3:30 PM - 4:00 PM
[AAS06-06] Typhoon observations by seabird biologging
★Invited Papers
Keywords:biologging, typhoon observation, sea surface wind, data assimilation
Despite typhoons being severe phenomena accompanied by strong winds and heavy rain, direct observation of typhoons involves cost and danger. Therefore, reliance on numerical models and remote sensing becomes inevitable. However, to evaluate the accuracy of remote sensing and to clarify the development mechanisms of typhoons, direct observation is essential. In recent years, a research trend has emerged in applying the methodology known as "biologging" from the field of ecology to meteorological and oceanographic observations. This method involves attaching sensors to animals to measure their behavior, environment, and physiology. Additionally, studies have reported a behavior of seabirds to fly towards the center of typhoons (Lempidakis et al. (2022); Nourani et al. (2023)), raising expectations for direct typhoon observation through biologging.
Therefore, in this study, we verified observation accuracy of wind and temperature of biologging data obtained from the flights of streaked shearwaters near typhoons off the coast of Japan. We also performed data assimilation experiments using a regional atmospheric data assimilation system to examine the potential of biologging data for typhoon observation.
The data used to estimate sea surface winds in assimilation experiments were derived from GPS tracking data from a total of 483 streaked shearwaters nesting on Awashima Island in Niigata Prefecture and conducts foraging flights from the Japan Sea to the Pacific coast of Hokkaido. We applied a method based on Goto et al. (2017) to estimate sea surface winds and created a dataset for sea surface winds in August and September from 2008 to 2022. We conducted accuracy verification of the bird-estimated winds using surface wind from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) 's MSM and performed bias correction and quality control for data assimilation.
For assimilation experiments, we utilized the NHM-LETKF regional reanalysis system with a 5 km resolution over the Japanese region (Fukui et al. 2018). Based on the best track data from JMA, we extracted 13 cases where birds flew within a 300 km radius of the typhoon center. Examining the impact of bird observations on typhoon analysis for each case, significant impacts were found in the assimilation experiment for Typhoon Cimaron (2018). In this case, birds observed locations within 100 km of the typhoon center, and assimilating bird observations resulted in a weakening of the typhoon intensity, as well as improving the intensity and track forecasts.
Next, we estimated wind from the positional information of streaked shearwaters flying within the inner region of Typhoon Faxai (2019). BIologging for this case is reported by Shiomi (2023). We conducted a comparison and verification with the results of JMA's MSM and numerical experiments of the regional non-hydrostatic atmosphere-ocean coupled model CReSS-NHOES (Kanada and Aiki 2024). Additionally, we compared the bird-estimated wind with the wind observation data from JMA's Doppler radar and wind profiler.
The wind estimated from the birds was generally consistent with the other observations and numerical experiments, suggesting its potential use as a tracer for measuring wind. Furthermore, we conducted a comparison for the recorded temperatures by birds. Although there are constraints due to biases from the bird's own body temperature and observational conditions such as the presence of sunlight and the strength of the wind, it was suggested that temperature measurements are achievable with reasonable accuracy.
References
Fukui et al. (2018). Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 96(6), 565-585. DOI: 10.2151/jmsj.2018-056
Goto et al. (2017). Science Advances, 3(9), e1700097, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700097
Kanada & Aiki (2024). Geophysical Research Letters, 51(1), e2023GL105659, DOI: 10.1029/2023GL105659
Lempidakis et al. (2022). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(41), e2212925119, DOI: 10.1073/PNAS.2212925119
Nourani et al. (2023). Current Biology, 33, 1179-1184, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.068
Shiomi (2023). Ecology, e4161, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4161
Therefore, in this study, we verified observation accuracy of wind and temperature of biologging data obtained from the flights of streaked shearwaters near typhoons off the coast of Japan. We also performed data assimilation experiments using a regional atmospheric data assimilation system to examine the potential of biologging data for typhoon observation.
The data used to estimate sea surface winds in assimilation experiments were derived from GPS tracking data from a total of 483 streaked shearwaters nesting on Awashima Island in Niigata Prefecture and conducts foraging flights from the Japan Sea to the Pacific coast of Hokkaido. We applied a method based on Goto et al. (2017) to estimate sea surface winds and created a dataset for sea surface winds in August and September from 2008 to 2022. We conducted accuracy verification of the bird-estimated winds using surface wind from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) 's MSM and performed bias correction and quality control for data assimilation.
For assimilation experiments, we utilized the NHM-LETKF regional reanalysis system with a 5 km resolution over the Japanese region (Fukui et al. 2018). Based on the best track data from JMA, we extracted 13 cases where birds flew within a 300 km radius of the typhoon center. Examining the impact of bird observations on typhoon analysis for each case, significant impacts were found in the assimilation experiment for Typhoon Cimaron (2018). In this case, birds observed locations within 100 km of the typhoon center, and assimilating bird observations resulted in a weakening of the typhoon intensity, as well as improving the intensity and track forecasts.
Next, we estimated wind from the positional information of streaked shearwaters flying within the inner region of Typhoon Faxai (2019). BIologging for this case is reported by Shiomi (2023). We conducted a comparison and verification with the results of JMA's MSM and numerical experiments of the regional non-hydrostatic atmosphere-ocean coupled model CReSS-NHOES (Kanada and Aiki 2024). Additionally, we compared the bird-estimated wind with the wind observation data from JMA's Doppler radar and wind profiler.
The wind estimated from the birds was generally consistent with the other observations and numerical experiments, suggesting its potential use as a tracer for measuring wind. Furthermore, we conducted a comparison for the recorded temperatures by birds. Although there are constraints due to biases from the bird's own body temperature and observational conditions such as the presence of sunlight and the strength of the wind, it was suggested that temperature measurements are achievable with reasonable accuracy.
References
Fukui et al. (2018). Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, 96(6), 565-585. DOI: 10.2151/jmsj.2018-056
Goto et al. (2017). Science Advances, 3(9), e1700097, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700097
Kanada & Aiki (2024). Geophysical Research Letters, 51(1), e2023GL105659, DOI: 10.1029/2023GL105659
Lempidakis et al. (2022). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(41), e2212925119, DOI: 10.1073/PNAS.2212925119
Nourani et al. (2023). Current Biology, 33, 1179-1184, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.068
Shiomi (2023). Ecology, e4161, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4161