The role of mid-level vortex in the intensification and weakening of tropical cyclones

The present study examines the dynamics of mid-tropospheric vortex during cyclogenesis and quantifies the importance of such vortex developments in the intensification of tropical cyclone. The genesis of tropical cyclones are investigated based on two most widely accepted theories that explain the mechanism of cyclone formation namely ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ dynamics. The Weather Research and Forecast model is employed to generate high resolution dataset required for analysis. The development of the mid-level vortex was analyzed with regard to the evolution of potential vorticity (PV), relative vorticity (RV) and vertical wind shear. Two tropical cyclones which include the developing cyclone, Hudhud and the non-developing cyclone, Helen are considered. Further, Hudhud and Helen, is compared to a deep depression formed over Bay of Bengal to highlight the significance of the mid-level vortex in the genesis of a tropical cyclone. Major results obtained are as follows: stronger positive PV anomalies are noticed over upper and lower levels of troposphere near the storm center for Hudhud as compared to Helen and the depression; Constructive interference in upper and lower level positive PV anomaly maxima resulted in the intensification of Hudhud. For Hudhud, the evolution of RV follows ‘top-down’ dynamics, in which the growth starts from the middle troposphere and then progresses downwards. As for Helen, RV growth seems to follow ‘bottom-up’ mechanism initiating growth from the lower troposphere. Though, the growth of RV for the depression initiates from mid-troposphere, rapid dissipation of mid-level vortex destabilizes the system. It is found that the formation mid-level vortex in the genesis phase is significantly important for the intensification of the storm.     

Tropical cyclone activity in global warming scenario

Research efforts focused on assessing the potential for changes in tropical cyclone activity in the greenhouse-warmed climate have progressed since the IPCC assessment in 1996. Vulnerability to tropical cyclones becoming more pronounced due to the fastest population growth in tropical coastal regions makes it practically important to explore possible changes in tropical cyclone activity due to global warming. This paper investigates the tropical cyclone activity over whole globe and also individually over six different ocean basins. The parameters like storm frequency, storm duration, maximum intensity attained and location of formation of storm have been examined over the past 30-year period from 1977 to 2006. Of all, the north Atlantic Ocean shows a significant increasing trend in storm frequency and storm days, especially for intense cyclones. Lifetime of intense tropical cyclones over south Indian Ocean has been increased. The intense cyclonic activity over north Atlantic, south-west Pacific, north and south Indian Ocean has been increased in recent 15 years as compared to previous 15 years, whereas in the east and west-north Pacific it is decreased, instead weak cyclone activity has been increased there. Examination of maximum intensity shows that cyclones are becoming more and more intense over the south Indian Ocean with the highest rate. The study of the change in the cyclogenesis events in the recent 15 years shows more increase in the north Atlantic. The Arabian Sea experiences increase in the cyclogenesis in general, whereas Bay of Bengal witnesses decrease in these events. Shrinking of cyclogenesis region occurs in the east-north Pacific and south-west Pacific, whereas expansion occurs in west-north Pacific. The change in cyclogenesis events and their spatial distribution in association with the meteorological parameters like sea surface temperature (SST), vertical wind shear has been studied for Indian Ocean. The increase in SST and decrease in wind shear correspond to increase in the cyclogenesis events and vice versa for north Indian Ocean; however, for south Indian Ocean, it is not one to one.     

Validation of a satellite-based cyclogenesis technique over the North Indian Ocean

Indian region is severely affected by the tropical cyclones (TCs) due to the long coast line of about 7500 km. Hence, whenever any low level circulation (LLC) forms over the Indian Seas, the prediction of its intensification into a TC is very essential for the management of TC disaster. Satellite Application Centre (SAC) of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Ahmedabad, has developed a technique to predict TCs based on scatterometer-derived winds from the polar orbiting satellite, QuikSCAT and Oceansat-II. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has acquired the technique and verified it for the years 2010–2013 for operational use. The model is based on the concept of analogs of the sea surface wind distribution at the stage of LLC or vortex (T1.0) as per Dvorak’s classifications, which eventually leads to cyclogenesis (T2.5). The results indicate that the developed model could predict cyclogenesis with a probability of detection of 61% and critical success index of 0.29. However, it shows high over-prediction of the model is better over the Bay of Bengal than over Arabian Sea and during post-monsoon season (September–December) than in pre-monsoon season (March–June).     

末次盛冰期太平洋赤道辐合带对暖池外热带海表温度变化的敏感性

利用美国NCAR CAM3大气环流模式,分析了末次盛冰期（LGM）两个不同的热带海表温度重建方案中,北半球冬季热带中、西太平洋对流活动及大气环流对暖池外（赤道东太平洋和热带大西洋）热带SST异常的敏感性。结果表明：  1）SST异常首先引起大气环流的改变。  赤道东太平洋对流层下沉增强,而作为经向补偿,副热带东太平洋上升运动增强,其中南半球尤为明显,同时南半球热带中、西太平洋上升运动增强,加剧了该区纬向逆时针环流,说明冰期热带海气耦合过程受气候背景场（如SST）影响很大;   2）大气环流格局改变引起热带中西太平洋的大气加热、对流活动、表层风场及降雨的巨大变化。  140°E以西的婆罗洲和菲律宾区域,总的大气加热减少是由于对流与辐射加热减少所致,对应于该区风场辐散和降雨减少;   而140°E以东的南半球热带中、西太平洋,大气吸收热量增加,对流与辐射加热均增强,总降雨量也随之增加,反映该区赤道辐合带南移并增强。该项研究为探索热带太平洋在冰期/间冰期旋回中的古海洋学变化提供了新的数据支撑。此外,不同重建SST对赤道辐合带的影响比较大,因此利用重建SST进行数值模拟或者利用耦合模式研究LGM热带海气相互作用时,应该十分重视全球热带SST分布特征。     

Impact of bogus vortex for track and intensity prediction of tropical cyclone

The initialization scheme designed to improve the representation of a tropical cyclone in the initial condition is tested during Orissa super cyclone (1999) over Bay of Bengal using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University — National Center for Atmospheric Research (Penn State — NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5). A series of numerical experiments are conducted to generate initial vortices by assimilating the bogus wind information into MM5. Wind speed and location of the tropical cyclone obtained from best track data are used to define maximum wind speed, and centre of the storm respectively, in the initial vortex. The initialization scheme produced an initial vortex that was well adapted to the forecast model and was much more realistic in size and intensity than the storm structure obtained from the NCEP analysis. Using this scheme, the 24-h, 48-h, and 72-h forecast errors for this case was 63, 58, and 46 km, respectively, compared with 120, 335, and 550 km for the non-vortex initialized case starting from the NCEP global analysis. When bogus vortices are introduced into initial conditions, the significant improvements in the storm intensity predictions are also seen. The impact of the vortex size on the structure of the initial vortex is also evaluated. We found that when the radius of maximum wind (RMW) of the specified vortex is smaller than that of which can be resolved by the model, the specified vortex is not well adapted by the model. In contrast, when the vortex is sufficiently large for it to be resolved on horizontal grid, but not so large to be unrealistic, more accurate storm structure is obtained.     

Variable influence on the equatorial troposphere associated with SSW using ERA-Interim

Sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events are identified to investigate their influence on the equatorial tropospheric climate. Composite analysis of warming events from Era-Interim (1979–2013) record a cooling of the tropical lower stratosphere with corresponding changes in the mean meridional stratospheric circulation. A cooling of the upper troposphere induces enhanced convective activity near the equatorial region of the Southern Hemisphere and suppressed convective activity in the off-equatorial Northern Hemisphere. After selecting vortex splits, the see-saw pattern of convective activity in the troposphere grows prominent and robust.     

Incipient vortex size-dependent evolution of tropical disturbances Part I — Results from a numerical experiment

The present work is concerned with the study of intensification of tropical disturbances with a view to improve prediction and early warning. The tropical disturbances are known to come in sizes (radii) ranging from 100–400 kms. Since the vortices of different sizes give rise to different initial convergence fields and since the subsequent development of the tropical depressions is very sensitive to the initial convergence fields, we argue that the size of the incipient vortex is likely to be an important factor in determining the subsequent development of a tropical disturbance. We have examined the above hypothesis using an axisymmetric model of tropical cyclone. The incipient vortex is introduced by prescribing an initial temperature perturbation with wind in gradient balance. The results show a fairly sharp selection of scale at about 250 km radius. This implies that out of a number of initial disturbances of varying sizes and embedded in the same large scale environment, it is the vortex with about 250 km radius size that will develop to the most severe system. The sensitivity of this selective intensification at this incipient vortex radius to initial perturbation field and the mean thermodynamic state is investigated. Finally, the importance of such a selective scale of intensification for prediction, tracking and early warning of tropical cyclones is emphasized.     

Impact of modification of initial cyclonic structure on the prediction of a cyclone over the Arabian Sea

Most tropical cyclones have very few observations in their vicinity. Hence either they go undetected in standard analyses or are analyzed very poorly, with ill defined centres and locations. Such initial errors obviously have major impact on the forecast of cyclone tracks using numerical models. One way of overcoming the above difficulty is to remove the weak initial vortex and replace it with a synthetic vortex (with the correct size, intensity and location) in the initial analysis. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of introducing NCAR–AFWA synthetic vortex scheme in the regional model MM5 on the simulation of a tropical cyclone formed over the Arabian Sea during November 2003. Two sets of numerical experiments are conducted in this study. While the first set utilizes the NCEP reanalysis as the initial and lateral boundary conditions, the second set utilizes the NCAR–AFWA synthetic vortex scheme. The results of the two sets of MM5 simulations are compared with one another as well as with the observations and the NCEP reanalysis. It is found that inclusion of the synthetic vortex has resulted in improvements in the simulation of wind asymmetries, warm temperature anomalies, stronger vertical velocity fields and consequently in the overall structure of the tropical cyclone. The time series of the minimum sea level pressure and maximum wind speed reveal that the model simulations are closer to observations when synthetic vortex was introduced in the model. The central minimum pressure reduces by 17 hPa while the maximum wind speed associated with the tropical cyclone enhances by 17 m s ⁻¹ with the introduction of the synthetic vortex. While the lowest central pressure estimated from the satellite image is 988 hPa, the corresponding value in the synthetic vortex simulated cyclone is 993 hPa. Improvements in the overall structure and initial location of the center of the system have contributed to considerable reduction in the vector track prediction errors ie. 642 km in 24 h, 788 km in 48 h and 1145 km in 72 h. Further, simulation with the synthetic vortex shows realistic spatial distribution of the precipitation associated with the tropical cyclone.     

热带平流层准两年振荡对热带对流层顶和深对流活动的影响

利用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料通过合成分析的方法研究了热带平流层准两年振荡(QBO)影响热带对流层顶及深对流活动的基本特征及可能的物理机制。研究发现,QBO对对流层顶和大气射出长波辐射(OLR)的影响存在明显的季节和空间上的差异。QBO对对流层顶和OLR的影响在冬、秋季最大,春、夏季相对较弱。与QBO造成的对流层顶高度和温度异常所不同是,QBO造成的OLR异常并没有呈现出一样的沿热带的带状分布特征,OLR异常沿赤道区域有正有负。另外,QBO对OLR的影响主要在热带对流活跃区域,尤其是在印度尼西亚和西太平洋区域,QBO东风位相下的对流活动要强于QBO西风位相下的对流活动。QBO造成的OLR异常和对流层顶异常在水平分布上有显著的差异,表明QBO对对流层顶的影响主要是与QBO风切变的异常有关,QBO影响热带深对流活动进而影响对流层顶温度的作用是次要的。进一步研究QBO影响对流活动可能的机制发现,QBO造成的浮力频率异常和对流层有效位能(CAPE)异常与OLR异常在水平分布上有较一致的变化,说明QBO不仅通过调节对流层顶高度和温度影响热带的深对流活动,还可以通过调节对流层的静力稳定度、CAPE来影响热带地区深对流活动。     

Study of the global and regional climatic impacts of ENSO magnitude using SPEEDY AGCM

ENSO is considered as a strong atmospheric teleconnection that has pronounced global and regional circulation effects. It modifies global monsoon system, especially, Asian and African monsoons. Previous studies suggest that both the frequency and magnitude of ENSO events have increased over the last few decades resulting in a need to study climatic impacts of ENSO magnitude both at global and regional scales. Hence, to better understand the impact of ENSO amplitude over the tropical and extratropical regions focussing on the Asian and African domains, ENSO sensitivity experiments are conducted using ICTPAGCM (‘SPEEDY’). It is anticipated that the tropical Pacific SST forcing will be enough to produce ENSO-induced teleconnection patterns; therefore, the model is forced using NINO3.4 regressed SST anomalies over the tropical Pacific only. SPEEDY reproduces the impact of ENSO over the Pacific, North and South America and African regions very well. However, it underestimates ENSO teleconnection patterns and associated changes over South Asia, particularly in the Indian region, which suggests that the tropical Pacific SST forcing is not sufficient to represent ENSO-induced teleconnection patterns over South Asia. Therefore, SST forcing over the tropical Indian Ocean together with air–sea coupling is also required for better representation of ENSO-induced changes in these regions. Moreover, results obtained by this pacemaker experiment show that ENSO impacts are relatively stronger over the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) compared to extratropics and high latitude regions. The positive phase of ENSO causes weakening in rainfall activity over African tropical rain belt, parts of South and Southeast Asia, whereas, the La Niña phase produces more rain over these regions during the summer season. Model results further reveal that ENSO magnitude has a stronger impact over African Sahel and South Asia, especially over the Indian region because of its significant impact over the tropical Atlantic and the Indian Ocean through Walker circulation. ENSO-induced negative (positive) NAO-like response and associated changes over Southern Europe and North Africa get significantly strong following increased intensity of El Niño (La Niña) in the northern (southern) hemisphere in the boreal winter (summer) season. We further find that ENSO magnitude significantly impacts Hadley and Walker circulations. The positive phase of ENSO (El Niño) overall strengthens Hadley cell and a reverse is true for the La Niña phase. ENSO-induced strengthening and weakening of Hadley cell induces significant impact over South Asian and African ITCZ convective regions through modification of ITCZ/monsoon circulation system.     

内蒙古干旱半干旱带2012年“7·20”极端暴雨事件的特征及成因

2012年7月下旬, 处于内陆干旱-半干旱地带的内蒙古中-西部地区出现了有气象记录以来的极端降水事件, 使该区气象与气候预测面临新问题. 7月20日河套地区出现大范围暴雨天气, 其中两个台站日降水量超历史极值, 一个台站超历史阈值, 属极端天气事件. 利用常规及精细化监测资料和NCEP再分析资料对此次极端降水天气事件进行分析. 结果表明: 从天气背景看, 贝加尔湖低槽内冷空气侵入副高西侧的暖空气中, 在对流层低层激发出低涡系统, 低涡前侧的南风急流使南来水汽到达41°N以北, 并在河套地区聚集. 对流层低层水汽通量维持在8~10g·cm^-1·hPa^-1·s^-1, 大气比湿达12~17 g·kg^-1, 为极端降水事件提供了丰沛的水汽. 该事件是通过MCC强烈发展形成的, 河套西北部不断有中尺度对流系统MCS发展东移, 河套南部新生的β中尺度系统发展并入MCS中, MCS系统发展为中尺度对流复合体MCC, MCC中心的TBB值达-40~-83 ℃. 近地面雷达监测显示, 河套东北部、中部存在强雷达回波群, 回波群内对流单体中心的反射率因子均达到50~55 dbz, 构成超级对流单体. 地面上, 不断新生的中尺度辐合线长时间存在于河套东北部并促发对流性暴雨. 暴雨前期对流层低层增温作用显著, 中高层"干侵入"使大气不稳定能量进一步增加. 冷锋前暖空气强烈的上升运动促发了大气不稳定能量释放. 该事件很可能与当前全球变暖密切相关, 随着全球变暖, 北极冰量减少, 夏季风增强, 雨带北移, 使得中纬度内陆干旱-半干旱带发生前所未有的极端降水事件过程.     

Incipient vortex size-dependent evolution of tropical disturbances Part II — Some governing processes

Recently it was shown (Goswami and Rao 1993) that the process of intensification of tropical disturbances depends on the size of the incipient vortex in a rather nonlinear fashion. Among vortices of size ranging from 100 to 450 km (radius), embedded in the same large scale condition, it is the vortex with size about 250 km that intensifies to the most severe system. These results also showed a strong correspondence between the maximum intensity reached and the initial (3–6 hour) low level convergence field near the centre. The purpose of the present work is to identify the process(es) responsible for this scale selective intensification of tropical disturbances. It is proposed that diffusion is likely to play a crucial role in bringing about this selective intensification. In the present work a series of experiments with an axisymmetric numerical model of tropical cyclone (Wada’s model) is carried out to determine the relative roles of horizontal diffusion of momentum, moisture, heat and vertical diffusion. The results show that diffusion significantly affects the process of intensification and scale selection. While moderate diffusion does not alter the magnitude of intensification significantly, the scale selection is quite sensitive to the strength of diffusion. Interestingly, these diffusion processes, of momentum, moisture, heat and vertical do not affect the scale selection in the same fashion. The scale selection process turns out to be a result of a combined effect of these diffusion processes. However, no single diffusion process alone can give rise to a sharp selection of scale at the size of 250 km.     

The coalescence of two rotating sunspots during the emergence of an active region

The rare phenomenon of the coalescence of two rotating sunspots of the same magnetic polarity during the emergence of the active region NOAA 11117 is investigated using data from the SDO space observatory. The coalescing spots rotated in opposite directions. The leading spot which formed from this process rotated counterclockwise with an angular velocity of 4°/h. A possible explanation is presented, based on a model of the emerging, twisted magnetic Ω flux tube that interacts with convective flows as it crosses the convective zone.     

Analysis of the Marmara flood in Turkey, 7–10 September 2009: an assessment from hydrometeorological perspective

Turkey often suffers from flood-related damages and causalities as a result of intense and prolonged storms that are usually convective or cyclonic in origin. The impact is more distinctive in Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of the country where quantity and distribution of rainfall is influenced by Mediterranean cyclones, especially in late autumn and early winter. The floods sometimes became very hazardous when combined with urbanization effects, especially in the densely populated coastal communities and major cities. Severe weather was marked in the early parts of September 2009 that produced record-setting rainfall amounts across the Marmara region of Turkey and led a series of flash floods which affected ?stanbul and Tekirda? provinces especially. The overall flooding was the result of successive and persistent intense rainfall episodes over a 3-day period which produced more than 250-mm rainfall over portions of the region. The floods resulted in death of 32 people and caused extensive environmental and infrastructural damage in the region. This study provides in-depth analysis of hydrometeorological conditions that led to the occurrence of flash floods in Marmara region during 7–10 September 2009 period and also discusses non-meteorological factors that exacerbated the flooding conditions. Main meteorological settings that led to intense storms were presence of cold air in the upper atmosphere, a slow-moving quasi-stationary trough, and continuous resupply of moisture to the surface low from the warm Aegean Sea. Radar images showed the development of clusters of convective cells that remained quasi-stationary over portions of the region. The 24-h rainfall amounts varied between 100 and 253 mm in most parts of the region during the flooding period with diverse spatial patterns. The southern locations received the highest amount of the rainfall as compared to stations located in northern slopes of the region. Typical effects of orography that enhance rainfall in the coastal areas, however, were not observed during the Marmara flood. Some features of the synoptic pattern observed prior and during the flooding period, supported the back door cold front concept. This is characterized with easterly to northeasterly surface flows forced by an anticyclone, advection of cold continental air over the warm Black Sea which provided anomalous moisture to trigger cyclogenesis over the Marmara region, and falling of core of the intense rainfall over the Marmara Sea. The study concluded that although the meteorological settings were favorable for the convective rainfalls, urbanization factors, such as land use changes and occupation of flood plains, played major role in aggravating the worst flood observed in the region in recent decades.     

Tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean during El-Niño Modoki years

Tropical cyclones are the most hazardous weather systems, which form over warm ocean waters. The frequencies of tropical cyclones show variabilities over all the oceanic basins, during the El-Niño and El-Niño Modoki years. Recent studies have shown significant impact of air–sea interaction processes like El-Niño and El-Niño Modoki on the cyclone activity over different ocean basins. The results suggest in most cases, El-Niño events suppress the formation of cyclones over various basins. A recent study indicated that concurrent occurrence of El-Niño Modoki and positive Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) events can generate more cyclones over north-west Pacific. We propose to study the impact of El-Niño Modoki events on the formation of tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean (NIO). Our present study suggests that the cyclogenesis over the NIO is a complex phenomenon, as it is influenced by several coupled ocean atmospheric phenomena such as El-Niño, El-Niño Modki, IOD and Madden–Julian oscillation.     

A numerical study on rapid intensification of Hurricane Charley (2004) near landfall

The rapid intensification of Hurricane Charley (2004) near landfall is studied using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) and its adjoint system for both vortex initialization and forecasts. A significant improvement in both track and intensity forecasts is achieved after an ill-defined storm vortex, derived from large-scale analysis, in the initial condition is replaced by the vortex generated by a four-dimensional data variational (4D-Var) hurricane initialization scheme. Results from numerical experiments suggest that both the inclusion of the upper-level trough and the use of high horizontal resolution (6 km) are important for numerical simulations to capture the observed rapid intensification as well as the size reduction during the rapid intensification of Hurricane Charley. The approach of the upper-level trough significantly enhanced the upper-level divergence and vertical motion within simulated hurricanes. Small-scale features that are not resolvable at 18 km resolution are important to the rapid intensification and shrinking of Hurricane Charley (2004). Numerical results from this study further confirm that the theoretical relationship between the intensification and shrinking of tropical cyclones based on the angular momentum conservation and the cyclostrophic approximation can be applied to the azimuthal mean flows.     

侧向水平进水孔口立轴旋涡的试验研究

通过自制模型对侧向水平孔口的立轴旋涡进行基础试验研究。使用有色颜料追踪旋涡表面的质点运动,观测到其轨迹线为多圈螺旋流,并根据这一特性采用摄像法和图形处理技术对时均速度进行测量,与理论结果对比证明这种简单经济的方法是可行的。通过改变试验装置分析来流方向对旋涡的影响,表明进口轴线与来流方向之间的夹角过大是形成立轴旋涡的诱因之一。根据试验结果得出不同来流方向的临界淹没水深计算公式,并对公式进行推广,可作为设计时的参考依据。     

Bedform spurs: a result of a trailing helical vortex wake

The formative conditions for bedform spurs and their roles in bedform dynamics and associated sediment transport are described herein. Bedform spurs are formed by helical vortices that trail from the lee surface of oblique segments of bedform crest lines. Trailing helical vortices quickly route sediment away from the lee surface of their parent bedform, scouring troughs and placing this bed material into the body of the spur. The geometric configuration of bedform spurs to their parent bedform crests is predicted by a cross‐stream Strouhal number. When present, spur‐bearing bedforms and their associated trailing helical wakes exert tremendous control on bedform morphology by routing enhanced sediment transport between adjacent bedforms. Field measurements collected at the North Loup River, Nebraska, and flume experiments described in previous studies demonstrate that this trailing helical vortex‐mediated sediment transport is a mechanism for bedform deformation, interactions and transitions between two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional bedforms.     

On the initialization of tropical cyclones with a three dimensional variational analysis

A method of initializing tropical cyclones in high-resolution numerical models is developed by modifying a data assimilation system, the NRL atmospheric variational data assimilation system (NAVDAS), which was designed for general mesoscale weather prediction using a three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) analysis with intermittent updates. The method includes the following three upgrades to overcome difficulties resulting from tropical cyclone initialization with the NAVDAS analysis. First, synthetic observation soundings are generated on 9 vertical levels at 49 points for strong storms (v _max?>?23.1?m?s^?1) and 41 points for weak storms around each cyclone center to supplement the observations used by the analysis. Secondly, a vortex relocation method for nested grids is developed to correct the cyclone position in the background fields of the analysis for each nested mesh. Lastly, the 3DVAR analysis is modified to gradually reduce the horizontal length scale and geostrophic coupling constraint near the center of a tropical cyclone for minimizing the problems introduced by improper covariances and coupling constraint used in the analysis. The synthetic observations significantly improve the intensity and structure of the analysis and the track forecast. The vortex relocation significantly improves the first guess background, avoiding the large analysis corrections that would be needed to correct cyclone position, and reducing the imbalance introduced by such large analysis increments. The modifications to the analysis length scale and geostrophic coupling constraint successfully improve the inner core analysis, providing a tighter circulation, and reducing the underestimate of the mass field gradient. Among the three upgrades, the vortex relocation provides the largest improvement to the tropical cyclone initialization and forecast.     

The Fokker-Planck equation and statistical characteristics of penetrative convection in the upper ocean

We consider the problem of penetrative convection in the upper ocean under the conditions of sharp surface cooling and a constant momentum flux connected with the existing system of random waves. The Langevin equation with a random right part is used to describe a convective ensemble of thermals. The kinetic Fokker-Planck equation is built for the angular probability density of an ensemble of convective elements. The stationary solution of this equation allows one to find an analogue of the Boltzman distribution for convective currents over speed and height. The Maxwell speed distribution is implemented in this case for convective thermals at a fixed depth. The results allow interpretation of certain data on turbulence in the convective near-surface ocean layer.