North Atlantic cyclones in CO2-induced warm climate simulations: frequency, intensity, and tracks

The effect of CO₂-induced climate change on the North Atlantic storm and cyclone tracks in winter is analysed using time slice experiments of the Hamburg atmospheric general circulation model (ECHAM3) with triangular truncation at wave number 42 (T42) and 19 levels. The sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice boundary conditions for these experiments are taken from a transient Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenario A run of ECHAM1/LSG at the times where the 1×CO₂ (control run), the 2×CO₂ and the 3×CO₂ concentrations are reached. Using a cyclone identification and tracking scheme, we detect the low pressure systems as relative minima in the 1000 hPa geopotential height field and connect them to cyclone tracks. The results of the Eulerian analysis of the storm track using filtered variances and the Lagrangian analysis of the cyclone trajectories from the three climate runs are discussed and compared with each other. In the 2×CO₂ experiment, the storm track shifts eastward, whereas the cyclone density shifts northeastward. In the 3×CO₂ experiment the storm track shows a southeastward shift, whereas the cyclone density shifts northward. The variability of the cyclone tracks is determined by a cluster analysis of their relative trajectories considering the first three days of the cyclones. The relative cyclone tracks are grouped into stationary, zonal and northeastward travelling cyclones. This analysis provides a method to assess the model quality and to detect changes of the cyclone trajectories in different climates. In the 2×CO₂ (but not in the 3×CO₂) run the occupation number of northeastward cyclones increases. Received: 27 January 1998 / Accepted: 19 May 1998     

Sensitivity Experiments on the Poleward Shift of Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific under Warming Ocean Conditions

Recent studies found that in the context of global warming, the observed tropical cyclones (TCs) exhibit significant poleward migration trend in terms of the mean latitude where TCs reach their lifetime-maximum intensity in the western North Pacific (WNP). This poleward migration of TC tracks can be attributed to not only anthropogenic forcing (e.g., continuous increase of sea surface temperature (SST)), but also impacts of other factors (e.g., natural variability). In the present study, to eliminate the impacts of other factors and thus focus on the impact of unvaried SST on climatological WNP TC tracks, the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to conduct a suite of idealized sensitivity experiments with increased SST. Comparisons among the results of these experiments show the possible changes in climatological TC track, TC track density, and types of TC track in the context of SST increase. The results demonstrate that under the warmer SST conditions, the climatological mean TC track systematically shifts poleward significantly in the WNP, which is consistent with the previous studies. Meanwhile, the ocean warming also leads to the decreased (increased) destructive potential of TCs in low (middle) latitudes, and thus northward migration of the region where TCs have the largest impact. Further results imply the possibility that under the ocean warming, the percentage of TCs with westward/northwestward tracks decreases/increases distinctly.     

The intraseasonal oscillation in ECHAM4 Part I: coupled to a comprehensive ocean model

This study discusses the representation of the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in three simulations with the ECHAM4 atmosphere general circulation model (GCM). First, the model is forced by AMIP sea surface temperatures (SST), then coupled to the OPYC3 global ocean GCM and third forced by OPYC3 SSTs to clarify possible air-sea interactions and connections of the ISO and the ENSO cycle. The simulations are compared to ECMWF reanalysis data and NOAA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) observations. Although previous studies have shown that the ECHAM4 GCM simulates an ISO-like oscillation, the main deficits are an overly fast eastward propagation and an eastward displacement of the main ISO activity, which is shown with a composite analysis of daily data between 1984 to 1988 for the reanalysis and the AMIP simulation, 25 years of the coupled integration, and a five year subset of the coupled SST output used for the OPYC3 forced atmosphere GCM experiment. These deficits are common to many atmospheric GCMs. The composites are obtained by principal oscillation pattern (POP). The POPs are also used to investigate the propagation speed and the interannual variability of the main ISO activity. The present coupled model version reveals no clear improvements in the ISO simulation compared to the uncoupled version forced with OPYC3 SSTs, although it is shown that the modeled ISO influences the simulated high-frequency SST variability in the coupled GCM. Within the current analysis, ECHAM4 forced by AMIP SSTs provides the most reasonable ISO simulation. However, it is shown that the maximum amplitudes of the annual cycle of the ISO variability in all analyzed model versions are reached too late in the year (spring and summer) compared to the observations (winter and spring). Additionally, the ENSO cycle influences the interannual variability of the ISO, which is revealed by 20 years of daily reanalysis data and 100 years of the coupled integration. The ENSO cycle is simulated by the coupled model, although there is a roughly 1 K cold bias in the East Pacific in the coupled model. This leads to a diminished influence of the ENSO cycle on the spatial variability of the modeled ISO activity compared to observations. This points out the strong sensitivity of the SST on the ISO activity. Small biases in the SST appear to cause large deterioration in the modeled ISO.     

Cyclone life cycle characteristics over the Northern Hemisphere in coupled GCMs

Cyclone activity and life cycle are analysed in the coupled GCMs ECHAM5/OM and ECHAM4/OPYC3. First, the results for the present climate (1978–1999) are compared with ERA-40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalyses, showing a drastic improvement in the representation of cyclone activity in ECHAM5/OM compared to ECHAM4/OPYC3. The total number of cyclones, cyclone intensity, propagation velocity and deepening rates are found to be much more realistic in ECHAM5/OM relative to ECHAM4/OPYC3. Then, changes in extra tropical cyclone characteristics are compared between present day climate and future climate under the emission-scenario A1B using ECHAM5/OM. This comparison is performed using the 20-year time slices 1978–1999, 2070–2090 and 2170–2190, which were considered to be representative for the various climate conditions. The total number of cyclones does not undergo significant changes in a warmer climate. However, regional changes in cyclone numbers and frequencies are evident. One example is the Mediterranean region where the number of cyclones in summer increases almost by factor 2. Some noticeable changes are also found in cyclone life cycle characteristics (deepening rate and propagation velocity). Cyclones in the future climate scenario tend to move slower and their deepening rate becomes stronger, while cyclone intensity does not undergo significant change in a warmer climate. Generally, our results do not support the hypothesis of enhanced storminess under future climate conditions.     

Limitations of time-slice experiments for predicting regional climate change over South Asia

While time-slice simulations with atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) have been used for many years to regionalize climate projections and/or assess their uncertainties, there is still no consensus about the method used to prescribe sea surface temperature (SST) in such experiments. In the present study, the response of the Indian summer monsoon to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols is compared between a reference climate scenario and three sets of time-slice experiments, consisting of parallel integrations for present-day and future climates. Different monthly mean SST boundary conditions have been tested in the present-day integrations: raw climatological SST derived from the reference scenario, observed climatological SST, and observed SST with interannual variability. For future climate, the SST forcing has been obtained by superimposing climatological monthly mean SST anomalies derived from the reference scenario onto the present-day SST boundary conditions. None of these sets of time-slice experiments is able to capture accurately the response of the Indian summer monsoon simulated in the transient scenario. This finding suggests that the ocean–atmosphere coupling is a fundamental feature of the climate system. Neglecting the SST feedback and variability at the intraseasonal to interannual time scales has a significant impact on the projected monsoon response to global warming. Adding interannual variability in the prescribed SST boundary conditions does not mitigate the problem, but can on the contrary reinforce the discrepancies between the forced and coupled experiments. The monsoon response is also shown to depend on the simulated control climate, and can therefore be sensitive to the use of observed rather than model-derived SSTs to drive the present-day atmospheric simulation, as well as to any approximation in the prescribed radiative forcing. While such results do not challenge the use of time-slice experiments for assessing uncertainties and understanding mechanisms in transient scenarios, they emphasize the need for high-resolution coupled atmosphere-ocean GCMs for dynamical downscaling, or at least for high-resolution atmospheric GCMs coupled with a slab or a regional ocean model.     

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF CYCLONE TRACKS IN WESTERN ANTARCTIC REGION

The paper shows the statistical analysis of cyclone tracks that have influence on the western Antarcticregion.Based on the conditions of cyclone movement and its impact upon the weather,cyclone tracks areclassified into three categories,i.e.,the track moving towards the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula,southern track,and northern track.Moreover,in this paper,the frequency distributions of cyclone tracks,the major tracks with higherfrequencies,the original region of Antarctic cyclones and the seasonal features of Antarctic cyclones have beenanalyzed.The results show that there are higher cyclogeneses in summer,whereas relatively fewer cycloge-neses in winter,and cyclone numbers in transitional seasons are close to the climatological average.Theanalysis also shows that the moving velocity of Antarctic cyclone is about the same in winter and summer.It obviously speed up during the transitional season.     

Interdecadal variability of the meridional overturning circulation as an ocean internal mode

The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the coupled ECHAM5/MPIOM exhibits variability at periods of near 30 years and near 60 years. The 30-year variability, referred to as interdecadal variability (IDV), exist in an ocean model driven by climatological atmospheric forcing, suggesting that it is maintained by ocean dynamics; the 60-year variability, the multidecadal variability (MDV), is only observed in the fully coupled model and therefore is interpreted as an atmosphere–ocean coupled mode. The coexistence of the 30-year IDV and the 60-year MDV provides a possible explanation for the widespread time scales observed in climate variables. Further analyses of the climatologically forced ocean model shows that, the IDV is related to the interplay between the horizontal temperature-dominated density gradients and the ocean circulation: temperature anomalies move along the cyclonic subpolar gyre leading to fluctuations in horizontal density gradients and the subsequent weakening and strengthening of the MOC. This result is consistent with that from less complex models, indicating the robustness of the IDV. We further show that, along the North Atlantic Current path, the sea surface temperature anomalies are determined by the slow LSW advection at the intermediate depth.     

The temporal and spatial characteristics of surrogate tropical cyclones from a multi-millenial simulation

Output from a simulation with the CSIRO Mark 2 climatic model has been used to investigate the secular variability of tropical cyclone formation over the globe using Gray’s Seasonal Genesis Parameter. This simulation differs from previous surrogate studies in using a coupled atmospheric-oceanic model, instead of specified sea surface temperatures, as well as being of multi-millenial duration, compared with decadal length simulations used elsewhere. Mean climatological values for each season for a 5,000-year period indicate that the model replicated the broad patterns of spatial and temporal variability. Results are presented in some detail for three regions, the southwest and northwest Pacific Oceans and the low latitude North Atlantic Ocean. A marked range of temporal variabilities of surrogate tropical cyclone numbers was obtained in the simulation, possibly indicating that the present, observed increase in these numbers may not be outside that attributable to natural variability. The component terms of the Seasonal Genesis Parameter permit the contribution of individual climatic terms to the generation of tropical cyclones to be identified. This approach highlighted the important role of relative vorticity and relative humidity, in addition to the governing influence of vertical wind shear. The remote influence of ENSO, versus that of local sea surface temperature anomalies, on surrogate tropical cyclone numbers was examined and revealed different outcomes depending on the region under consideration. The global total of surrogate tropical cyclone numbers exhibited noticeable interannual variability. The simulation reproduced most of the observed correlations between tropical cyclones and relevant climatic variables, but many of the correlations were not stable within the 5,000-year time series used. This suggests that observed correlations based on, typically, 100-years or less of data may not be representative of possible future outcomes. With minor exceptions all climatological time series associated with the Seasonal Genesis Parameter were found to be Gaussian.     

A Hybrid Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Model and Its Simulation of ENSO and Atmospheric Responses

A new hybrid coupled model(HCM) is presented in this study, which consists of an intermediate tropical Pacific Ocean model and a global atmospheric general circulation model. The ocean component is the intermediate ocean model(IOM)of the intermediate coupled model(ICM) used at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences(IOCAS). The atmospheric component is ECHAM5, the fifth version of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology atmospheric general circulation model. The HCM integrates its atmospheric and oceanic components by using an anomaly coupling strategy. A100-year simulation has been made with the HCM and its simulation skills are evaluated, including the interannual variability of SST over the tropical Pacific and the ENSO-related responses of the global atmosphere. The model shows irregular occurrence of ENSO events with a spectral range between two and five years. The amplitude and lifetime of ENSO events and the annual phase-locking of SST anomalies are also reproduced realistically. Despite the slightly stronger variance of SST anomalies over the central Pacific than observed in the HCM, the patterns of atmospheric anomalies related to ENSO,such as sea level pressure, temperature and precipitation, are in broad agreement with observations. Therefore, this model can not only simulate the ENSO variability, but also reproduce the global atmospheric variability associated with ENSO, thereby providing a useful modeling tool for ENSO studies. Further model applications of ENSO modulations by ocean–atmosphere processes, and of ENSO-related climate prediction, are also discussed.     

Impact of ocean model resolution on CCSM climate simulations

The current literature provides compelling evidence suggesting that an eddy-resolving (as opposed to eddy-permitting or eddy-parameterized) ocean component model will significantly impact the simulation of the large-scale climate, although this has not been fully tested to date in multi-decadal global coupled climate simulations. The purpose of this paper is to examine how resolved ocean fronts and eddies impact the simulation of large-scale climate. The model used for this study is the NCAR Community Climate System Model version 3.5 (CCSM3.5)—the forerunner to CCSM4. Two experiments are reported here. The control experiment is a 155-year present-day climate simulation using a 0.5° atmosphere component (zonal resolution 0.625 meridional resolution 0.5°; land surface component at the same resolution) coupled to ocean and sea-ice components with zonal resolution of 1.2° and meridional resolution varying from 0.27° at the equator to 0.54° in the mid-latitudes. The second simulation uses the same atmospheric and land-surface models coupled to eddy-resolving 0.1° ocean and sea-ice component models. The simulations are compared in terms of how the representation of smaller scale features in the time mean ocean circulation and ocean eddies impact the mean and variable climate. In terms of the global mean surface temperature, the enhanced ocean resolution leads to a ubiquitous surface warming with a global mean surface temperature increase of about 0.2?°C relative to the control. The warming is largest in the Arctic and regions of strong ocean fronts and ocean eddy activity (i.e., Southern Ocean, western boundary currents). The Arctic warming is associated with significant losses of sea-ice in the high-resolution simulation. The sea surface temperature gradients in the North Atlantic, in particular, are better resolved in the high-resolution model leading to significantly sharper temperature gradients and associated large-scale shifts in the rainfall. In the extra-tropics, the interannual temperature variability is increased with the resolved eddies, and a notable increases in the amplitude of the El Ni?o and the Southern Oscillation is also detected. Changes in global temperature anomaly teleconnections and local air-sea feedbacks are also documented and show large changes in ocean–atmosphere coupling. In particular, local air-sea feedbacks are significantly modified by the increased ocean resolution. In the high-resolution simulation in the extra-tropics there is compelling evidence of stronger forcing of the atmosphere by SST variability arising from ocean dynamics. This coupling is very weak or absent in the low-resolution model.     

The influence of air-sea interaction on the development and motion of a tropical cyclone: Numerical experiments with a triply nested model

Summary Tropical cyclone (TC)—ocena feedbacks are studied using a coupled tropical cyclone-ocean model consisting of an eightlayer triply-nested movable grid model of a TC and a three-layer primitive equation ocean model. The numerical results indicate that the TC-ocean interaction influences intensities, structures, and the trajectories of tropical cyclones. Two possible mechanisms, barotropic and baroclinic, influencing TC tracks under TC-ocean interaction are suggested. The barotropic mechanism is related to the changes of the vertically averaged TC structure, induced by the TC-ocean coupling. The baroclinic mechanism is related to the asymmetry of the condensation heating within the TC caused by the asymmetry of heat and moisture fluxes at the sea surface. This asymmetry arises due to the asymmetry in sea surface cooling relative to the storm center. The experiments indicate that the influence of TC-ocean interaction on the TC tracks is the greatest for the case of a zero background flow. In the case of a non-zero background flow the sensitivity of storm tracks to the coupling with the ocean decreases. It is found that the influence of the ocean coupling on the TC track is quite sensitive to the method of convective heating parameterization in the TC model. The TC-ocean interaction also results in a change of the amount and spatial distribution of precipitation.     

The Madden–Julian oscillation in ECHAM4 coupled and uncoupled general circulation models

The Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) dominates tropical variability on timescales of 30–70 days. During the boreal winter/spring, it is manifested as an eastward propagating disturbance, with a strong convective signature over the eastern hemisphere. The space–time structure of the MJO is analyzed using simulations with the ECHAM4 atmospheric general circulation model run with observed monthly mean sea-surface temperatures (SSTs), and coupled to three different ocean models. The coherence of the eastward propagation of MJO convection is sensitive to the ocean model to which ECHAM4 is coupled. For ECHAM4/OPYC and ECHO-G, models for which ~100 years of daily data is available, Monte Carlo sampling indicates that their metrics of eastward propagation are different at the 1% significance level. The flux-adjusted coupled simulations, ECHAM4/OPYC and ECHO-G, maintain a more realistic mean-state, and have a more realistic MJO simulation than the nonadjusted scale interaction experiment (SINTEX) coupled runs. The SINTEX model exhibits a cold bias in Indian Ocean and tropical West Pacific Ocean sea-surface temperature of ~0.5°C. This cold bias affects the distribution of time-mean convection over the tropical eastern hemisphere. Furthermore, the eastward propagation of MJO convection in this model is not as coherent as in the two models that used flux adjustment or when compared to an integration of ECHAM4 with prescribed observed SST. This result suggests that simulating a realistic basic state is at least as important as air–sea interaction for organizing the MJO. While all of the coupled models simulate the warm (cold) SST anomalies that precede (succeed) the MJO convection, the interaction of the components of the net surface heat flux that lead to these anomalies are different over the Indian Ocean. The ECHAM4/OPYC model in which the atmospheric model is run at a horizontal resolution of T42, has eastward propagating zonal wind anomalies and latent heat flux anomalies. However, the integrations with ECHO-G and SINTEX, which used T30 atmospheres, produce westward propagation of the latent heat flux anomalies, contrary to reanalysis. It is suggested that the differing ability of the models to represent the near-surface westerlies over the Indian Ocean is related to the different horizontal resolutions of the atmospheric model employed.     

Projected changes in Eurasian and Arctic summer cyclones under global warming in the Bergen climate model

Using the coupled ocean-atmosphere Bergen Climate Model,and a Lagrangian vorticity-based cyclone tracking method,the authors investigate current climate summer cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere and their change by the end of the 21st century,with a focus on Northern Eurasia and the Arctic.The two scenarios A1B and A2 for increasing greenhouse gas concentrations are considered.In the model projections,the total number of cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere is reduced by about 3% 4%,but the Arctic Ocean and adjacent coastal re-gions harbour slightly more and slightly stronger summer storms,compared to the model current climate.This in-crease occurs in conjunction with an increase in the high-latitude zonal winds and in the meridional tempera-ture gradient between the warming land and the ocean across Northern Eurasia.Deficiencies in climate model representations of the summer storm tracks at high lati-tudes are also outlined,and the need for further model inter-comparison studies is emphasized.     

Global SST influence on twentieth century NAO variability

Recent studies have suggested that sea surface temperature (SST) is an important source of variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Here, we deal with four basic aspects contributing to this issue: (1) we investigate the characteristic time scales of this oceanic influence; (2) quantify the scale-dependent hindcast potential of the NAO during the twentieth century as derived from SST-driven atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ensembles; (3) the relevant oceanic regions are identified, corresponding SST indices are defined and their relationship to the NAO are evaluated by means of cross spectral analysis and (4) our results are compared with long-term coupled control experiments with different ocean models in order to ensure whether the spectral relationship between the SST regions and the NAO is an intrinsic mode of the coupled climate system, involving the deep ocean circulation, rather than an artefact of the unilateral SST forcing. The observed year-to-year NAO fluctuations are barely influenced by the SST. On the decadal time scales the major swings of the observed NAO are well reproduced by various ensembles from the middle of the twentieth century onward, including the negative state in the 1960s and part of the positive trend afterwards. A six-member ECHAM4-T42 ensemble reveals that the SST boundary condition affects 25% of total decadal-mean and interdecadal-trend NAO variability throughout the twentieth century. The most coherent NAO-related SST feature is the well-known North Atlantic tripole. Additional contributions may arise from the southern Pacific and the low-latitude Indian Ocean. The coupled climate model control runs suggest only the North Atlantic SST-NAO relationship as being a true characteristic of the coupled climate system. The coherence and phase spectra of observations and coupled simulations are in excellent agreement, confirming the robustness of this decadal-scale North Atlantic air–sea coupled mode.     

Poleward propagation of boreal summer intraseasonal oscillations in a coupled model: role of internal processes

The study compares the simulated poleward migration characteristics of boreal summer intraseasonal oscillations (BSISO) in a suite of coupled ocean?Catmospheric model sensitivity integrations. The sensitivity experiments are designed in such a manner to allow full coupling in specific ocean basins but forced by temporally varying monthly climatological sea surface temperature (SST) adopted from the fully coupled model control runs (ES10). While the local air?Csea interaction is suppressed in the tropical Indian Ocean and allowed in the other oceans in the ESdI run, it is suppressed in the tropical Pacific and allowed in the other oceans in the ESdP run. Our diagnostics show that the basic mean state in precipitation and easterly vertical shear as well as the BSISO properties remain unchanged due to either inclusion or exclusion of local air?Csea interaction. In the presence of realistic easterly vertical shear, the continuous emanation of Rossby waves from the equatorial convection is trapped over the monsoon region that enables the poleward propagation of BSISO anomalies in all the model sensitivity experiments. To explore the internal processes that maintain the tropospheric moisture anomalies ahead of BSISO precipitation anomalies, moisture and moist static energy budgets are performed. In all model experiments, advection of anomalous moisture by climatological winds anchors the moisture anomalies that in turn promote the northward migration of BSISO precipitation. While the results indicate the need for realistic simulation of all aspects of the basic state, our model results need to be taken with caution because in the ECHAM family of coupled models the internal variance at intraseasonal timescales is indeed very high, and therefore local air?Csea interactions may not play a pivotal role.     

Climatology of extratropical cyclones over the South American–southern oceans sector

A climatology of extratropical cyclones is presented. Extratropical cyclones, their main characteristics and their predominant tracks, as well as their interannual variability, affect weather in South America. For that purpose, a storm track database has been compiled by applying a cyclone tracking scheme to six-hourly sea level pressure fields, available from the National Center for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalyses II for the 1979–2003 period. The spatial distribution of the cyclogenesis frequency shows two main centers: one around Northern Argentina, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil in all seasons and the other near to the North Antarctic Peninsula. The lifetime of extratropical cyclones in the South American sector exhibits small seasonality, being typically of the order of 3.0 days during most of the year and slightly higher (3.5 days) in austral summer. The distance travelled by the cyclones formed in the South American sector tends to be smaller than the total paths found in other areas of the Southern Hemisphere. A k-mean clustering technique is used to summarize the analysis of the 25-year climatology of cyclone tracks. Three clusters were found: one storm-track cluster in Northeast Argentina; a second one west of the Andes Cordillera; and a third cluster located to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula (around the Weddell Sea). The influence of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) in the variability of extratropical cyclones is explored, and some signals of the impacts of the variability of the AAO can be observed in the position of the extratropical cyclones around 40°S, while the impacts on the intensity is detected around 55°S.     

北半球温带气旋的变化

许多学者对近半个世纪以来温带气旋的频数、强度和路径的年际、年代际变化等特征进行了研究,并探讨了温带气旋变化与大气环流的关系,试图揭示气候变暖背景下温带气旋变化的可能原因。较为一致的研究结论是：在全球变暖背景下,北半球气旋活动的变化显示出在中纬度明显减少,而在高纬度增加的趋势,意味着气旋的路径已经明显地北移。研究还表明,气旋活动的变化与对流层斜压性、急流以及北大西洋涛动、海温梯度等因素有关。     

Vertical characteristics of cyclonic tracks over the eastern Mediterranean during the cold period of the year

The vertical structure of surface cyclonic tracks affecting the eastern Mediterranean region is studied on a climatological basis for the cold period of the year. The dataset used is the 1°?×?1° ERA-40 Reanalysis for a 40-year period (1962–2001). The vertical tracking of surface cyclonic tracks was performed with the aid of the Melbourne University Vertical Tracking Algorithm. It was found that about 83 % of the cyclones were extended up to the 500-hPa level and almost 65 % up to 200-hPa level, implying that the cyclones are in general well organized. The surface tracks that originate within the examined area exhibit the smallest vertical extension, intensity, radius, and depth compared to the cyclones originating in the other sectors. Moreover, the 500-hPa counterparts for the said cyclones are mainly located to the north-west or south-west of the surface cyclone position, consistent with the baroclinic character of the Mediterranean cyclones. The zonal (eastward) component of motion predominates both at the surface and at 500 hPa.