Impact of Saharan dust on landfalling North Atlantic tropical cyclones over North America in September

Using reanalysis data and model simulations, this study reveals an increase in September landfalling North Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) during years that have a strengthened Saharan dust plume, and the related physical processes are investigated by analyzing the relationship of dust aerosol optical depth with TC track, intensity, and the related meteorological environment. Suppression of the sea surface temperature (SST) by the Saharan dust plume can hinder TC tracks over the central tropical North Atlantic, inducing westward development of TC tracks to the western tropical North Atlantic with higher SST, which is more conducive to TCs forming major hurricanes. This physical process increases TC landfalls in North America, especially major hurricane landfalls in the continental United States, leading to greater potential destructiveness.摘要本项研究利用再分析数据和模式模拟数据分析了沙尘的气溶胶光学厚度与台风的登陆, 轨迹, 强度及相关气象环境参数的关系, 揭示了9月北大西洋台风的登陆次数会在撒哈拉沙尘较强的年份中增加, 以及这一现象的物理机制. 撒哈拉沙尘对热带北大西洋中部海表温度具有抑制作用, 会阻碍该地区的台风活动, 因此台风只能向西移动进入海表温度较高的热带北大西洋西部, 从而更易于形成强台风. 这一物理过程将导致台风登陆北美大陆的频次增加, 特别是强台风登陆美国的可能性增强, 产生更大的潜在破坏性.     

一种预测西北太平洋热带气旋逐月演变的新统计模型

本文提出一种月尺度西北太平洋热带气旋生成频数(Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Frequency, WNPTCF)预测的新方法。该方法利用全球次表层海温(Subsurface Sea Temperature Anomaly, SubSSTA)和中国气象局国家气候中心发布的130项监测指数,构建了既考虑热力强迫因子、又考虑大气动力因子,既考虑同期海洋强迫,又考虑前期海洋和大气影响的集成预测模型。利用该预测模型对2011—2020年6—10月逐月WNPTCF进行独立样本检验预测,准确率达70%以上,说明该预测模型对WNPTCF的逐月演变预测的效果良好。该预测模型对ENSO信号较强年份的WNPTCF预测效果要好于ENSO信号不强的年份,原因在于在ENSO信号不强的年份,SubSSTA可预报性较低,非线性变率大,海洋对WNPTC的强迫作用弱。     

A study of the connection between tropical cyclone track and intensity errors in the WRF model

This study examines the dependence of the tropical cyclone (TC) intensity errors on the track errors in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model. By using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction global final analysis as the initial and boundary conditions for cloud-resolving simulations of TC cases that have small track errors, it is found that the 2- and 3-day intensity errors in the North Atlantic basin can be reduced to 15 and 19 % when the track errors decrease to 55 and 76 %, respectively, whereas the 1-day intensity error shows no significant reduction despite more than 30 % decrease of the 1-day track error. For the North-Western Pacific basin, the percentage of intensity reduction is somewhat similar with the 2- and 3-day intensity errors improved by about 15 and 19 %, respectively. This suggests that future improvement of the TC track forecast skill in the WRF-ARW model will be beneficial to the intensity forecast. However, the substantially smaller percentages of intensity improvement than those of the track error improvement indicate that ambient environment tends to play a less important role in determining the TC intensity as compared to other factors related to the vortex initialization or physics representations in the WRF-ARW model.     

Assimilation of the multisatellite data into the WRF model for track and intensity simulation of the Indian Ocean tropical cyclones

Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model and its three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3D-Var) system are used to investigate the impact of the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) near surface winds, Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I)-derived Total Precipitable Water (TPW), and Meteosat-7-derived Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) on the track and intensity prediction of tropical cyclones over the North Indian Ocean. The case of tropical cyclone, Gonu (June 2007; Arabian Sea), is first tested and the results show significant improvements particularly due to the assimilation of QuikSCAT winds. Three other cases, cyclone Mala (April 2006; Bay of Bengal), Orissa super cyclone (October 1999; Bay of Bengal), and Very Severe Cyclonic storm (October 1999; Bay of Bengal), are then examined. The prediction of cyclone tracks improved significantly with the assimilation of QuikSCAT winds. The track improvement resulted from the relocation of the initial cyclonic vortices after the assimilation of QuikSCAT wind vectors. After the assimilation of QuikSCAT winds, the mean (for four cyclone cases) track errors for first, second, and third day forecasts are reduced to 72, 101, and 166?km, respectively, from 190, 250, and 381?km of control (without QuikSCAT winds) runs. The assimilation of QuikSCAT winds also shows positive impact on the intensity (in terms of maximum surface level winds) prediction particularly for those cyclones, which are at their initial stages of the developments at the time of data assimilation. The assimilation of SSM/I TPW has significant influence (negative and positive) on the cyclone track. In three of the four cases, the assimilation of the SSM/I TPW resulted in drying of lower troposphere over cyclonic region. This decrease of moisture in TPW assimilation experiment resulted in reduction of cyclonic intensity. In three of the four cyclones, the assimilation of Meteosat-7 AMVs shows negative impact on the track prediction.     

Understanding and simulating the link between African easterly waves and Atlantic tropical cyclones using a regional climate model: the role of domain size and lateral boundary conditions

Using a suite of lateral boundary conditions, we investigate the impact of domain size and boundary conditions on the Atlantic tropical cyclone and african easterly Wave activity simulated by a regional climate model. Irrespective of boundary conditions, simulations closest to observed climatology are obtained using a domain covering both the entire tropical Atlantic and northern African region. There is a clear degradation when the high-resolution model domain is diminished to cover only part of the African continent or only the tropical Atlantic. This is found to be the result of biases in the boundary data, which for the smaller domains, have a large impact on TC activity. In this series of simulations, the large-scale Atlantic atmospheric environment appears to be the primary control on simulated TC activity. Weaker wave activity is usually accompanied by a shift in cyclogenesis location, from the MDR to the subtropics. All ERA40-driven integrations manage to capture the observed interannual variability and to reproduce most of the upward trend in tropical cyclone activity observed during that period. When driven by low-resolution global climate model (GCM) integrations, the regional climate model captures interannual variability (albeit with lower correlation coefficients) only if tropical cyclones form in sufficient numbers in the main development region. However, all GCM-driven integrations fail to capture the upward trend in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. In most integrations, variations in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity appear uncorrelated with variations in African easterly wave activity.     

Fine-resolution regional climate model simulations of the impact of climate change on tropical cyclones near Australia

Fine-resolution regional climate simulations of tropical cyclones (TCs) are performed over the eastern Australian region. The horizontal resolution (30 km) is fine enough that a good climatological simulation of observed tropical cyclone formation is obtained using the observed tropical cyclone lower wind speed threshold (17 m s^–1). This simulation is performed without the insertion of artificial vortices (bogussing). The simulated occurrence of cyclones, measured in numbers of days of cyclone activity, is slightly greater than observed. While the model-simulated distribution of central pressures resembles that observed, simulated wind speeds are generally rather lower, due to weaker than observed pressure gradients close to the centres of the simulated storms. Simulations of the effect of climate change are performed. Under enhanced greenhouse conditions, simulated numbers of TCs do not change very much compared with those simulated for the current climate, nor do regions of occurrence. There is a 56% increase in the number of simulated storms with maximum winds greater than 30 m s^–1 (alternatively, a 26% increase in the number of storms with central pressures less than 970 hPa). In addition, there is an increase in the number of intense storms simulated south of 30°S. This increase in simulated maximum storm intensity is consistent with previous studies of the impact of climate change on tropical cyclone wind speeds.     

孟加拉湾热带风暴的初步分析

本文利用14年孟咖拉湾热带风暴资料,给出了其概况,分析了引起孟加拉湾热带风暴的活动双峰型特征的原因及多热带风暴月和无热带风暴月的环境流场。     

Impact of spectral nudging on the downscaling of tropical cyclones in regional climate simulations

This study investigated the simulations of three months of seasonal tropical cyclone (TC) activity over the western North Pacific using the Advanced Research WRF Model. In the control experiment (CTL), the TC frequency was considerably overestimated. Additionally, the tracks of some TCs tended to have larger radii of curvature and were shifted eastward. The large-scale environments of westerly monsoon flows and subtropical Pacific highs were unreasonably simulated. The overestimated frequency of TC formation was attributed to a strengthened westerly wind field in the southern quadrants of the TC center. In comparison with the experiment with the spectral nudging method, the strengthened wind speed was mainly modulated by large-scale flow that was greater than approximately 1000 km in the model domain. The spurious formation and undesirable tracks of TCs in the CTL were considerably improved by reproducing realistic large-scale atmospheric monsoon circulation with substantial adjustment between large-scale flow in the model domain and large-scale boundary forcing modified by the spectral nudging method. The realistic monsoon circulation took a vital role in simulating realistic TCs. It revealed that, in the downscaling from large-scale fields for regional climate simulations, scale interaction between model-generated regional features and forced large-scale fields should be considered, and spectral nudging is a desirable method in the downscaling method.     

Variability of tropical cyclones over the southwest Pacific Ocean using a high-resolution climate model

Summary Knowledge of the variability in tropical cyclone (TC) frequency and distribution is essential in determining the possible impact of natural or human-induced climate change. This variability can be investigated using the available TC data bases and by carrying out long-term climate model simulations for both past and future climates. A coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model (referred to here as the OU-CGCM) is described and applied with a higher resolution (50 km) nested domain in the southwest Pacific region. Six-member ensembles of simulations with the OU-CGCM have been run for 80 years, from 1970 to 2050. During the period 1970–2000, the OU-CGCM runs were compared with the observed TC data base. For the period 2000–2050, two ensembles of simulations were performed, one with constant greenhouse gas concentrations and the second with increasing greenhouse gases. The OU-CGCM simulated well the observed TC frequency and distribution in the southwest Pacific during the period 1970–2000. It also produced clear interannual and interdecadal TC variability in both the fixed and enhanced greenhouse gas simulations during the period 2000–2050. The variability in TC frequencies was associated with the typical atmospheric and SST anomaly patterns that occur in periods of quiet and active TC frequencies. The main findings from the enhanced greenhouse gas scenario for the period 2000–2050 are: no change in the mean decadal number of TCs relative to the control run, but a marked increase of about 15% in the mean decadal number of TCs in the most severe WMO categories 4 and 5; the likelihood of TCs during the next 50-year period that are more intense than ever previously experienced in the Australian region; a poleward extension of TC tracks; and a poleward shift of over 2 degrees of latitude in the TC genesis region.     

Atlantic tropical cyclones in the twentieth century: natural variability and secular change in cyclone count

The twentieth century record of the annual count of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) is analyzed to develop consistent estimates of its natural variability and secular change components. The analysis scheme permits development of multidecadal trends from natural variability alone, reducing aliasing of the variability and change components. The scheme is rooted in recurrent variability modes of the influential SST field and cognizant of Pacific-Atlantic links. The origin of increased cyclone counts in the early 1930s, suppressed counts in 1950?C1960s, and the recent increase (since 1990s) is investigated using the count data set developed by Landsea et al. (J Clim 23: 2508?C2519, 2010). We show that annual TC counts can be more closely reconstructed from Pacific and Atlantic SSTs than SST of the main development region (MDR) of Atlantic TCs; the former accounting for ~60% of the decadal count variance as opposed to ~30% for MDR SST. Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) dominates the reconstruction, accounting for ~55% of the natural decadal count variance, followed by the ENSO Non-Canonical and Pan-Pacific decadal variability contributions. We argue for an expansive view of the domain of influential SSTs??extending much beyond the MDR. The additional accounting of count variance by SSTs outside the MDR suggests a role for remotely-forced influences over the tropical Atlantic: the Pan-Pacific decadal mode is linked with decreased westerly wind shear (200?C850?hPa) in its warm phase, much as the AMO impact itself. Non-canonical ENSO variability, in contrast, exerts little influence on decadal timescales. Interestingly, the secular but non-uniform warming of the oceans is linked with increased westerly shear, leading to off-setting dynamical and thermodynamical impacts on TC activity! The early-1930s increase in smoothed counts can be partially (~50%) reconstructed from SST natural variability. The 1950?C1960s decrease, in contrast, could not be reconstructed at all, leading, deductively, to the hypothesis that it results from increased aerosols in this period. The early-1990s increase is shown to arise both from the abatement of count suppression maintained by SST natural variability and the increasing SST secular trend contribution; the abatement is related to the AMO phase-change in early-1990s. Were it not for this suppression, TC counts would have risen since the early 1970s itself, tracking the secular change contribution. The analysis suggests that when SST natural variability begins to significantly augment counts in the post-1990 period??some evidence for which is present in the preceding decade??Atlantic TC counts could increase rapidly on decadal timescales unless offset by SST-unrelated effects which apparently account for a non-trivial amount (~40%) of the decadal count variance.     

西北太平洋台风季节预报的数值模拟

利用中尺度气象模式WRF（weather research and forecasting）对2006年7月1日-9月30日的西北太平洋夏季台风进行了动力季节预报试验。结果表明：1）在对3个月以内的台风作动力季节预报试验时,WRF模式模拟的台风总个数与实况接近,模式模拟的总登陆台风数与实况相比偏小。从各月模拟情况看,台风总数与登陆数的模拟均与实况有差距。WRF模式对台风强度的模拟总体偏弱。2）WRF在模拟2006年7q月台风以及平均高度场、水平风垂直切变时,7月与实况接近,随时间增长,与实况的差别明显增大．WRF模式具有一定的台风动力季节预报能力,但其预报时限有待探讨。     

Numerical simulations of heavy rainfall over central Korea on 21 September 2010 using the WRF model

On 21 September 2010, heavy rainfall with a local maximum of 259 mm d-1occurred near Seoul, South Korea. We examined the ability of the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model in reproducing this disastrous rainfall event and identified the role of two physical processes: planetary boundary layer(PBL) and microphysics(MPS) processes. The WRF model was forced by 6-hourly National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP) Final analysis(FNL) data for 36 hours form 1200 UTC 20 to 0000 UTC 22 September 2010. Twenty-five experiments were performed, consisting of five different PBL schemes—Yonsei University(YSU), Mellor-Yamada-Janjic(MYJ), Quasi Normal Scale Elimination(QNSE),Bougeault and Lacarrere(Bou Lac), and University of Washington(UW)—and five different MPS schemes—WRF SingleMoment 6-class(WSM6), Goddard, Thompson, Milbrandt 2-moments, and Morrison 2-moments. As expected, there was a specific combination of MPS and PBL schemes that showed good skill in forecasting the precipitation. However, there was no specific PBL or MPS scheme that outperformed the others in all aspects. The experiments with the UW PBL or Thompson MPS scheme showed a relatively small amount of precipitation. Analyses form the sensitivity experiments confirmed that the spatial distribution of the simulated precipitation was dominated by the PBL processes, whereas the MPS processes determined the amount of rainfall. It was also found that the temporal evolution of the precipitation was influenced more by the PBL processes than by the MPS processes.     

The role of diabatic heating, torques and stabilities in forcing the radial-vertical circulation within cyclones part ii: case study of extratropical and tropical cyclones

Utilizing Eliassen’s concepts, the forcing of the isentropic azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial-vertical circulation by diabatic heating and torques within an extratropical cyclone and a typhoon was studied through nu-merical simulations based on the linear diagnostic equation derived previously. The structure of the forcing associated with diabatic heating and torques was determined from quasi-Lagrangian diagnostic analyses of actual case studies. The two cyclones studied were the Ohio extratropical cyclone of 25-27 January 1978 and typhoon Nancy of 18-23 September 1979. The Ohio cyclone, which formed over the Gulf Coast and moved through Ohio and eastern Michigan, was one of the most intense storms with blizzard conditions to ever occur in this region. Typhoon Nancy which occurred over the South China Sea during the FGGE year was selected since relatively high quality assimilated data were available. Within the Ohio cyclone, the dominant internal processes forcing the mean circulation with em-bedded relatively strong hydrodynamic stability were the pressure torque associated with baroclinic (asymmetric) structure and the horizontal eddy angular momentum transport associated with the typical S-shaped thermal and wind structures of self-development. Within typhoon Nancy, the dominant internal process forcing the mean circula-tion with embedded weak hydrodynamic stability was the latent heat release. This analysis shows that the simulated azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial motions within these two cy?clones agree quite well with the “observed” azimuthally-averaged mass-weighted radial motions. This isentropic nu?merical study also provides insight into the relatively important internal forcing processes and the trade off between forcing and stability within both extratropical and tropical cyclones.     

Modeling the evolution of the family of Mediterranean cyclones using the regional model of the atmosphere

Due to the complex orography and the presence of the moisture-saturated air, the Mediterranean region is characterized by the increased baroclinic and convective instability, that leads to the sudden cyclogenesis and the formation of dangerous weather phenomena. The results are given of the investigation of formation mechanisms of Mediterranean cyclones, peculiarities of stages of their evolution and dynamical processes, which occur throughout the atmosphere, using the regional numerical ETA model of the atmosphere by the example of individual cases of the cyclogenesis over the Mediterranean Sea. It is revealed that the cold Arctic air outbreak (the intrusion of the cold Arctic air) to the south of the Western Europe, leading to the formation of the areas of the baroclinic instability and the increased moisture content of the air in the area of the vortex origin, favors the cyclogenesis. The use of the vertical coordinate η in the model enabled to compute more precisely the vertical wind speed, therefore, the influence of the orography on the moisture content and precipitation increase became pronounced. The transformation of the structure of meteorological fields in the course of the development of vortexes is considered. The computation of the helicity is made, and it is shown that this characteristic can be one of the earliest predictors of cyclogenesis.     

不同起始时间的IPRC-RegCM模式对西北太平洋热带气旋预测误差对比分析

利用IPRC高分辨率区域气候模式设计了两组不同初始时刻(3月和5月)的试验,分别对6-10月热带气旋活动的特征及其大尺度环境场进行了17年的模拟试验。结果表明,两组试验对大尺度环流场都具有较好的刻画能力;但对于热带气旋活动的影响则差异明显,5月份起报时,模式对热带气旋活动的年际变率,季节循环特征、热带气旋强度等热带气旋活动特征方面优于3月起报的结果。这一结果反映了使用临近预测信息,可以有效地提高汛期热带气旋季节预测的技巧,这也反映了汛期滚动预测订正工作的重要性。     

A preliminary study of climatological associations and characteristics of tropical cyclones in the SW Indian Ocean

Summary Tropical cyclones (TC) in the data-sparse SW Indian Ocean region are studied through climatological and statistical associations and case study structure. Differences between summers with more and less TC are identified with a view to the prediction of seasonal frequencies. In summers with more TC, upper easterlies and lower westerlies over the equatorial zone north of Madagascar form a Walker cell anomaly in conjunction with the east phase of the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), while sea surface temperatures (SST) are above normal in the preceding spring (>28°C). In the sub-tropics, easterly trade winds strengthen while mid-latitude westerlies shift polewards and SST are below normal (<23°C). OLR departures in more TC summers are <–15 Wm^–2 over region frequented by tropical cyclones.Two tropical cyclone events are selected for analysis which rank highest in terms of rainfall on Mauritius. Danielle formed near 13°S, 65°E and tracked southwest across Mauritius on 19 January 1964. A radiosonde time-height section is analysed for departures from climatology and thermodynamic structure. The profile of equivalent potential temperature is rather uniform near the center of the TC, decreasing from 350°K near the surface. Dry stable air is present in the 600hPa layer around the perimeter. TC Hyacinthe was quasistationary to the east of Madagascar causing rainfall in excess of 500 cm on Reunion Island from 15–27 January 1980. OLR anomaly plots and satellite imagery indicate that Hyacinthe was spawned in association with an eastward moving convective wave and reached maximum intensity (–92 Wm^–2) and radius (>1000 km) from 21 to 26 January 1980.With 14 Figures