A spiral cloud belt matching (SCBeM) technique is proposed for automatically locating the tropical cyclone (TC) center position on the basis of multi-band geo-satellite images. The technique comprises four steps: fusion of multi-band geo-satellite images, extraction of TC cloud systems, construction of a spiral cloud belt template (CBT), and template matching to locate the TC center. In testing of the proposed SCBeM technique on 97 TCs over the western North Pacific during 2012–2015, the median error (ME) was 50 km. An independent test of another 29 TCs in 2016 resulted in a ME of 54 km. The SCBeM performs better for TCs with intensity above “typhoon” level than it does for weaker systems, and is not suitable for use on high-latitude or landfall TCs if their cloud band formations have been destroyed by westerlies or by terrain. The proposed SCBeM technique provides an additional solution for automatically and objectively locating the TC center and has the potential to be applied conveniently in an operational setting. Intercomparisons between the Automated Rotational Center Hurricane Eye Retrieval (ARCHER) and SCBeM methods using events from 2014 to 2016 reveal that ARCHER has better location accuracy. However, when IR imagery alone is used, the ME of SCBeM is 54 km, and in the case of low latitudes and low vertical wind shear the ME is 45–47 km, which approaches that of ARCHER (49 km). Thus, the SCBeM method is simple, has good time resolution, performs well and is a better choice for those TC operational agencies in the case that the microwave images, ASCAT, or other observations are unavailable.

中文翻译：

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利用多波段云影像自动定位热带气旋中心的新技术

提出了一种螺旋云带匹配（SCBeM）技术，用于基于多波段地球卫星图像自动定位热带气旋（TC）中心位置。该技术包括四个步骤：融合多波段地球卫星图像，提取TC云系统，构建螺旋云带模板（CBT）以及进行模板匹配以定位TC中心。在2012-2015年期间对北太平洋西部97个TC进行拟议的SCBeM技术测试时，中值误差（ME）为50 km。2016年对另外29个TC进行了独立测试，得出的ME为54 km。强度高于“台风”级别的TC的SCBeM比弱系统的TC性能更好，并且如果其云带形成已被西风或地形破坏，则不适合用于高纬度或降落的TC。所提出的SCBeM技术为自动，客观地定位TC中心提供了另一种解决方案，并具有在操作环境中方便应用的潜力。使用2014年至2016年的事件对自动旋转中心飓风眼图检索（ARCHER）和SCBeM方法进行了比较，结果表明ARCHER具有更好的定位精度。但是，仅使用红外图像时，SCBeM的ME为54 km，在低纬度和低垂直风切变的情况下，ME为45-47 km，接近ARCHER（49 km）。因此，在没有微波图像，ASCAT或其他观测值的情况下，SCBeM方法简单，具有良好的时间分辨率，性能良好，并且是那些TC操作机构的更好选择。