Convective Cloud RGB Product and Its Application to Tropical Cyclone Analysis Using Geostationary Satellite Observation

Red-Green-Blue (RGB) imagery techniques are useful for both forecasters and public users because they are intuitively understood, have advantageous visualization, and do not lose observational information. This study presents a novel RGB convective cloud product and its application to tropical cyclone analysis using Communication, Oceanography, and Meteorology (COMS) satellite observations. The RGB convective cloud product was developed using the brightness temperature differences between WV ($6.75{\mu}m$) and IR1 ($10.8{\mu}m$), and IR2 ($12.0{\mu}m$) and IR1 ($10.8{\mu}m$) as well as the brightness temperature in the IR1 bands of the COMS, with the threshold values estimated from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) radar observations and the EUMETSAT RGB recipe. To verify the accuracy of the convective cloud RGB product, the product was applied to the center positions analysis of two typhoons in 2013. Thus, the convective cloud RGB product threshold values were estimated for WV-IR1 (-20 K to 15 K), IR1 (210 K to 300 K), and IR1-IR2 (-4 K to 2 K). The product application in typhoon analysis shows relatively low bias and root mean square errors (RMSE)s of 23 and 28 km for DANAS in 2013, and 17 and 22 km for FRANCISCO in 2013, as compared to the best tracks data from the Regional Specialized Meteorological Center (RSMC) in Tokyo. Consequently, our proposed RGB convective cloud product has the advantages of high accuracy and excellent visualization for a variety of meteorological applications.