International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 1 Ken Knapp Michael Kruk Howard Diamond Ethan Gibney Paula Hennon Carl Schreck, III NOAA/NCDC Supporting historical hurricane research with data archived at NCDC

Overview Climate Perspective –IBTrACS Summary Data for analysis –NCDC Resources for Hurricane Research 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 2

Best track data: Perspective Better forecasts help protect today’s population and property Better climatologies can help build better cities to protect tomorrow’s population and property 28 Apr Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 3

28 Apr Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference A balancing act… User needs Available Data Available Data Forecaster/ Analyst Time Forecaster/ Analyst Time BT Data

IBTrACS: User perspective At the intersection of users and providers 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 5 IBTrACS Team RSMCs TCWCs Others RSMCs TCWCs Others IBTrACS Data IBTrACS Data Users Feedback Create data Data access Data providers Feedback

Feedback IBTrACS requested users to identify their needs Results… –Storm size information RMW, Wind radii, ROCI –Higher temporal resolution More the just 6 hourly Landfall, maximum intensity, etc. 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 6

3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference Storm name 11 Date 15 Time 15 latitude 15 longitude 15 max avg wind speed 14 central pressure 13 cyclone type 13 Wind Radii by quadrant 5 source code 4 RMW 4 RMW quality 3 pos_confidence 3 wind units 3 T-number 3 CI-number 2 time interval for ws avg 2 max gust 2 pressure quality 2 units of length 1 gust period 1 wind quality 1 ROCI 3 Eye diameter 3 Pressure _OCI 2 # of Variables provided from WMO Parameters in use … WMO Parameters Position confidence 1 = good (<30nm; <55km) 2 = fair (30-60nm; km) 3 = poor (>60nm; >110km) 9 = unknown Pressure quality 1=Aircraft or Dropsonde observation 2=Over water observation (e.g. buoy) 3=Over land observation 4=Dvorak estimate 5=Other ATCF

ATCF More parameters will be opened to the public. Which parameters are best tracked? Providing more metadata helps users understand data. 28 Apr Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 8 AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 123N, 219W, 30, 1007, TD, 34, NEQ, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1012, 170, 30, 0, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, INVEST, D, AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 127N, 232W, 35, 1005, TS, 34, NEQ, 30, 0, 0, 30, 1012, 180, 30, 40, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, TEN, D, AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 130N, 242W, 35, 1005, TS, 34, NEQ, 30, 0, 0, 30, 1012, 180, 30, 45, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, JOSEPHINE, D, 12, NEQ, 40, 0, 0, 40 AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 133N, 253W, 45, 1000, TS, 34, NEQ, 50, 30, 30, 50, 1011, 180, 30, 55, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, JOSEPHINE, D, 12, NEQ, 60, 0, 0, 60 AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 135N, 263W, 50, 997, TS, 34, NEQ, 75, 75, 75, 50, 1011, 180, 45, 55, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, JOSEPHINE, D, 12, NEQ, 60, 0, 0, 60 AL, 10, ,, BEST, 0, 135N, 263W, 50, 997, TS, 50, NEQ, 25, 25, 0, 0, 1011, 180, 45, 55, 0, L, 0,, 0, 0, JOSEPHINE, D, 12, NEQ, 60, 0, 0, 60

Latest IBTrACS news Providing… –More parameters –Data as reported Online browsing –Browse storms by year, name, Max Wind, … –CSC Historic Hurricane Track Mapper 28 Apr Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 9

Browse IBTrACS 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 10

Overview Climate Perspective –IBTrACS Summary Data for reanalysis –NCDC Resources for Hurricane Research 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 11

3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference HURSAT-AVHRR 1978-present 4km resolution ~12 hourly netCDF & imagery HURSAT-MW 1987-present ~ 25 km resolution ~ 12 hourly (or better) netCDF & imagery HURSAT-B present 8km resolution 3 hourly netCDF, imagery, & MPG movies GridSat 1978-present, 70N-70S 8km resolution 3 hourly netCDF HR Mitch HR Wilma HR Ivan HR Jeanne HR Karl HR Lisa TY Tip Hurricane Satellite (HURSAT) Data

Hurricane Satellite (HURSAT) Data 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 13

Scanning historical storm wallets NCDC received 6200 pounds of storm wallets from U. Hawaii –From JTWC –1523 wallets: Data are being scanned –Will be accessible online when complete. –Will be similar to N. Atlantic wallet scans 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 14

We’re an archive: Boxes and boxes of data Redwood city data ICOADS (historical ship and buoy data) NEXRAD data and tools for visualization 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference mb

We’re an archive What data exists that isn’t in an archive that should be? We have: –Multi-site backups –Can provide customer service access –New access methods 3 Mar Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 16

Summary IBTrACS –Junction of BT users and data providers –Updated annually - “We provide what you provide” –More metadata from providers would help users understand the BT data Resources at NCDC –IBTrACS –HURSAT –Scanning of historical documents –Discovery of historical documents –Can archive more hurricane data 28 Apr Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference 17 Supporting historical hurricane research with data archived at NCDC