A modeling study on the effects of MJO and equatorial Rossby waves on tropical cyclone genesis over the western North Pacific in June 2004

This study investigates the influence of the Madden Julian oscillations (MJO) and equatorial Rossby (ER) waves on tropical cyclone (TC) formation in western Pacific during June 2004 through one control and three wave experiments for each of the five TCs. The control experiment reasonably simulates the formation of five TCs. In the corresponding wave experiments, the MJO, ER waves, and both the MJO and ER waves are removed, from the initial fields and lateral boundary conditions, respectively. The differences of simulated TC intensity between the control and corresponding wave experiments provide a quantitative assessment of the relative contribution of each wave to TC formation.In the wave experiments with the MJO removed, three of the five TCs are weakened, and the remaining two (TC A and B) grow stronger due to an altered background flow that steered the TCs into more favorable oceanic regions. For the wave experiments with ER waves removed, three of the five simulated TCs become weaker (TC A, C, and E). TC D develops into a tropical storm because of a dominant influence from active synoptic-scale disturbance. The results indicate that both the MJO and ER waves have an important modulating effect on TC formation. In addition to the influence from the MJO, ER and synoptic-scale waves, local processes may dominate in TC formation; for the example of TC B, none of the waves positively influence the formation in significant ways. The present modeling approach provides a quantitative assessment of the relative contribution of tropical wave disturbances to TC formation.