Compact Raman Lidar Observations of Tropical Cyclone Eye Clouds

Five files supporting research on convective cloud properties within tropical cyclone eyes. The data includes compact Raman lidar and in situ observations from the inner core of Tropical Cyclone Sam, collected during flights in September 2021. It was compiled by Ethan Murray at the University of Colorado Boulder for a 2024 publication.

Use Cases

• Recreate published figures on tropical cyclone eye cloud variability based on the provided data files.
• Analyze cloud height distributions within tropical cyclone eyes based on lidar observations.
• Study the role of vertical mixing in tropical cyclone eyes based on combined lidar and radar data.
• Investigate environmental characteristics of tropical cyclone eye passes based on the metadata file.

Strengths

• Includes data from two specific research flights (P3_20210927H1 and P3_20210929H2) targeting Tropical Cyclone Sam.
• Combines multiple data sources: compact Raman lidar, in situ observations, and tail Doppler radar.
• Contains a metadata file with information on all eye passes conducted with the lidar.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Colorado Boulder

Collection Method

Compact Raman lidar and in situ observations from aircraft flights.

Time Range

September 2021 (specific flights on 2021-09-27 and 2021-09-29)

Geography

Inner core of Tropical Cyclone Sam (Atlantic basin)