INNER AND OUTER STRUCTURES OF TROPICAL CYCLONE Ⅱ. BAROCLINIC MODEL

A tropical cyclone is divided into inner and outer regions in which temporal and spacial scales and physical quantities are all different.Making use of the scale analysis and perturbation methods the gov-erning equations of barotropic and baroclinic models are obtained for the two regions, respectively.In the two models the stream and presure fields are solved analytically and the obtained structures are ap- proximately consistent with observations.It is shown that there are different governing equations for the inner and outer regions of the tropical cyclone.The inner region is governed by the cyclostrophic wind and an evolution equation, the outer region by the gradient wind and another evolution equation.     

A DYNAMICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE WIND FIELD IN TROPICAL CYCLONES WITH THE CONSIDERATION OF OROGRAPHIC FACTORS

Based on the barotropic primitive equation in the polar coordinate system and the appropriate assumption, we obtained the mathematical equation of orographic forcing on unit mass air parcel. With the consideration of the frictional stress of the sea and land, supposing that parcel velocity in tropical cyclones is in linear variation and that the distribution of surface pressure is circular, a set of equations are derived, which describe the impact of orographic slope error, the central pressure error and position error of tropical cyclones on the wind field in the tropical cyclone. Typhoon Wipha (2007) is selected to verify the above interpretation method. The results show that the orographic slope, the frictional coefficient, the intensity and position of the cyclone are the important factors which have great influence on the interpretation of wind information about tropical cyclones. The dynamic interpretation method gives very good results, especially for the coastal area. It is applicable to improving the forecasts of the wind field in tropical cyclones.     

ALGEBRAIC ROSSBY SOLITARY WAVE AND BLOCKING IN THE ATMOSPHERE

In this paper, the atmosphere is divided into two regions which are governed by different equations. Furthermore, multiple-scale method is used to obtain the Benjamin-Ono equation satisfied by the nonlinear Rossby wave in weak shear zonal flow. The equation has algebraic solitary wave solution, and the sta-tionary streamfunction fields in the atmosphere are calculated by using numerical method, and the results demonstrate that the stationary solution is antisymmetric dipoles with the anticyclone north of the cyclone, and the structure is similar to the equivalent modon obtained by Mcwilliains (1980), Because the modon obtained here is an algebraic solitary wave, the modon may be called “algebraic modon”, and the stationary algebraic modon is consistent with observations of blocking pattern in the atmosphere.     

ASYMMETRICAL STRUCTURES OF THE TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY OF TROPICAL CYCLONES

Based on NCEP/CFSR 0.5° reanalysis data and the best track data from the Japan Tokyo Typhoon Center,composite and comparative analyses demonstrate the asymmetrical structures of the temperature and humidity in tropical cyclones over the Western North Pacific and the South China Sea from 1979 to 2010.The results are shown as follows.(1) With intensifying tropical cyclones,the flow field tends to become gradually more axisymmetric;however,the asymmetry of the specific humidity in the outer regions is more obvious.(2) In general,tropical cyclones have a non-uniform,vertical, "double warm-core" structure.The "warm-cores" in the lower level of weak tropical cyclones and in the higher level of strong tropical cyclones are the stronger of the two.(3) The distribution area of a "warm-core" is enhanced with cyclone intensification and tends to become more axisymmetric.At 200 hPa,the "warm-core" of a weak cyclone has a weak anticyclone in the center,whereas that of a strong cyclone has a weak cyclone in the center.(4)The "wet-core" of a tropical cyclone is primarily located in the lower level(700-850 hPa).With the cyclone's intensification,the intensity of the "wet-core" increases and the scope of the 0.8 g kg~(-1) specific humidity anomaly tends to expand to higher levels.(5) With the cyclone's deepening,the pseudo-equivalent potential temperature at different levels in different regions increases.In addition,the largest warming rates at each intensity level in the different regions occur in the core area,followed in turn by the envelope and outer areas.     

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL CLOUD-SCALE MODEL SUITABLE FOR COMPRESSIBLE ATMOSPHERE

A three-dimensional cloud-scale model has been designed.The governing equations of the model arecomposed of two groups of equations:one group includes compressible motion equations,continuity equation,pressure equation and thermodynamic equation,which are of Eulerian type,and the other consists of cloud-precipitation microphysics equations which are of Lagrangian type.Since the degree of influence of sound waveon the air motion is quite different from that on the temperature or hydrometeors,the time splitting procedureis used in solving governing equations.Both unstaggered and staggered meshes have been utilized.Integra-tion schemes adopted are the Eulerian backward difference method for the unstaggered mesh and semi-implicitmethod for staggered mesh.Several experiments of modelling have been conducted and a reasonable three-dimensional image of deep convection is obtained.With this model the horizontal and vertical vortex circula-tions are simulated.Furthermore,the effects of horizontal vortex on the formation and development ofdowndraft within cloud have also been studied.     

STOCHASTIC SIMULATION OF TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC REGION WITH CLASSIFICATION MODEL

Accurate simulation of tropical cyclone tracks is a prerequisite for tropical cyclone risk assessment. Against the spatial characteristics of tropical cyclone tracks in the Northwest Pacific region, stochastic simulation method based on classification model is used to simulate tropical cyclone tracks in this region. Such simulation includes the classification method, the genesis model, the traveling model, and the lysis model. Tropical cyclone tracks in the Northwest Pacific region are classified into five categories on the basis of its movement characteristics and steering positions. In the genesis model, Gaussian kernel probability density functions with the biased cross validation method are used to simulate the annual occurrence number and genesis positions. The traveling model is established on the basis of the mean and mean square error of the historical 6 h latitude and longitude displacements. The termination probability is used as the discrimination standard in the lysis model. Then, this stochastic simulation method of tropical cyclone tracks is applied and qualitatively evaluated with different diagnostics. Results show that the tropical cyclone tracks in Northwest Pacific can be satisfactorily simulated with this classification model.     

Interaction of typhoon and mesoscale vortex

Under two types of initial tropical cyclone structures that are characterized by high and low vorticity zones, four sets of numerical experiments have been performed to investigate the interaction of a tropical cyclone with an adjacent mesoscale vortex (MSV) and its impact on the tropical cyclone intensity change,using a quasi-geostrophic barotropic vorticity equation model with a horizontal resolution of 0.5 km. The results suggest that the interaction of a tropical cyclone characterized by a high vorticity zonal structure and an MSV would result in an intensification of the cyclone. Its central pressure decreases by more than 14 hPa. In the process of tile interaction, the west and middle segments of the high vorticity zone evolve into two peripheral spiral bands of the tropical cyclone, and the merging of the east segment and the inward propagating MSV forms a new vorticity accumulation area, wherein the maximum vorticity is remarkably greater than that in the center of the initial tropical cyclone circulation. It is this process of merging and strengthening that causes a greater pressure decrease in the center of the tropical cyclone. This process is also more complicated than those that have been studied in the past, which indicated that only the inward transfer of vorticity of the MSV can result in the strengthening of the tropical cyclone.     

APPLICATIONS OF THE CLOUDSAT TROPICAL CYCLONE PRODUCT IN ANALYZING THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF TROPICAL CYCLONES OVER THE WESTERN PACIFIC

Cloud profiling radar (CPR) onboard CloudSat allows for deep penetration into dense clouds/precipitation. In this study, tropical cyclones (TCs) are classified into three stages as developing, mature, and decaying. The circular TC area with the radius of 500 km is divided into five regions. The vertical structure characteristics of 94 Western Pacific TCs at different stages in different regions from June 2006 to February 2014 are statistically quantified using the CloudSat tropical cyclone overpass product (the CSTC Product). Contoured frequency by altitude diagrams (CFADs) of radar reflectivity show an arc-like feature and exhibit opposite distributions with a boundary at 5 km. Bright bands are found at this altitude, indicating melting layers. Deep convective (DC) clouds have the largest occurrence probability in the inner region, while Ci clouds occur more frequently in the outer region at 10-15 km. As clouds have the second largest vertical scale after DC clouds. Distributions of Ac, Cu, and Ns clouds at different stages have few distinctions. As the altitude increases, the ice effective radius and the distribution width parameter decrease while the particle number concentration increases. Moist static energy (MSE), cloud thickness (CT), liquid water path (LWP), ice water path (IWP), water vapor (WV), and rain rate (RR) all diminish along the radial direction and are significantly larger at the mature stage. The average value of MSE at the developing stage is larger than that at the decaying stage.     

Boundary-layer wind structure in a landfalling tropical cyclone

In this study, a slab boundary layer model with a constant depth is used to analyze the boundary-layer wind structure in a landfalling tropical cyclone. Asymmetry is found in both the tangential and radial components of horizontal wind in the tropical cyclone boundary layer at landfall. For a steady tropical cyclone on a straight coastline at landfall, the magnitude of the radial component is greater in the offshoreflow side and the tangential component is greater over the sea, slightly offshore, therefore the greater total wind speed occurs in the offshore-flow side over the sea. The budget analysis suggests that： （1） a greater surface friction over land produces a greater inflow and the nonlinear effect advects the maximum inflow downstream, and （2） a smaller surface friction over the sea makes the decrease of the tangential wind component less than that over land. Moreover, the boundary layer wind structures in a tropical cyclone are related to the locations of the tropical cyclone relative to the coastline due to the different surface frictions. During tropical cyclone landfall, the impact of rough terrain on the cyclone increases, so the magnitude of the radial component of wind speed increases in the offshore-flow side and the tangential component outside the radius of maximum wind speed decreases gradually.     

Influence of the Saharan Air Layer on Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Formation during the Period 1--12 September 2003

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) data show that the Saharan air layer (SAL) is a dry, warm, and well-mixed layer between 950 and 500 hPa over the tropical Atlantic, extending westward from the African coast to the Caribbean Sea. The formations of both Hurricane Isabel and Tropical Depression 14 (TD14) were accompanied with outbreaks of SAL air during the period 1-12 September 2003, although TD14 failed to develop into a named tropical cyclone. The influence of the SAL on their formations is investigated by examining data from satellite observations and numerical simulations, in which AIRS data are incorporated into the MM5 model through the nudging technique. Analyses of the AIRS and simulation data suggest that the SAL may have played two roles in the formation of tropical cyclones during the period 1-12 September 2003. First, the outbreaks of SAL air on 3 and 8 September enhanced the transverse-vertical circulation with the rising motion along the southern edge of the SAL and the sinking motion inside the SAL, triggering the development of two tropical disturbances associated with Hurricane Isabel and TD14. Second, in addition to the reduced environmental humidity and enhanced static stability in the lower troposphere, the SAL dry air intruded into the inner region of these tropical disturbances as their cyclonic ?ows became strong. This effect may have slowed down the formation of Isabel and inhibited TD14 becoming a named tropical cyclone, while the enhanced vertical shear contributed little to tropical cyclone formation during this period. The 48-h trajectory calculations confirm that the parcels from the SAL can be transported into the inner region of an incipient tropical cyclone.     

A THEORETICAL STUDY ON THE MULTIPLE EQUILIBRIA OF TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RELATION TO THE ONSET OF THE SUMMER MONSOON

Multiple equilibria and their stability in tropical atmosphere are investigated through β-plane barotropic models with consideration of heating and dissipation. We have derived the solutions of the model equations corresponding to the multiple equilibria or the steady flows first, and then establish the criteria for the stability of steady flow by use of the Liapunov direct Method. When these criteria are applied to the solutions of equilibria obtained, stable flows, which are closely related to the different patterns of quasi-stationary circulation in the tropical region, are found. The configurations of these stable flows and the shift between two of them as season changes provide quite reasonable explanations to many fundamental problems of tropical circulation features such as the catastrophe mechanism of the onset and the break-active cycle of the Asian summer monsoon. It follows that the onset or the abrupt transition of the Asian summer monsoon could be attributed to the multiple equilibrium property of the tropical circulation resulted from the advective nonlinearity, which provide another explanation among others.     

Sensitivity of Quasi-Periodic Outer Rainband Activity of Tropical Cyclones to the Surface Entropy Flux

The influence of outer-core surface entropy fluxes （SEFs） on tropical cyclone （TC） outer rainband activity is investigated in this study with a fully compressible,nonhydrostatic model.A control simulation and two sensitivity experiments with the outer-core SEF artificially increased and decreased by 20% respectively were conducted to examine the quasi-periodic outer rainband behavior.Larger negative horizontal advection due to the greater radial wind and the positive contribution by asymmetric eddies leads to a longer period of outer-rainband activity in the SEF-enhanced experiment.The well-developed outer rainbands in the control and SEF-reduced simulations significantly limit the TC intensity,whereas such an intensity suppression influence is not pronounced in the SEF-enhanced experiment.As diabatic heating in outer rainbands strengthens the outer-core tangential wind,the quasi-periodic activity of outer rainbands contributes to the quasi-periodic variations of the inner-core size of the TCs.     

Simulation of the Electrification of a Tropical Cyclone Using the WRF-ARW Model：An Idealized Case

Evolution of the electrifi cation of an idealized tropical cyclone （TC） is simulated by using the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF-ARW） model. The model was modifi ed by addition of explicit electrifi cation and a new bulk discharge scheme. The characteristics of TC lightning is further examined by analyses of the electrifi cation and the charge structure of the TC. The fi ndings thus obtained are able to unify most of the previous inconsisitent observational and simulation studies. The results indicate that the TC eyewall generally exhibits an inverted dipole charge structure with negative charge above the positive. In the intensifi cation stage, however, the extremely tall towers of the eyewall may exhibit a normal tripole structure with a main negative region between two regions of positive charge. The outer spiral rainband cells display a simple normal dipole structure during all the stages. It is further found that the diff erences in the charge structure are associated with diff erent updrafts and particle distributions. Weak updrafts, together with a coexistence region of diff erent particles at lower levels in the eyewall, result in charging processes that occur mainly in the positive graupel charging zone （PGCZ）. In the intensifi cation stage, the occurrence of charging processes in both positive and negative graupel charging zones is associated with strong updraft in the extremely tall towers. In addition, the coexistence region of graupel and ice crystals is mainly situated at upper levels in the outer rainband, so the charging processes mainly occur in the negative graupel charging zone （NGCZ）.     

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ZONAL WIND ANOMALIES IN HIGH AND LOW TROPOSPHERE AND ANNUAL FREQUENCY OF NW PACIFIC TROPICAL CYCLONES

Relationships between large-scale zonal wind anomalies and annual frequency of NW Pacific tropical cyclones and possible mechanisms are investigated with the methods of correlation and composition.It is indicated that when △ U200-△U850 ＞0 in the eastern tropical Pacific and △ U200- △U850 ＜0 in western tropical Pacific, the Walker cell is stronger in the Pacific tropical region and the annual frequency of NW Pacific tropical cyclone are above normal. In the years with zonal wind anomalies, the circulation of high and low troposphere and the vertical motions in the troposphere have significant characteristics. In the time scale of short-range climate prediction, zonal wind anomalies in high and low troposphere are useful as a preliminary signal of the annual frequency prediction of NW Pacific tropical cyclones.     

An Efficient Accurate Direct Solution of Poisson''''s Equation for Computation of Meteorological Parameters

Poisson's equation is solved numerically by two direct methods, viz. Block Cyclic Reduction (BCR) method and Fourier Method. Qualitative and quantitative comparison between the numerical solutions obtained by two methods indicates that BCR method is superior to Fourier method in terms of speed and accuracy. Therefore. BCR method is applied to solve (?)2(?)= ζ and (?)2X= D from observed vorticity and divergent values. Thereafter the rotational and divergent components of the horizontal monsoon wind in the lower troposphere are reconstructed and are com pared with the results obtained by Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) method as this indirect method is generally in more use for obtaining the streamfunction ((?)) and velocity potential (X) fields in NWP models. It is found that the results of BCR method are more reliable than SOR method.     

An Efficient Accurate Direct Solution of Poisson’s Equation for Computation of Meteorological Parameters

Poisson's equation is solved numerically by two direct methods, viz. Block Cyclic Reduction (BCR) method and Fourier Method. Qualitative and quantitative comparison between the numerical solutions obtained by two methods indicates that BCR method is superior to Fourier method in terms of speed and accuracy. Therefore. BCR method is applied to solve (?)2(?)= ζ and (?)2X= D from observed vorticity and divergent values. Thereafter the rotational and divergent components of the horizontal monsoon wind in the lower troposphere are reconstructed and are com pared with the results obtained by Successive Over-Relaxation (SOR) method as this indirect method is generally in more use for obtaining the streamfunction ((?)) and velocity potential (X) fields in NWP models. It is found that the results of BCR method are more reliable than SOR method.     

K-MEANS CLUSTERING FOR CLASSIFICATION OF THE NORTHWESTERN PACIFIC TROPICAL CYCLONE TRACKS

Based on the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) best-track dataset between 1965 and 2009 and the characteristic parameters including tropical cyclone (TC) position, intensity, path length and direction, a method for objective classification of the Northwestern Pacific tropical cyclone tracks is established by using K-means Clustering. The TC lifespan, energy, active season and landfall probability of seven clusters of tropical cyclone tracks are comparatively analyzed. The characteristics of these parameters are quite different among different tropical cyclone track clusters. From the trend of the past two decades, the frequency of the western recurving cluster (accounting for 21.3% of the total) increased, and the lifespan elongated slightly, which differs from the other clusters. The annual variation of the Power Dissipation Index (PDI) of most clusters mainly depended on the TC intensity and frequency. However, the annual variation of the PDI in the northwestern moving then recurving cluster and the pelagic west-northwest moving cluster mainly depended on the frequency.     

NUMERICAL EXPERIMENT OF THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS ON TROPICAL CYCLONE MOTION

A barotropic prirnitive equation model is used to simulate the tropical cyclone motion.Tropical cyclonemovements under different environmental flow backgrounds were examined and sensitivity of tropical cyclonetracks were discussed.Conclusions of practical significance have been obtained in this paper.     

The Genesis of Tropical Cyclone Bilis (2000) Associated with Cross-equatorial Surges

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a tropical cyclone forms from a pre-existing large-scale depression which has been observed and associated with cross-equatorial surges in the western North Pacific. Tropical cyclone Bilis(2000) was selected as the case to study.The research data used are from the results of the non-hydrostatic mesoscale model(MM5),which has successfully simulated the transformation of a pre-existing weak large-scale tropical depression into a strong tropical storm.The scale separation technique is used to separate the synoptic-scale and sub-synoptic-scale fields from the model output fields. The scale-separated fields show that the pre-existing synoptic-scale tropical depression and the subsynoptic scale tropical cyclone formed later were different scale systems from beginning to end.It is also shown that the pre-existing synoptic-scale tropical depression did not contract to become the tropical cyclone. A series of weak,sub-synoptic-scale low and high pressure systems appeared and disappeared in the synopticscale depression,with one of the low systems near the center of the synoptic-scale depression having deepened to become the tropical cyclone. The roles of the synoptic-scale flow and the sub-synoptic scale disturbances in the formation of the tropical cyclone are investigated by diagnoses of the scale-separated vertical vorticity equation.The results show that the early development of the sub-synoptic scale vortex was fundamentally dependent on the strengthening synoptic-scale environmental depression.The depression was strengthened by cross-equatorial surges,which increased the convergence of the synoptic-scale depression at low levels and triggered the formation of the tropical cyclone.     

Effect of the Vertical Diffusion of Moisture in the Planetary Boundary Layer on an Idealized Tropical Cyclone

Previous numerical studies have focused on the combined effect of momentum and scalar eddy diffusivity on the intensity and structure of tropical cyclones. The separate impact of eddy diffusivity estimated by planetary boundary layer(PBL) parameterization on the tropical cyclones has not yet been systematically examined. We have examined the impacts of eddy diffusion of moisture on idealized tropical cyclones using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting model with the Yonsei University PBL scheme. Our results show nonlinear effects of moisture eddy diffusivity on the simulation of idealized tropical cyclones. Increasing the eddy diffusion of moisture increases the moisture content of the PBL, with three different effects on tropical cyclones:(1) an decrease in the depth of the PBL;(2) an increase in convection in the inner rain band and eyewall; and(3) drying of the lowest region of the PBL and then increasing the surface latent heat flux. These three processes have different effects on the intensity and structure of the tropical cyclone through various physical mechanisms. The increased surface latent heat flux is mainly responsible for the decrease in pressure. Results show that moisture eddy diffusivity has clear effects on the pressure in tropical cyclones, but contributes little to the intensity of wind. This largely influences the wind–pressure relationship, which is crucial in tropical cyclones simulation. These results improve our understanding of moisture eddy diffusivity in the PBL and its influence on tropical cyclones, and provides guidance for interpreting the variation of moisture in the PBL for tropical cyclone simulations.