Cyclone formation and development in the Antarctic Prydz Bay

Using meteorological data of field observation in 1990-2000, especially polar orbit high-resolution NOAA satellite cloud maps received from the Antarctic expedition vessel since 1997, the formation and development of the Prydz Bay cyclone are studied in this paper. Some new viewpoints are suggested such as: when surround-polar cyclone enters the Prydz Bay, it can also intensify and develop in summer; cyclone can also develop in the easterlies in this bay. These view points revise old uncom-plete view point that the Prydz Bay is a burial ground of cyclone, and also further consummate formation-development theory of surround-cyclone in the Antarctic westerlies and cyclone in the Antarctic easterlies. In this paper, the mechanism of ice-air-sea interaction in the Prydz Bay is studied, and the physical process of cyclone formation-development is explained. By use of wholly dynamic transportation method, an energy exchange case of a cyclone, which explosively developed after entering the Prydz Bay, is calculated. In the open water area, momentum flux is -2.205 N/m~2, sensible heat flux is 486.69 W/m~2, and latent heat flux is 261.84 W/m~2. It is larger than values of westerlies burst over the Pacific. The heat transferred from ocean to atmosphere in form of sensible and latent heat promotes cyclone development rapidly. In this case wind force was as strong as 12 grade, with 10 minutes average wind speed of 38 m/s, and instantaneous wind speed of 100 m/s which broke the wind speed record of 96 m/s in the Antarctic (Wendler and Kodama).