Updated August, 4 2020

This typhoon data set may only be used for the purposes of scientific research. The data are not copyrighted.
We request that when you publish data or research results utilizing these data, please acknowledge as follows:
"AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2/TRMM Tropical Cyclone Database (Ver. 1.2)' was produced and distribute by the Earth Observation Research Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency."

1. Data Set Organization

1-1. Introduction

This site is a database of typhoons (tropical cyclones such as typhoons, hurricanes, and cyclones) occurring around the world. The database provides information on the duration and path of typhoons, as well as the maximum wind speed for each region. In addition, the data are extracted from earth observation satellites such as TRMM/PR, TMI, VIRS, GPM/KuPR, GMI, GCOM-W/AMSR2, Aqua/AMSR-E, Midori-II /AMSR. Physical quantities such as precipitation and water vapor, etc. are also included in this database. The format of the data files in this database is HDF format, and the structure is the same as the original product, but the AMSR2 data has some differences (see section 3-3-3).
Users are required to indicate the data sources; an example of acknowledgments and credit lines is follows:
"The data have been provided by JAXA/EORC Tropical Cyclone Database."

1-2. Data descriptions

Duration

TRMM/PR, TMI, VIRS:	1997/12/07 to 2015/04/08
*Due to the satellite altitude rise, the data is not available, from August 7 to 24, 2001.
GPM/DPR, GMI:	2014/03/08 to present
GCOM-W/AMSR2:	2012/07/04 to present
Aqua/AMSR-E:	2002/06 to 2011/10/04
Midori-II /AMSR:	2003/04 to 2003/10

Domain

TRMM/PR, TMI, VIRS:	36N - 36S
GPM/DPR, GMI:	65N - 65S
GCOM-W/AMSR2:	Global
Aqua/AMSR-E:	Global
Midori-II/AMSR:	Global

Products

TRMM

PR:	2A23, 2A25
TMI:	1B11, 2A12
VIRS:	1B01

Product Version	1997/12/07 to 2001/08/06	2001/08/07 to 2001/08/24	2001/08/25 to 2004/03/31	2004/04/01 to 2011/06/30	2011/07/01 to 2015/04/08
6	●	Due to the satellite altitude rise, the data is not available.	●	●	-
7	●		●	●	●

GPM

DPR:	2AKu, 2ADPR
GMI:	2AGMI

Midori-II

AMSR:

Level 1B(brightness temperature),
Level 2 AP0(precipitaion), Level 2 WV0(water vapor)

Aqua

AMSR-E:

Level 1B(brightness temperature),
Level 2 AP0(precipitation), Level 2 WV0(water vapor)

GCOM-W

AMSR2:

Level 1B(brightness temperature),
Level 2 PRC(precipitation), Level 2 TPW(water vapor), Level 2 ASW(all weather sea surface wind speed)

File specifications

HDF format (gzip compressed)

2. How to extract the data

2-1. Tropical cyclones dataset

Tracks of tropical cyclones are referred to the followings:
until February 2011: University of Hawaii "Tropical Storms, Worldwide"
until August 2018: Unisys "Weather Hurricane/Tropical Data"
currently: University of Wisconsin "CIMSS Tropical Cyclones Page"

2-2. TRMM/PR

The data is processed automatically based on precipitating areas from TRMM/PR standard product and tracking of tropical cyclones.

Detection of precipitating areas

Precipitating areas are defined by using TRMM/PR 2A25 dataset. Total values of averaged rainfall intensity of total range bins are calculated for each scan, and precipitating areas are extracted when the 5-scan running mean of the total values gets more than 3 mm/h (rain areas in the figure). If there are any other precipitating areas within 24 scans, they are treated as the same rain area (rain area B including two precipitating areas).

As the next step, the latitude and longitude for the rectangular area (shown as the black square) is identified including all rain area within +/- 5 degrees. Finally, the extracted area is available (shown as the red square).

Connection between precipitating area and typhoon tracks

Temporally, cyclones existing 6 hours before/after the observation time of the TRMM/PR orbit become the subject to be processed.

Spatially, products are produced when there are cyclones locating within red or black squares in the figure.

HDF data specification

Final product includes data within the red square area. The data can be overlapped as processing is running for each cyclones.

Some of the products, which can be inappropriate judged from the cloud and other images, are excluded from the product list, or adjusted the areas. The HDF data files are available after compressing (gzip).

2-3. GPM

The same method as TRMM/PR is applied to GPM L2 product.

2-4. AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2

The data is processed automatically based on locations of tropical cyclones.

Extracted data

The location of typhoon, when AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2 passes over the 25 degrees north latitude, is estimated from cyclone tracking data. If the center position of observation path locates +/- 15 degrees of the estimated typhoon, the product are extracted as the Tropical Cyclone Database dataset.

HDF data specification

Dataset around the cyclones (196 lines; from -97 line to + 98 line) is extracted.

The HDF data format is similar to original AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2 data.

Some changes of data format from original data are as follows.

Core Meta Items (AMSR2)

Items (Attribute Name)	Values
ProductSize_MByte	The size of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
ProductionDateTime	The production date of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
ObservationStartDateTime	The start scan time of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
ObservationEndDateTime	The end scan time of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
GringPointLatitude	The latitude of Gring of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
GringPointLongitude	The longitude of Gring of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
NumberofScans	243

Data Item and Size

Items	Values
Scan number	243

Core Meta Items (AMSR/AMSR-E)

Items (Attribute Name)	Values
SizeMBECSDataGranule	The size of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
ProductionDateTime	The production date of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
RangeBeginningTime	The start scan time of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
RangeBeginningDate	The start scan date of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
RangeEndingTime	The end scan time of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
RangeEndingDate	The end scan date of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
GringPointLatitude	The latitude of Gring of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
GringPointLongitude	The longitude of Gring of Tropical Cyclones Data is set
NumberofScans	196

Data Item and Size

Items	Values
Scan number	196

3. Product

3-1. TRMM/PR

3-1-1. File specification

File names include product name, observation time, orbit number, product version, cyclone number and typhoon name.

2A25	.	010910	.	21804	.	7	.	19W	.	DANAS	.	HDF
product name		observation time		orbit number		product version		cyclone number		typhoon name		extension

Product version

The product version is consistent with the version of TRMM product.

Orbit number

The orbit number is same as that of TRMM files.

HDF files are distributed via this website. The current HDF version is 5.

3-1-2. TRMM/PR product

Detail information for TRMM/PR product is as follows.

TRMM Data Users Handbook (PDF 3.7MB)
APPENDIX PARAMETER DICIONARY (PDF 1.7MB)

Information for data on product version 6 is as follows.

Information for data on product version 7 is as follows.

3-1-3. Major variables

Precipitation Radar (PR)

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Unit
Rain Type	2A23	rainType	nscan*49	-
Height of Bright Band	2A23	HBB	nscan*49	m
Height of storm top	2A23	stormH	nscan*49	m
Attenuation corrected reflectivity factor (Z)	2A25	correctZfactor	nscan4980	dBZ
Rainfall rate	2A25	rain	nscan4980	mm/h
Rainfall rate near the surface	2A25	nearSurfRain	nscan*49	mm/h

TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI)

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Unit
Brightness temperature 10,19,37GHz Horizontal/Vertical 21GHz Vertical	1B11	lowResCh	nscan7104	K
Brightness temperature 85GHz Horizontal/Vertical	1B11	highResCh	nscan2208	K
Instantaneous rain rate	2A12	surfaceRain	nscan*208	mm/h
Total cloud liquid water in the column	2A12	cldWater	nscan14208	g/m³
Total rain water in the column	2A12	precipWater	nscan14208	g/m³

Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS)

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Unit
Scene data for the channels, measured in Radiance	1B01	channels	nscan5261	mW/cm²um*sr

3-2. GPM/DPR

3-2-1. File specification

File names include product name, observation time, orbit number, product version, cyclone number and typhoon name.

2ADPR	.	20150922	.	008902	.	03B	.	21W	.	DUJUAN	.	h5
product name		observation time		orbit number		product version		cyclone number		typhoon name		extension

Product version

The product version is consistent with the version of GPM product.

Orbit number

The orbit number is same as that of GPM files.

HDF files are distributed via this website. The current HDF version is 5.

3-2-2. GPM/DPR product

Detail information for GPM/DPR product is as follows.
https://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/GPM/en/archives.html

3-2-3. Major variables

Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR)

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Unit
Precipitation type	2AKu, 2ADPR	CSF-typePrecip	nscan*49	-
Height of bright band	2AKu,2ADPR	CSF-heightBB	nscan*49	m
Height of storm top	2AKu,2ADPR	PRE-heightStormTop	nscan*49	m
Vertical profile of reflectivity factor with attenuation correction	2AKu,2ADPR	SLV-zFactorCorrected	nscan49176	dBZ
Precipitation rate	2AKu,2ADPR	SLV-precipRate	nscan49176	mm/h
Precipitation rate for the nearSurface	2AKu,2ADPR	SLV-precipRateNearSurface	nscan*49	mm/h

3-3. AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2

3-3-1. File specification

File names include satellite and sensor name, start date of observations, path number, A/D classification, product codes, product version and typhoon number.

AMSR2

GW1

AM2

20130915

208

SNTPW

16W

satellite
name

sensor
name

start date of observations

path
number

A/D
classification

product
codes

product
version

typhoon
number

extension

AMSR/AMSR-E

AME

20040405

097

P2AP0

03W

HDF

satellite
name

sensor
name

start date of observations

path
number

A/D
classification

product
codes

product
version

typhoon
number

extension

Satellite name

GW1, P1 and A2 indicate GCOM-W, EOS-PM1 and ADEOS-2, respectively.

Sensor name

AM2, AME and AMS indicate AMSR2 AMSR-E and AMSR, respectively.

Start date of observations

Start date of observations in UTC from original standard product.

Path number

Consistent with the path number of original product.

A/D classification

Ascending (from south to north) or Descending (from north to south).

Typhoon number

English character and number indicate area and orders of cyclones, respectively.

W	: North Western Pacific (West of the date line)
C	: North Central Pacific (date line - 140W)
E	: North Eastern Pacific (East of 140W)
L	: North Atlantic
A , B	: North Indian Ocean
S , P	: South Indian Ocean and South Pacific

HDF files are distributed via this website.

3-3-2. AMSR/AMSR-E/AMSR2

Detail information for AMSR series is available from the following website.
G-Portal (Globe Portal System)

3-3-3. Major variables

AMSR/AMSR-E

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Scale	Unit
Level 1B Brightness temperature	L1B	XXX_Brightness_ Temperature (each channel)	nscan196 or nscan392	0.01	K
Level 2 Precipitation	L2AP0	Geophysical Quantity Data	nscan*196	0.1	mm/h
Level 2 Integrated Water Vapor	L2WV0	Geophysical Quantity Data	nscan*196	0.01	kg/m²

AMSR2

Physical Quantity	Product No	Element	Array	Scale	Unit
Level 1B Brightness temperature	L1B	Brightness Temperature XXX (each channel)	nscan243 or nscan486	0.01	K
Level 2 Precipitation	SGPRC	Geophysical Data	nscan*243	0.1	mm/h
Level 2 Total Precipitable Water	SGTPW	Geophysical Data	nscan*243	0.01	kg/m²
Level 2 All-weather Sea Surface Wind Speed	ASW	Geophysical Data	nscan*243	0.01	m/s

Note that the variables in the AMSR2 standard product is explained to be 3 dimensional dataset as "1 * scan number * 243", whereas the AMSR2 product of Tropical Cyclones database is 2 dimensional dataset as shown above.

4. Others

Classification regulation

Although the classification and naming regulation should follow the official one by WMO regional center, cyclones in this website are based on the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC), and Central Paciffic Hurricane Center (CPHC).

Data source of the tropical cyclones information

As mentioned in the section 2-1, tracks of tropical cyclones are referred to the followings
until February 2011: University of Hawaii "Tropical Storms, Worldwide"
until August 2018: Unisys "Weather Hurricane/Tropical Data"
currently: University of Wisconsin "CIMSS Tropical Cyclones Page"

Time information

All information with respect to time is in UTC.

Images of cyclone tracks

Images are plotted on a Cylindrical Equidistant map projection by using "Generic Mapping Tools (GMT)" (Wessel and Smith, 1995).

Tools for visualization

Please visit the webpage for TRMM/GPM and for AMSR series.

5. Release notes

"Terms of Use of Research Data" (https://earth.jaxa.jp/policy/en.html) is applicable to this product. Please contact the JAXA/EORC Tropical Cyclone Database secretariat in advance if you would like to distribute images or data from the site to the public, such as in a pamphlet or internet.

Users are required to indicate the data sources; an example of acknowledgments and credit lines is follows :

"The data have been provided by JAXA/EORC Tropical Cyclone Database."

We would appreciate receiving a preprint and/or reprint of publications in which you utilize our data. Relevant publications should be sent to :

Tropical Cyclone Database secretariat, Earth Observation Research Center, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
2-1-1, Sengen, Tsukuba-city, Ibaraki 305-8505 Japan

FAX: +81-29-868-2961
E-mail:

Please contact us at JAXA/EORC Tropical Cyclone Database secretariat if you have any questions or comments on the website and product.