A diagnostic study of cloud distribution and development in hurricane Debbie August 13-19,1969 from satellite data

E. E. Balogun

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v29i5.11373

A diagnostic study of cloud distribution and development in hurricane Debbie August 13-19,1969 from satellite data

Tellus

Volume 29 (1977): Issue 5

By: E. E. Balogun

Open Access

|Jan 1977

Abstract

A diagnostic study of cloud distribution and development in hurricane Debbie August 13–19, 1969 using satellite data and based on a photometric method described earlier by Balogun (1976) is presented. A systematic assessment of the cloudiness of a tropical cyclone over the oceans by a method that is less sensitive to personal bias demonstrates the following features of the cyclone:

(1) The gradual changes in the cloud patterns of a tropical cyclone. The changes take place in a definite manner.

(2) The non-axis symmetric nature of the tropical cyclone cloud pattern. The lack of symmetry at the early stages of the cyclone is quantified. The parameter obtained is then used to demonstrate the process of symmetricalization at the latter stages of the cyclone.

(3) The rate of rotation of the cloud bands about a central axis of the cyclone is less than the rate of rotation of air parcels about the axis of rotation. The rate of rotation of the bands is estimated to be about 50–75% of the rotation of air parcels. This estimate was for a period of about 7 h during the lifetime of the cyclone. The lower rate of motion of the bands suggests that the field of the low level convergence moves at a different rate from the air parcels about the axis of the cyclone.

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