Utilization of satellite-derived cloud cover to improve the estimation of latent heat release in a winter extratropical cyclone
A simple scheme for utilizing satellite cloud pattern information to improve the estimation of parameterized stable and convective latent heat release is proposed and tested for an extratropical cyclone occurring over the United States during January 9-11, 1975. Calculations are done over the standard North American rawinsonde data region and over a sparse data region simulated by ignoring one-third of the original rawinsonde stations. Results indicate 15 percent and 30 percent improvements in latent heating estimates derived from the total and sparse data sets, respectively. A larger improvement was found using the sparse data set because the parameterized latent heat release estimates obtained using these data were poorer than those obtained using the total data set.