1) To minimize the threat of tropical cyclones to military and civilian interests world-wide that are affected by tropical cyclone activity.

2) To combine geostationary and polar orbiting satellite data together so that the Navy and the rest of the military community can have a centralized real-time source of data pertaining to tropical cyclones.

This section describes the general features on the main page of the Tropical Cyclone Web Page. More detailed explanations of the buttons are given below under a following section.
The page is divided into two sections. On the left hand side, there is a list containing all of the current actively-monitored storms (highlighted by a red dot on the left hand side of the storm or invest area) over six predefined regions of the globe. The geographical boundaries for each region with their letter identifiers are:

• Atlantic(L): North of the equator between N. America and Africa
• East Pacific(E): North of the equator between 140W and N. America
• Central Pacific(C): North of the equator between 180W and 140W longitude
• West Pacific(W): North of the equator between 100E and 180E longitude
• Indian Ocean:
  • (A) North of the equator between Africa and 77E longitude
  • (B) North of the equator between 77E and 100E longitude
• Southern Hemisphere:
  • (P) South of the equator between 135E and S. America
  • (S) South of the equator between Africa and 135E longitude

The main window of the tropical cyclone web page contains a menu at the top that displays the sensors and products associated with the displayed system. At the top, the button highlighted "Latest" is displayed in yellow. This indicates that the image displayed is the latest data available. The "1- km" menu has IR and VIS buttons that will display either a visible or IR image at a 1 km resolution from a geostationary satellite. The 1 km data is received from GOES east and west, Meteosat 5 or 7, or GMS depending on the region of coverage. A histogram equalization is applied to the visible images to provide contrast in the clouds.
The following two menu bars in grey are used for displaying products associated with a SSM/I or TRMM overpass. The IR and VIS buttons will be discussed here. Please see below for a more detailed explanation of the remaining products in these menus. The IR and VIS buttons on the SSM/I menu are the geostationary images generated closest in time to the latest SSM/I overpass. Only geostationary IR and VIS data are displayed through these two buttons. For TRMM, the IR and VIS buttons may contain two types of products. The first type of product is similar to the SSM/I VIS/IR buttons and the 1-km VIS/IR buttons in that they only display geostationary data closest in time to the TRMM overpass. The second product seen through the TRMM VIS/IR buttons is the TRMM VIS/IR sensor (VIRS) overlayed on top of the geostationary data.
Below the SSM/I and TRMM menus is the upcoming pass display along with the current zulu time. This box displays the date and time of the SSM/I and TRMM data that currently makes up the products seen in the images. It also displays the next set of passes and their distance from the system's center for SSM/I and TRMM. The "more" button will display the upcoming passes for the next day.
At the bottom, the current 1 km visible data is displayed each time. There will also be an ATCF forecast graphic on the left hand side when there is a tropical storm. In the upper left portion of the displayed images, there is information given on the date and time and type of sensors used to generate the image. The top line is always the date and time of the ATCF warning or bogus message that fixes the center of the image. It is followed by the system's number and name. The lines that follow the name are the date and time of the sensors that make up the images. If the image is a composite image (an image where there are two of more sensors), then there will be two or more lines indicating the dates and times of the data.

Most of the graphic and text warning information is provided to FNMOC through ATCF. A smaller subset of location and intensity information is obtained locally through the TAPPS system which provides one line QC'd data to NAVGEM. An automated decoder is placed on the front end of the tropical cyclone web page to decode the messages generated by TAPPS and ATCF.
The storm track graphic seen on the main page (when appropriate) shows the official 72 hour forecast track issued by the regional centers. The graphic also shows the forecast wind radii (provided by Buck Sampson, NRL-MRY):

Red = gale force winds > 34 kts
Blue = 50 kt wind radius
Green = hurricane force winds > 74 kts
Purple = 100 kt wind radius

The section discusses the products located in the SSM/I and TMI menus on the main page. One of the main goals of the web page is to provide products that contain information from multiple satellites. The images are triggered on either a SSM/I or TRMM pass. The appropriate geostationary data is then obtained based on the storm's location. First a search is made from an archive (usually one day) and then the data is used. The SSM/I or TRMM data sets are then merged to the same grid as the geostationary data to provide collocated products. Time differences between the geostationary and SSM/I are typically less than 30 minutes. Below summarizes the products in the SSM/I and TMI menus.

SSM/I products:

1) Vis -- visible geostationary data closest in time to a SSM/I pass
2) IR -- infrared geostationary data closest in time to a SSM/I pass
3) IR-BD -- IR image containing a BD enhancement curve. The BD enhancement is used as part of the Dvorak method for determining tropical cyclone intensity. The enhancement brings out the cloud tops which helps determine whether a storm is strengthening or weakening.
4) Multi-Sensor -- This image contains four panels: upper right - IR, upper left - visible (only during the day), lower left SSM/I Polarization Corrected Temperature (PCT), and lower right - composite SSM/I. The IR and visible have already been discussed above. The PCT and composite are explained below. The four panels allows researchers to readily access many sources of data on a single image to determine features as eyewall strength and shear.
5) 85 Ghz horizontal - The resolution of these images as 12.5 km. This means that forecasters can see features nearing the mesoscale. Alone this channel acts like a total precipital water indicator. Total precipital water is combination of water vapor, cloud liquid water, and rain drops. In strong convection, 85 GHz starts scattering and "depressions" can be see in the images. This due to the ice located 1 to 2km below the cloud tops. The more scattering, the heavier the precipitation. Units are in Kelvins.
6) 85 GHz horizontal-weak -- This product enhances a portion of the color table used in (5). It stretches the brightness temperatures in the "warmer" portions of the channel to provide contrast in the warmer cloud tops. Units are in Kelvins.
7) PCT -- A product that is a linear ratio between the 85 GHz V and H channels. Units are in Kelvins.
8) color composite -- The composite SSM/I image creates a false color image using red (85 GHz PCT), green (85 GHz vertical), and blue (85 GHz horizontal).
9) rain -- This SSM/I algorithm uses the combination of 85 Ghz scattering (for rain over land areas and cold cloud top rain signatures) and an emission component using the lower frequency channels. The emission portion of the algorithm senses "warm" rain where the cloud tops are lower. This is helpful to identify cloud structure in weaker systems. Current units are in inches/hr.
10) wind speed -- The SSM/I algorithm retrieves the wind speed at 19.5 meters above the ocean surface. It is based on the lower frequency channels. The algorithm does not retrieve wind in rain areas. These are indicated by black areas within the clouds and rain bands. The wind speed retrieval is screened using the rain flag that determines the wind speed error based on cloud contamination. Currently only wind speed values with a rain flag of zero ( < 2/ms error) are allowed to be displayed in the images. Therefore, wind speed data can only be seen on the edges of the systems. Units are in knots.
11) water vapor -- This product represents the total precipital water in a column of the atmosphere. The algorithm uses the lower frequency channels and cannot retrieve water vapor in the presence of rain. This product is the most accurate SSM/I algorithm. Units are in mm (kg/m^2).

TRMM products:

Buttons for VIS, IR, IR-BD, Multi-sensor, 85 GHz, PCT, and color are the same as SSM/I but using the frequencies from TMI.

1) rain rate -- This product is provided directly to FNMOC. Units are in inches/hr.
2) wind speed -- This algorithm is calculated at FNMOC. It takes advantage of the 10 GHz channel to compute surface wind. It is also screened for cloud/rain contamination using the 37 GHz differential. Units are in knots.
3) color 37 -- Same as for the composite color using 85 GHz except this algorithm uses 37 GHz instead.
4) 37 GHz vertical -- One of the lower frequency channels on TMI. This frequency is the most sensitive to clouds and cloud liquid water content. Units are in Kelvins.
5) 37 GHz horizontal -- same as in (4) except the horizontal polarization provides more dynamic range.
6) cloud liquid water -- This product is provided directly to FNMOC. Cloud liquid water is the amount of non-raining cloud in the atmosphere. Units are in mm (kg/m^2).