If you don't have ftp access, contact either Chris Novy or Charley Kline . Now that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center advisories are available, one can get tropical cyclone advisories for the whole world with the exception of South Pacific tropical cyclones east of the dateline. Option 3: Get the advisories via surfing the Web ------------------------------------------------- As mention in section 2), the World Wide Web is also a source for real- time tropical cyclone advisories. For brevity here are some reliable http sites (descriptions above): http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ http://www.neosoft.com/citylink/blake/tropical.html http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/tropical.html ************************************************************************** Subject: 3) What computer software is available for tracking tropical cyclones? (Descriptions kindly provided by Tom Berg. Note that this does not constitute an endorsement of any product.) 1. HURRTRAK (Windows-based) --- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve in Aviation and Weather Channel forums. Also on AOL. It is also available through the WeatherNet: http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/. The company is PC Weather Products P.O. Box 72723 Marietta, GA 30007-2723 404-953-3506 800-605-2230 They offer a hobbyist edition and a regular edition. The hobbyist is $68.50 and the professional $206.50. They have Atlantic and Pacific versions. The professional edition allows for county lines, roadways, more detailed charts, and NHC forecasted positions. 2. STORM (DOS-based) ------ shareware, semi-functional available on AOL. The company is Utopia Software P.O. Box 420324 Houston, TX 77242 They offer a regular and enhanced version. The regular version is $25 and the enhanced is $50. What the enhanced offers special is the ability to enter and plot the forecasted positions from the NHC and to include offshore platforms or ships positions on the charts. 3. FORCE12 (Windows) ---- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve in Aviation and Weather Channel forums and AOL. The company is Epperson Computing P.O. Box 1094 Baytown, TX 77522-1094 There is only one version. The price is $25. 4. MERLIN (DOS) ----- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve in Aviation and Weather Channel forums. The company is T.M. Parker P.O. Box 1431 La Porte, TX 77572 There is only one version. Price is $29. 5. GCANES (DOS) ----- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve in Aviation forum. The company is Robert Terwilliger 2398 SW 22nd Ave. Miami, FL 33145 There is only one version. Price is $15. 6. HURRICANE FORECASTER (DOS) - shareware, semi-functional available on AOL. The company is Craig Rorrer 3809 Iola Ct. Virginia Beach, VA 23456 There is only one version. Price is $19.95. 7. HURRICANE TRACKER (Windows) -- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve forum Aviation. The company is Nicheware P.O. Box 1312 Summerville,SC 29484-1312 There is only one version. Price is $25. 8. HURRICANE WATCH! (Windows) --- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve forum Aviation and AOL. The company is SeaBorne Systems 414 Long Leaf Acres Dr. Wilmington, NC 28405 There is only one version. I think the price is $49. 9. TRACKEYE (Windows) ----- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve forums Aviation and Weather Channel. The company is GenCode Technologies 7907 N. Rome Ave. Tampa, FL 33604 There is only one version. Price is $19.95. 10. TRAKHUR (DOS) --- I only found it advertised in Weatherwise magazine. The company is Bryan Lambeth, PE Hurricane Research Srvc P.O. Box 181032 Austin, TX 78718 The version I have is TRAKHUR PRO. The regular price is $39.95, but the pro version was $59.95. 11. TRACKER (DOS) -- again, I found it through Weatherwise. The company is OceanSoft Inc. P.O. Box 1224 Largo, FL 34649 As to the price, I don't remember exactly. I think $69.95. But it also includes something unique called Mapper, this allows you to build your own maps of any ocean and will show the map in Mercator, Azimuthal, and spread types. 12. WINSTORM --- shareware, semi-functional available on Compuserve forum Aviation and AOL. The company is Ingramation 2437 Bay Area Blvd. Suite 349 Houston, TX 77058 ************************************************************************** Subject: 4) How do I decode these aircraft reconnaissance reports? On the World-Wide Web (http:/www.neosoft.com/citylink/blake/tropical. html#recon), there is a wonderfully detailed description of everything that you might want to know about understanding the information coming from these aircraft reconnaissance flights. ************************************************************************** Subject: 5) Where can I get historical satellite images/loops of tropical cyclones? Listed are ftp, gopher, and http sites. ftp://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pub/spectacular Hurricane Fernanda images ftp://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/pub/avhrr/images Hurricanes John, Emilia and Fabio http://satftp.soest.hawaii.edu/fernanda.html Hurricane Fernanda images http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/weather.html Hurricane Emily track http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/weather.html Hurricane Emily movies (mpg) ftp://unidata.ucar.edu/images/ Images of hurricanes Emily, Hugo, Beryl, Kevin ftp://ats.orst.edu/pub/weather/ Hurricane Andrew and Emily images ftp://ftp.colorado.edu/pub/weather-images/hurricane.andrew Hurricane Andrew images and weather maps ftp://ftp.colorado.edu/pub/weather-images/hurricane.emily Hurricane Emily images and weather maps ftp://ftp.met.fsu.edu/pub/hurricane_Andrew Hurricane Andrew images http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/weekly.html Tropical Cyclone Weekly summary gopher://downwind.sprl.umich.edu/11/Weather_Archives/ Blizzard of 93, hurricanes Andrew, Hugo, Emily, Elena; tornado paths gopher://wx.atmos.uiuc.edu:70/11/Images/Hurricane%20Emily/ Hurricane Emily track (gif and ps) and image gopher://unidata.ucar.edu:70/11/Images/ Images of hurricanes Emily, Hugo, Beryl, Kevin http://cirrus.sprl.umich.edu/wxnet/tropical.html Loop of Hurricane Allison ************************************************************************** Subject: 6) Where can I get historical data of tropical cyclones? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BEVEN REPORTS ;-) For unofficial near-real time summaries of global tropical cyclone activity, Jack Beven of the USA National Hurricane Center/Tropical Prediction Center produces these on a weekly basis and has done so for over three years. Text copies of past weekly summaries can be retrieved via ftp from squall.met.fsu.edu. They can be found in the directory pub/jack. If you'd like to obtain these near-real time summaries directly, simply email Jack at: jbeven@delphi.com and ask him to start sending you the summaries. Note however that these are already posted on sci.geo.meteorology and WX-TALK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREE DATA ftp downdry.atmos.colostate.edu [129.82.107.154] Atlantic basin tropical storm and hurricane best track data, 1886-1994. Every 6 hour intensity and position information (files ending .atl). Also, Northeast/North-central Pacific tropical storm and hurricane data (1949-1994) (files ending .epc). Provided by landsea@aoml.noaa.gov (Chris Landsea). http://thunder.atms.purdue.edu/hurricane.html This best track information for the Atlantic has provided in seperate images for each years by some people at Purdue University. The tracks for the individual years have been provided in a color coded (for intensity) format. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOT-FREE DATA World Weather Disc ($295): Monthly temp, precip, pressure, sunshine data for about 2000 world stations for period of record. Daily weather data at hundreds of US stations. Data for some stations on temp, precip, freeze, drought, soil moisture, wind, storms. Frequency and movement of tropical cyclones. Contact: Cliff Mass, Dept. of Atmos. Sci. (AK40), University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. 206/685-0910. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Global Tropical and Extratropical Cyclone Climatic Atlas (GTECCA) ($100): This CD-ROM contains all global historic tropical storm track data available for five tropical storm basins. Periods of record varies for each basin, with the beginning as early as the 1870s and with 1992 at the latest year. Northern hemispheric extratropical storm track data will be included from 1965 to 1992. Tropical track data includes time, position, storm stage (maximum wind, central pressure when available). The user can display tracks, track data for any basin or user-selected geographic area, or tracks passing within a user-defined radius of any point. Narratives for all tropical storms for the 1980-1992 period will be included as well as basin-wide tropical storm climatological statistics. Contact: National Climatic Data Center, Federal Building, Asheville, NC 28801, USA. 704/271-4800, email orders@ncdc.noaa.gov. ************************************************************************** Subject: 7) What journals have regular articles on tropical cyclones? The American Meteorological Society publishes the _Monthly Weather Review_ which has annual summaries of Atlantic basin tropical cyclones, Atlantic basin tropical disturbances, and Northeast Pacific (east of 140W) basin tropical cyclones. These summaries have a substantial amount of data and analysis of the storms. _Weatherwise_ prints annual summaries of both the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific basins which are less technical that the _Monthly Weather Review_ articles, but come out months earlier. For just the tropical cyclones of the Southeast Indian/Australia and the Australia/Southwest Pacific basins, the _Australia Meteorological Magazine_ has a very thorough annual summary. The Indian journal _Mausam_ carries an annual summary of tropical cyclone activity over the North Indian Ocean. _Mariner's Weather Log_ has articles from all of the global basins in annual summaries. These are descriptive and non-technical. ************************************************************************** Subject: 8) What books have been written about tropical cyclones? ************************ BEST NON-TECHNICAL BOOK: _The Hurricane_ ************************ For a excellent introductory text into hurricanes (and tropical cyclones in general), this book by R.A. Pielke provides the basics on the physical mechanisms of hurricanes without getting into any mathematical rigor. This first version is just 100 pages of text with another 120 pages devoted toward all of the tracks of Atlantic hurricanes from 1871-1989. Roger A. Pielke is a professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (USA). The book's 1990 edition is available through Routledge Publishing, New York. (An updated version of this book should be forthcoming in 1996.) ******************** BEST TECHNICAL BOOK: _Global Perspectives on Tropical Cyclones_ ******************** This is the revised version of _A Global View of Tropical Cyclones_ and is the most current, detailed book available on the subject. This book provides the state of the science as of 1994. Improvements over the previous version include a chapter on the ocean response to tropical cyclones. This paperback book is written in 1995 by G.R. Foley, H.E. Willoughby, J.L. McBride, R.L. Elsberry, I. Ginis, and L. Chen with Elsberry serving as Editor and is available from the World Meterological Organization as Report No. TCP-38. Their address is: World Meteorological Organization Publications Sales Unit Case Postale 2300 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland ************************ BEST FORECASTING MANUAL: _Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting_ ************************ For the tropical cyclone forecaster and also of general interest for anyone in the field and those with a non-technical interest in the field, the loose-leaf book - _Global Guide to Tropical Cyclone Forecasting_ (1993) by G.J. Holland (ed.), World Meteorological Organization, WMO/TD-No. 560, Report No. TCP-31 is a must get. (See above for address of the WMO.) ********************** OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE: ********************** ______Atlantic Hurricanes_______ A classic book describing tropical cyclones primarily of the Atlantic basin, but also covering the physical understanding of tropical cyclone genesis, motion, and intensity change at the time is _Atlantic Hurricanes_ by Gordon E. Dunn and Banner I. Miller. Written in 1960, published by the Louisiana State Press, this book gives provides good insight into the knowledge of tropical cyclones as of the late 1950s. It is interesting to observe that much of what we know was well understood at this pre- satellite era. Gordon E. Dunn was the Director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center and Banner I. Miller was a research meteorologist also at the National Hurricane Center. ________Hurricanes, Their Nature and History______ Before Dunn and Miller's book, Ivan Ray Tannehill came out with an authoritative reference on the history, structure, climatology, historical tracks, and forecasting techniques of Atlantic hurricanes as was known by the mid-1930s. This is one of the first compilations of yearly tracks of Atlantic storms - he provides tracks of memorable tropical cyclones all the way back to the 1700s and shows all the storm tracks yearly from 1901 onward. The first edition came out in 1938 and the book went through at least nine editions (my book was published in 1956). Mr. Tannehill was engaged as a hurricane forecasts for over 20 years and also lead the Division of Synoptic Reports and Forecasts of the U.S. Weather Bureau. Princeton University Press, 308 pp (in 1956 version). ________A Global View of Tropical Cyclones_______ A very thorough book dealing with the technical issues of tropical cyclones for the state of the science in the mid-1980s: _A Global View of Tropical Cyclones_ (1987) by Elsberry, Holland, Frank, Jarrell, and Southern; University of Chicago Press, 195 pp. A revised version of this book has recently become available, see _Global Perspectives on Tropical Cyclones_ below. ________Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean, 1871-1992_______ Researchers and those who follow Atlantic hurricanes should all have a copy of the atlas: _Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean, 1871-1992_, by C.J. Neumann, B.R. Jarvinen, C.J. McAdie, J.D. Elms; Asheville, NC, (1993), Prepared by the National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, NC, in cooperation with the National Hurricane Center, Coral Gables, FL, 193 pp. ________Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, 1871-1993, An Historical Survey_________ A recent book providing a historical perspective of Florida Hurricanes is _Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, 1871-1993, An Historical Survey_, F. Doehring, I.W. Duedall, and J.M. Williams, (1994), Tp-71, Florida Sea Grant College Program, Gainesville, Florida, USA, 118 pp. ________Cyclone Tracy, Picking up the Pieces_______ Twenty years after Cyclone Tracy, this book recreates, by interviews with survivors, the events during and after the cyclone that nearly destroyed Darwin, Australia: _Cyclone Tracy, Picking up the pieces_, B. Bunbury, (1994), Fremantle Arts Centre Press, South Fremantle, Australia, 148 pp. ************************************************************************** Subject: 9) What refereed articles were written during 1994 about tropical cyclones? At the ftp site: ftp downdry.atmos.colostate.edu [129.82.107.154] The file, TCpubs.1994, contains all known refereed publications concerning tropical cyclones that were in journals around the world with a print date of 1994. Maintained by landsea@aoml.noaa.gov (Chris Landsea). **************************************************************************