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Cyclone Kelvin makes landfall in Australia

By Scott Bachmeier •

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm, right) images, with hourly surface plots at Broome [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm, left) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm, right) images, with hourly surface plots at Broome, Australia [click to play Animated GIF | MP4 also available]

Himawari-8 Visible (0.64 µm) and Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (above) showed Cyclone Kelvin as it made landfall in Western Australia as a Category 1 storm on 18 February 2018. Kelvin continued to intensify shortly after making landfall, with estimated winds of 80 gusting to 100 knots — and a distinct eye feature could be seen in the Visible and Infrared imagery (as well as Broome radar data).

A longer animation of Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images (below) revealed a very large convective burst as Kelvin meandered near the coast early on 17 February — periodic cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of -90 ºC or colder were seen. After making landfall, the eye structure eventually deteriorated by 18 UTC on 18 February.

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images, with hourly surface plots [click to play MP4 | Animated GIF also available]

Himawari-8 Infrared Window (10.4 µm) images, with hourly surface plots [click to play MP4 | Animated GIF also available]

The MIMIC-TC product (below) showed the development of Kelvin’s compact eye during the 17 February – 18 February period; the eye was well-defined around the time of landfall (2147 UTC image on 17 February), and persisted for at least 18 hours (1556 UTC image on 18 February) until rapidly dissipating by 21 UTC.

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave imagery [click to enlarge]

MIMIC-TC morphed microwave imagery [click to enlarge]

Himawari-8 Deep Layer Wind Shear values remained very low — generally 5 knots or less — prior to, during and after the landfall of Kelvin, which also contributed to the slow rate of weakening. In addition, an upward moisture flux from the warm/wet sandy soil of that region helped Kelvin to intensify after landfall; land surface friction was also small, since that portion of Western Australia is rather flat.

Himawari-8 Water Vapor images, with Deep Layer Wind Shear product [click to enlarge]

Himawari-8 Water Vapor images, with Deep Layer Wind Shear product [click to enlarge]

The eye of Cyclone Kelvin could also be seen in Terra MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS True-color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, viewed using RealEarth (below). The actual times of the Terra and Suomi NPP satellite overpasses were 0154 UTC and 0452 UTC on 18 February, respectively.

Terra MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS True-color RGB images [click to enlarge]

Terra MODIS and Suomi NPP VIIRS True-color RGB images [click to enlarge]

Categories: DMSP, Himawari-8, MODIS, Other Satellites, RealEarth, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images, Satellite winds, Suomi NPP, Terra, Tropical cyclones, VIIRS