Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound
Mediterranean hurricanes, or medicanes, are tropical-like cyclones forming once or twice per year over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. These mesocyclones pose a serious threat to coastal infrastructure and lives because of their strong winds and intense rainfall. Infrasound technology has alrea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/23/6162 |
| _version_ | 1797462202069811200 |
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| author | Constantino Listowski Edouard Forestier Stavros Dafis Thomas Farges Marine De Carlo Florian Grimaldi Alexis Le Pichon Julien Vergoz Philippe Heinrich Chantal Claud |
| author_facet | Constantino Listowski Edouard Forestier Stavros Dafis Thomas Farges Marine De Carlo Florian Grimaldi Alexis Le Pichon Julien Vergoz Philippe Heinrich Chantal Claud |
| author_sort | Constantino Listowski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Mediterranean hurricanes, or medicanes, are tropical-like cyclones forming once or twice per year over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. These mesocyclones pose a serious threat to coastal infrastructure and lives because of their strong winds and intense rainfall. Infrasound technology has already been employed to investigate the acoustic signatures of severe weather events, and this study aims at characterizing, for the first time, the infrasound detections that can be related to medicanes. This work also contributes to infrasound source discrimination efforts in the context of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We use data from the infrasound station IS48 of the International Monitoring System in Tunisia to investigate the infrasound signatures of mesocyclones using a multi-channel correlation algorithm. We discuss the detections using meteorological fields to assess the presence of stratospheric waveguides favoring propagation. We corroborate the detections by considering other datasets, such as satellite observations, a surface lightning detection network, and products mapping the simulated intensity of the swell. High- and low-frequency detections are evidenced for three medicanes at distances ranging between 250 and 1100 km from the station. Several cases of non-detection are also discussed. While deep convective systems, and mostly lightning within them, seem to be the main source of detections above 1 Hz, hotspots of swell (microbarom) related to the medicanes are evidenced between 0.1 and 0.5 Hz. In the latter case, simulations of microbarom detections are consistent with the observations. Multi-source situations are highlighted, stressing the need for more resilient detection-estimation algorithms. Cloud-to-ground lightning seems not to explain all high-frequency detections, suggesting that additional sources of electrical or dynamical origin may be at play that are related to deep convective systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:33:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7f804118d0340fcb6a304d9aa22dd8d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:33:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7f804118d0340fcb6a304d9aa22dd8d2023-11-24T12:06:51ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922022-12-011423616210.3390/rs14236162Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using InfrasoundConstantino Listowski0Edouard Forestier1Stavros Dafis2Thomas Farges3Marine De Carlo4Florian Grimaldi5Alexis Le Pichon6Julien Vergoz7Philippe Heinrich8Chantal Claud9CEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceNational Observatory of Athens, Institute for Environmental Research and Sustainable Development, 15236 Athens, GreeceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceUniv Brest, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS), IUEM, 29280 Plouzané, FranceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceCEA, DAM, DIF, 91297 Arpajon, FranceLMD/IPSL, CNRS UMR 8539, École Polytechnique, Université Paris Saclay, ENS, PSL Research University, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, 91128 Palaiseau, FranceMediterranean hurricanes, or medicanes, are tropical-like cyclones forming once or twice per year over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. These mesocyclones pose a serious threat to coastal infrastructure and lives because of their strong winds and intense rainfall. Infrasound technology has already been employed to investigate the acoustic signatures of severe weather events, and this study aims at characterizing, for the first time, the infrasound detections that can be related to medicanes. This work also contributes to infrasound source discrimination efforts in the context of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We use data from the infrasound station IS48 of the International Monitoring System in Tunisia to investigate the infrasound signatures of mesocyclones using a multi-channel correlation algorithm. We discuss the detections using meteorological fields to assess the presence of stratospheric waveguides favoring propagation. We corroborate the detections by considering other datasets, such as satellite observations, a surface lightning detection network, and products mapping the simulated intensity of the swell. High- and low-frequency detections are evidenced for three medicanes at distances ranging between 250 and 1100 km from the station. Several cases of non-detection are also discussed. While deep convective systems, and mostly lightning within them, seem to be the main source of detections above 1 Hz, hotspots of swell (microbarom) related to the medicanes are evidenced between 0.1 and 0.5 Hz. In the latter case, simulations of microbarom detections are consistent with the observations. Multi-source situations are highlighted, stressing the need for more resilient detection-estimation algorithms. Cloud-to-ground lightning seems not to explain all high-frequency detections, suggesting that additional sources of electrical or dynamical origin may be at play that are related to deep convective systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/23/6162medicanetropical-like Mediterranean cyclonemesocyclonehurricaneinfrasoundlightning |
| spellingShingle | Constantino Listowski Edouard Forestier Stavros Dafis Thomas Farges Marine De Carlo Florian Grimaldi Alexis Le Pichon Julien Vergoz Philippe Heinrich Chantal Claud Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound Remote Sensing medicane tropical-like Mediterranean cyclone mesocyclone hurricane infrasound lightning |
| title | Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound |
| title_full | Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound |
| title_fullStr | Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound |
| title_full_unstemmed | Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound |
| title_short | Remote Monitoring of Mediterranean Hurricanes Using Infrasound |
| title_sort | remote monitoring of mediterranean hurricanes using infrasound |
| topic | medicane tropical-like Mediterranean cyclone mesocyclone hurricane infrasound lightning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/23/6162 |
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