EFFECT OF THE NONLINEAR TERM ON MOVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF TROPICAL CYCLONE*

The dynamics of tropical cyclone is investigated in a nondivergent barotropic model with no basic flow. The effect of nonlinear term on the movement and development of tropical cyclone is emphatically demonstrated. The advection of asymmetric vorticity by the symmetric flow(AAVS) produces the small-scale gyres(SSGs). The SSGs counterclockwise rotate around the tropical cyclone center. The interaction of SSGs with the large-scale beta gyres(LSBGs) leads to the oscillation in translation speed and vacillation in translation direction for tropical cyclone. The advection of symmetric vorticity by the asymmetric flow(ASVA) steers the symmetric circulation of tropical cyclone. The ventilation flow vector determined by the asymmetric flow is close correlated with the motion vector of tropical cyclone. The nonlinear advection of relative vorticity is an order of magnitude greater than the linear advection of planetary vorticity, However, the asymmetric circulation created by the planetary vorticity advection provides a background condition for anomalous motions of the tropical cyclone. The combination of the linear and nonlinear effects results in accelerated, decelerated, changing direction and/or counterclockwise looping motions of the tropical cyclone.