Scholarly Uses of the VDM+ Dataset

This page provides a list of scholarly works that have used the FLIGHT+ Dataset. Brief overviews of collaborations and research outcomes are also provided for some the users. If you have used the VDM+ Dataset in a scholarly work, or are interested in beginning a new collaboration involving the VDM+ Dataset, please contact ral-tcdp@ucar.edu.

Scholarly Works Using FLIGHT+

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles Using FLIGHT+

• Vigh, J. L., J. A. Knaff, and W. H. Schubert, 2012: A climatology of hurricane eye formation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 140, 1405-1426, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-11-00108.1.* (pdf file of article, supplement)
• Stern, D. P., J. L. Vigh, D. S. Nolan, and F. Zhang, 2015: Revisiting the relationship between eyewall contraction and intensification. Mon. Wea. Rev., 72, 1283-1306, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-14-0261.1.
• Martinez, J., M. M. Bell, J. L. Vigh, R. F. Rogers, 2017: Examination of tropical cyclone structure and intensification with the FLIGHT+ Dataset from 1999 to 2012. Mon. Wea. Rev., 145, 4401-4421, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-17-0011.1. (pdf file)

Datasets Using FLIGHT+

• Vigh, J. L., E. Gilleland, C. L. Williams, D. R. Chavas, N. M. Dorst, 2018: TC-OBS: The Tropical Cyclone Observations-Based Structure Database (version 0.42, an alpha-level release). Tropical Cyclone Data Project, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Research Applications Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado. [Available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5065/D6BC3X95.] Accessed dd mmm yyyy.

Dissertation and Masters Theses Using FLIGHT+

• Vigh, J. L., 2010a: Formation of the hurricane eye. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523, 538 pp. [Available in the official graduate school format (best for printing) or a single-spaced format with hyperlinks (best for viewing onscreen)].
• Martinez, J., 2016: Examination of Tropical Cyclone Structure and Intensification with the Extended Flight Level Dataset (FLIGHT+) from 1999 to 2012. M.S. Thesis (pdf file), Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, 66 pp.

Brief Overviews of Collaborations and Research Outcomes Involving FLIGHT+

2008 - 2010: Jonathan Vigh, Doctoral work on eye formation

Jonathan Vigh built the original version of the VDM+ Dataset (v0.80) during 2008-2009 to answer some key questions about hurricane eye formation for the observational component of his doctoral dissertation. By combining the intensity and structure parameters obtained from the VDMs, he was able to ascertain important details about the timing of eye formation in relation to other satellite-based structural stages and to compile various statistics on the range of intensities at which eyes form and the behavior of the inner core storm size. A key finding is that the inner core radius of maximum winds tends to decline rapidly in the 24 hours prior to eye formation. Meanwhile, eye formation often occurs near the beginning of a period of rapid intensification of the tropical cyclone's intensity. Further results were published in a journal article in 2012.

• Vigh, J. L., 2010a: Formation of the hurricane eye. Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523, 538 pp. [Available in the official graduate school format (best for printing) or a single-spaced format with hyperlinks (best for viewing onscreen)].
• Vigh, J. L., J. A. Knaff, and W. H. Schubert, 2012: A climatology of hurricane eye formation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 140, 1405-1426, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-11-00108.1.* (pdf file of article, supplement)

2010: Diamilet Betancourt-Perez, SOARS research project on effect of environmental wind shear on eye formation

Ms. Betancourt-Perez, a senior undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, used v0.90 of the VDM+ Dataset for her 2010 Summer SOARS research project:

• Betancourt-Perez, Diamilet, 2010: The influence of environmental vertical wind shear on hurricane eye formation. Significant Opportunities in Research and the Atmosphere (SOARS) Research Paper, NCAR, Boulder, Colorado, 35 pp. (pdf)

2012: Dr. Jonathan Vigh and Dr. Chris Rozoff (Collaborator), Role of wind structure on potential for rapid intensification

Dr. Vigh and Dr. Rozoff used v0.99 of the VDM+ Dataset to look into whether any inner core structure parameters are useful for ascertaining the potential for a tropical cyclone to rapidly intensify. They examined various environmental and dynamical parameters specifically at the time of eye formation. Several parameters were found to be of potential use. One parameter in particular, the dynamical eye size, which is the eye radius divided by the minimum Rossby length computed from aircraft observed data, was found to be of greater importance than the maximum potential intensity.

• Vigh, J. L. and C. M. Rozoff, 2012: Impact of inner core tropical cyclone structure on the potential for rapid intensification. Extended Abstract (pdf file), 30th Conf. on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Paper 8B.2. [Recorded presentation given 18 April 2012]

2012 - present: Jonathan Martinez (Collaborator), Inner core structure, intensity, and intensification

Mr. Matrinez, who was at the time a senior undergraduate student at Florida State University, used v1.000 of the VDM+ Dataset and a beta version of the FLIGHT+ Dataset in his 2013 Summer SOARS research project. He utilized the Best Track data contained in the VDM+ Dataset to characterize the intensification rates of a large number of tropical cyclones and then bin them into categories such as intensifying, steady state, and weakening. He also binned by intensity itself, resulting in a a 2-dimensional matrix. Then he used used the high resolution flight level data from the FLIGHT+ Dataset to generate composites of radial wind profiles for the various bins, thereby examining how tropical cyclone wind structure is related to intensity and intensification. In August 2015 he presented on this research at the AMS Mesoscale Conference (recorded presentation). Mr. Martinez continued to investigate this topic as part of his Masters Thesis research at the University of Hawaii under the direction of Dr. Michael Bell. He has recently moved to Colorado State University and is now a PhD Candidate.

• Martinez, J. and M. M. Bell, 2016: Examination of Tropical Cyclone Structure and Intensification with the Extended Flight Level Dataset (FLIGHT+) from 1999 to 2012. Extended Abstract (pdf file), 32nd Conf. on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Paper 5D.5.
• Martinez, J., 2016: Examination of Tropical Cyclone Structure and Intensification with the Extended Flight Level Dataset (FLIGHT+) from 1999 to 2012. M.S. Thesis (pdf file), Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, 66 pp.

2013 - 2015: Dr. Daniel Stern (Collaborator) and Dr. Jonathan Vigh, Eyewall contraction and intensification

Dr. Stern, Dr. Vigh, and collaborators further investigated the topic of inner core contraction and intensification. Several plots from the VDM+ Dataset (v1.000) were used in the paper. These plots show the evoluation of various intensity and structure parameters over the lifecycles of tropical cyclones. These plots are used in the paper to establish from observations that several key pathways exist in the intensity/contraction space. In some storms, the period of rapid intensification occurs concommitantly with contraction. In other tropical cyclones, the period of rapid intensification occurs with little or only slow contraction. In such cases, the period of rapid contraction often occurs just prior to the start of rapid intensification. The remainder of the paper explores a kinematic argument, bolstered by modeling experiments, to explain why this behavior occurs.

• Stern, D. P., J. L. Vigh, D. S. Nolan, and F. Zhang, 2015: Revisiting the relationship between eyewall contraction and intensification. Mon. Wea. Rev., 72, 1283-1306, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-14-0261.1.

2015 - present: Dr. Philip Klotzbach (Collaborator), Intraseasonal influences on tropical cyclone activity

Dr. Klotzbach collaborated with Dr. Vigh to use v1.000 of the VDM+ Dataset to explore whether the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) has a discernible influence on the time tropical cyclones take to form eyes. Dr. Vigh and Dr. Klotzbach plan to continue collaborating to exploit the VDM+ Dataset to look at intraseasonal influences on tropical cyclone activity.

 

This page was last updated 28 September 2018 by Jonathan Vigh.