Using video recognition to identify tropical cyclone positions
File(s)2020GL091912.pdf (2.5 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Smith, Mohan
Toumi, Ralf
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Tropical cyclone (TC) center fixing is a challenge for improving forecasting and establishing TC climatologies. We propose a novel objective solution through the use of video recognition algorithms. The videos of tropical cyclones in the Western North Pacific are of sequential, hourly, geostationary satellite infrared (IR) images. A variety of convolutional neural network architectures are tested. The best performing network implements convolutional layers, a convolutional long short-term memory layer, and fully connected layers. Cloud features rotating around a center are effectively captured in this video-based technique. Networks trained with long-wave IR channels outperform a water vapor channel-based network. The average position across the two IR networks has a 19.3 km median error across all intensities. This equates to a 42% lower error over a baseline technique. This video-based method combined with the high geostationary satellite sampling rate can provide rapid and accurate automated updates of TC centers.
Date Issued
2021-04-16
Date Acceptance
2021-02-17
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2021, 48 (7), pp.1-9
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
48
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2021. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Met Office
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000641974600056&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
P106409
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Geology
disaster monitoring
neural networks
tropical cyclones
video recognition
INTENSITY
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e2020GL091912
Date Publish Online
2021-03-15