Tropical Cyclone Intensity Change and Axisymmetricity Deduced from GSMaP

The relationship of tropical cyclone (TC) future intensity change to current intensity and current axisymmetricity deduced from hourly Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) data was investigated. Axisymmetricity is a metric that correlates positively with the magnitude of the axisymmetric component of the rainfall rate and negatively with the magnitude of the asymmetric component. The samples used were all of the TCs that existed in the western North Pacific basin during the years 2000-15. The results showed that, during the development stage, the intensification rate at the current time, and 6 and 12 h after the current time was strongly related to both the current intensity and axisymmetricity. On average, the higher the axisymmetricity, the larger the intensity change in the next 24 h for TCs with a current central pressure (maximum sustained wind) between 945 and 995 hPa (85 and 40 kt). The mean value of the axisymmetricity for TCs experiencing rapid intensification (RI) was much higher than that for non-RI TCs for current intensities of 960-990 hPa. The new observational evidence for the intensification process presented here is consistent with the findings of previous theoretical studies emphasizing the role of the axisymmetric component of diabatic heating.