THE MESOSCALE WAVES AND THE FORMATION OF POLYGONAL EYE WALL IN TYPHOONS

Mesoscale waves in typhoons were diagnosed by using a simulated typhoon data in this paper. Through analyzing the structure of the waves in typhoons, we found that the waves possess the mixed features of gravity inertial waves and vortex Rossby waves. On the one hand, positive geopotential height perturbation is corresponding to negative vorticity perturbation and anticyclonic circulation. At the same time, negative geopotential height perturbation is corresponding to positive vorticity perturbation and cyclonic circulation. The maximum perturbation occurs near the radius of the maximum wind in the typhoon. On the other hand, the mesoscale waves possess the features of strong convergence and divergence and ageostrophic wind. Finally, the authors presented a concept model to explain a linkage mechanism between the mesoscale waves and the formation of polygonal eye wall in the typhoon.     

Dynamical and Thermal Problems in Vortex Development and Movement. Part I: A PV–Q View

Based on the Lagrangian change equation of vertical vorticity deduced from the equation of threedimensional Ertel potential vorticity(PV e),the development and movement of vortex are investigated from the view of potential vorticity and diabatic heating(PV-Q).It is demonstrated that the asymmetric distribution in the vortex of the non-uniform diabatic heating in both vertical and horizontal can lead to the vortex’s development and movement.The theoretical results are used to analyze the development and movement of a Tibetan Plateau(TP) vortex(TPV),which appeared over the TP,then slid down and moved eastward in late July 2008,resulting in heavy rainfall in Sichuan Province and along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.The relative contributions to the vertical vorticity development of the TPV are decomposed into three parts:the diabatic heating,the change in horizontal component of PV e(defined as PV 2),and the change in static stability θ z.The results show that in most cases,diabatic heating plays a leading role,followed by the change in PV 2,while the change of θ z usually has a negative impact in a stable atmosphere when the atmosphere becomes more stable,and has a positive contribution when the atmosphere approaches neutral stratification.The intensification of the TPV from 0600 to 1200 UTC 22 July 2008 is mainly due to the diabatic heating associated with the precipitation on the eastern side of the TPV when it uplifted on the up-slope of the northeastern edge of the Sichuan basin.The vertical gradient of diabatic heating makes positive(negative) PV e generation below(above) the maximum of diabatic heating;the positive PV e generation not only intensifies the low-level vortex but also enhances the vertical extent of the vortex as it uplifts.The change in PV e due to the horizontal gradient of diabatic heating depends on the vertical shear of horizontal wind that passes through the center of diabatic heating.The horizontal gradient of diabatic heating makes positive(negative) PV e generation on the right(left) side of the vertical shear of horizontal wind.The positive PV e generation on the right side of the vertical shear of horizontal wind not only intensifies the local vertical vorticity but also affects direction of movement of the TPV.These diagnostic results are in good agreement with the theoretic results developed from the PV-Q view.     

Properties and stability of a meso-scale line-form disturbance

By using the 3D dynamic equations for small- and meso-scale disturbances, an investigation is performed on the heterotropic instability (including symmetric instability and traversal-type instability) of a zonal line-like disturbance moving at any angle with respect to basic flow, arriving at the following results: (1) with linear shear available, the heterotropic instability of the disturbance will occur only when flow shearing happens in the direction of the line-like disturbance movement or in the direction perpendicular to the disturbance movement, with the heterotropic instability showing the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave; (2) in the presence of second-order non-linear shear, the disturbance of the heterotropic instability includes internal inertial gravity and vortex Rossby waves. For the zonal line-form disturbance under study, the vortex Rossby wave has its source in the second-order shear of meridional basic wind speed in the flow and propagates unidirectionally with respect to the meridional basic flow. As a mesoscale heterotropic instable disturbance, the vortex Rossby wave has its origin from the second shear of the flow in the direction perpendicular to the line-form disturbance and is independent of the condition in the direction parallel to the flow; (3) for general zonal line-like disturbances, if the second-order shear happens in the meridional wind speed, i.e., the second shear of the flow in the direction perpendicular to the line-form disturbance, then the heterotropic instability of the disturbance is likely to be the instability of a mixed Rossby–internal inertial gravity wave; (4) the symmetric instability is actually the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave. The second-order shear in the flow represents an instable factor for a symmetric-type disturbance; (5) the instability of a traversal-type disturbance is the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave when the basic flow is constant or only linearly sheared. With a second or nonlinear vertical shear of the basic flow taken into account, the instability of a traversal-type disturbance may be the instability of a mixed vortex Rossby – gravity wave.     

GENERALIZED ENERGY CONSERVATION AND UNSTABLE PERTURBATION PROPERTY IN BAROTROPIC VORTEX

Based on a barotropic vortex model, generalized energy-conserving equation was derived and two necessary conditions of basic flow destabilization are gained. These conditions correspond to generalized barotropic instability and super speed instability. They are instabilities of vortex and gravity inertial wave respectively. In order to relate to practical situation, a barotropic vortex was analyzed, the basic flow of which is similar to lower level basic wind field of tropical cyclones and the maximum wind radius of which is 500 km. The results show that generalized barotropic instability depending upon the radial gradient of relative vorticity can appear in this vortex. It can be concluded that unstable vortex Rossby wave may appear in barotropic vortex.     

INFLUENCE OF THE VERTICAL SHEAR OF ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS ON TYPHOON MOTION

Typhoon is regarded as a convergent,modified Rankine vortex.Based on the vorticity equations written attwo levels,higher and lower in the troposphere,typhoon motions are discussed in this study.The analyticalexpressions of vortex motion direction and speed have been derived for simple homogeneous basic flows at twolevels.The expressions indicate that in the easterties,vertical wind shear enhances the steering of east flow,causing the vortex moving westward faster,otherwise,in the westerlies,it reduces the steering of the west flow,causing the vortex moving eastward slower.These results explain theoretically that“cyclones in the easterliesmove to the right of,and faster than the basic flow;conversely,cyclones in the westerlies move to the left of,andslower than the basic flow.”     

INTERACTION BETWEEN WAVES IN LOW-LATITUDE ATMOSPHERE AND TROPICAL LOW-FREQUENCY OSCILIATION

This paper is an attempt to reveal the dynamic mechanism of low-frequency oscillation(LFO) in tropical atmosphere. A two-level model on equatorial β-plane which includes the equation of water vapor evolution and the interaction between condensational latent heating due to convection and large-scale dynamic processes is developed. The difference in both heating capacity and moisture evaporation between underlying land and ocean surfaces is also taken into consideration. Firstly, the eigenmode in this model is analysed to reveal the effect of convective heating on equatorial waves. It is found that with this heating, all the waves including Kelvin waves, Rossby waves, gravity waves and mixed Rossby-gravity waves, are slowed down, thus frequency differences between fast and slow waves are reduced. Therefore these waves are more likely to interact with each other, causing the perturbations to propagate eastward very slowly and producing LFO. The comparison between results of dry and moist model integration has confirmed the conclusion from dynamic analysis.     

The Phenomena of Bifurcation and Catastrophe of Large-Scale Horizontal Motion in the Atmosphere under the Effect of Rossby Parameter

The stability question of large-scale horizontal motion in the atmosphere under the effect of Rossby parameter is discussed in this paper by using the qualitative analysis theory of ordinary differential equations. The following aspects are reviewed: The stability of large-scale horizontal motion in the atmosphere accords with the common inertial stability criterion when the effect of Rossby parameter is not considered (Yang, 1983), and that, on the other hand, the motion will bifurcate two times with the variation of absolute vorticity of basic Zephyr flow at the initial position under the effect of Rossby parameter. Furthermore, in the inertial stable region, if the effect of geostrophic deviation at the initial position is considered, the motion will not only bifurcate but also generate a catastrophe.     

THE SEMI-GEOSTROPHIC ADAPTATION PROCESS WITH TWO-LAYER BAROCLINIC MODEL IN LOW LATITUDE ATMOSPHERE

In this paper, the adaptation process in low latitude atmosphere is discussed by means of a two-layer baroclinic model on the equator β plane, showing that the adaptation process in low latitude is mainly dominated by the internal inertial gravity waves. The initial ageostrophic energy is dispersed by the internal inertial gravity waves, and as a result, the geostrophic motion is obtained in zonal direction while the ageostro-phic motion maintains in meridional direction, which can be called semi-geostrophic balance in barotropic model as well as semi-thermal-wind balance in baroclinic model. The vertical motion is determined both by the distribution of the initial vertical motion and that of the initial vertical motion tendency, but it is unrelated to the initial potential vorticity. Finally, the motion tends to be horizontal. The discussion of the physical mechanism of the semi-thermal-wind balance in low latitude atmosphere shows that the achievement of the semi-thermal-wind balance is due to the adjustment between the stream field and the temperature field through the horizontal convergence and divergence which is related to the vertical motion excited by the internal inertial gravity waves. The terminal adaptation state obtained shows that the adaptation direction between the mean temperature field and the shear flow field is determined by the ratio of the scale of the initial ageostrophic disturbance to the scale of one character scale related to the baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation. The shear stream field adapts to the mean temperature field when the ratio is greater than 1, and the mean temperature field adapts to the shear stream field when the ratio is smaller than 1.     

Diagnosis of the forcing of inertial-gravity waves in a severe convection system

The non-hydrostatic wave equation set in Cartesian coordinates is rearranged to gain insight into wave generation in a mesoscale severe convection system. The wave equation is characterized by a wave operator on the lhs, and forcing involving three terms—linear and nonlinear terms, and diabatic heating—on the rhs. The equation was applied to a case of severe convection that occurred in East China. The calculation with simulation data showed that the diabatic forcing and linear and nonlinear forcing presented large magnitude at different altitudes in the severe convection region. Further analysis revealed the diabatic forcing due to condensational latent heating had an important influence on the generation of gravity waves in the middle and lower levels. The linear forcing resulting from the Laplacian of potential-temperature linear forcing was dominant in the middle and upper levels. The nonlinear forcing was determined by the Laplacian of potential-temperature nonlinear forcing. Therefore, the forcing of gravity waves was closely associated with the thermodynamic processes in the severe convection case. The reason may be that, besides the vertical component of pressure gradient force, the vertical oscillation of atmospheric particles was dominated by the buoyancy for inertial gravity waves. The latent heating and potential-temperature linear and nonlinear forcing played an important role in the buoyancy tendency. Consequently, these thermodynamic elements influenced the evolution of inertial-gravity waves.     

Diagnostic Analysis of the Quasi-Balanced Flow of a Mesoscale Vortex During the 12 June 2008 Guangxi Rainstorm

By using the high-resolution observation data and MM5 model simulation data, the analysis on the 12 June 2008 Guangxi flash-flood rainstorm shows that the associated major mesoscale weather system of this event is a quasi-stationary mesoscale vortex, which resulted from the interaction between the midlatitude synoptic-scale waves in the westerly belt and the low-latitude warm-moist flow under the terrain effect. The genesis, development, and movement of the mesoscale vortex have significant impacts on the intensity and persistence of the severe precipitation from the Guangxi flash-flood rainstorm. This vortex is characterized by the coexistence of strong vorticity and divergence with the same order of magnitude. Well organized, deep, and moist convection was observed for a long period of time, and was produced by the interaction between the mesoscale vortex and the gravity waves. The latter was generated by the terrain effect and the ageostrophic effect of high winds in the low-level jet. According to the quasi-balanced dynamical theory, quasi-balanced flow must have existed in the mesoscale motions with both divergent and rotational winds. Thus, based on the diagnosis of the quasi-balanced flow, the PV-ωinversion method is employed to analyze the organized moist convection. The results show that 50%-70% of the vertical circulation in the rainstorm areas was quasi-balanced, so the quasi-balanced flow could well reflect features of the strong vertical motions associated with the coexistence of vorticity and divergence during this event.     

夏季青藏高原低涡的切向流场及波动特征分析

从大气动力学原理出发,将高原低涡视为受热源强迫的边界层内涡旋,建立了柱坐标下满足梯度风平衡的低涡控制方程组,分析高原低涡切向流场的基本特征.在此基础上,通过求解线性化涡旋模式,得出高原低涡中各类波动的频散关系及其特征,同时定性讨论了热力作用对混合波动的影响以及混合波动与高原低涡流场特征的联系.使用中尺度数值模式WRF分...     

热带风暴中波动特征的研究进展和问题

在分析热带风暴眼壁和螺旋雨带中尺度波动特征最新研究的基础上，指出这些研究所忽略的问题，其中包括重力惯性波和涡旋Rossby波波解存在的前提条件和约束、理论分析与观测研究存在的差异等。提出一种基于准平衡动力条件下，热带风暴内中尺度扰动涡散运动共存时，区别于标准模混合的不可分的混合涡旋Rossby-重力惯性波，并讨论了位涡守恒条件下这一类不可分混合波的可能成波机制。利用高分辨率的模式大气资料，采用非对称波分量的分解方法分析了Bonnie飓风中的中尺度波动特征，结果表明，热带风暴中1波型扰动既具有涡旋波性质，但也存在散度扰动的变化，而2波型扰动则体现了明显的不可分混合波的特性。     

台风内部的中尺度波动与多边形眼墙的形成

用小波变换分析了1948～2003年南海夏季风强度指数序列振荡特征,并研究了Lanczos滤波器滤出的不同时间尺度上南海夏季风强度与SODA资料提供的海洋热力条件的关系。结果表明,南海夏季风强度变化存在准4年的年际变化、约9年周期的十年际变化和38年左右周期的年代际变化。年际变化最强,年代际变化最弱。不同尺度上的南海夏季风强度变化与海洋热力条件的显著相关区有很大的地域差异。南海夏季风强度的年际变化主要与近赤道地区的热带海洋变化有关,相关关系呈准2年变化。若前一年秋冬季节的赤道东印度洋、赤道西太平洋出现海温和温跃层深度正异常和赤道西印度洋、赤道中东太平洋出现海温和温跃层深度负异常时,对应于当年的年际尺度上的南海夏季风加强;反之则减弱。南海夏季风强度与后期海温的对应关系为:南海夏季风加强,秋季时,南海周边海区和澳大利亚东部海区海温显著负相关;冬季时,热带西印度洋、赤道中东太平洋和赤道大西洋海温出现显著的正相关。南海夏季风强度的年代变化受PDO的调制。年代际尺度上南海夏季风强度的变化即与全球变暖有关,也与PDO有关。     

mKdV Equation for Solitary Rossby Waves with Linear Topography Effect in Barotropic Fluids

The modify Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equations, governing the evolution of the amplitude of solitary Rossby waves, are derived from quasi-geostrophic vorticity equation by using the perturbation method. The result manifests that the linear topography effect with the change of latitude can induce solitary Rossby wave.     

一次“北涡南槽”型广西强降水过程的数值模拟与诊断分析

利用一次台风的模拟资料,对台风内部的中尺度波动进行诊断。通过分析中尺度波的结构发现,台风内的中尺度波动具有重力惯性波和涡旋Rossby波的混合特征。一方面,波动的扰动高压对应于负的涡度扰动和反气旋性环流,扰动低压对应于正的涡度扰动和气旋性环流,波动的最大振幅出现在最大风速半径附近。另一方面,波动展示了强烈的辐合辐散和非地转特性。并提出了台风多边形眼墙和中尺度波动之间的联系机制模型。     

台风螺旋雨带——涡旋Rossby波

台风中的螺旋云雨带是由多种探测手段被观测到的现象 ,是为大家所共识的不争事实。但是 ,对它的形成、维持的理论解释 ,虽有多种学说 ,一直以来人们都倾向于重力惯性波说。而重力惯性波说有一个致命的弱点 ,即波的相速理论值为 10 1m/s量级 ,它要比螺旋云雨带实测移速只有 10 0 m/s几乎大一个量级。于是从前几年开始 ,人们又回到 30多年前提出的涡旋 Rossby波说那里去寻找合适的解释。经典的Rossby波是 β =(df/dy)作用的大尺度波动 ,而适用于台风中螺旋云雨带的涡旋———Rossby波乃是 f平面 (β =0 )上的中尺度波动。那末 ,对这两类尺度不同和成波机理不同的波动 ,何以均冠予Rossby波一词 ?本文试图从动力学等价原理上 ,对此作统一联系的说明。其结果是 :台风基本气流的涡度 ζ随径向 (r)变化的梯度d ζdr=1rr(r vλ) ,在动力学上等价于科氏参数 f随纬度变化的梯度即β=df/dy ;或者说它们在绝对涡度守恒的前提下 ,作为波扰动的成波机理是等价的     

The Dynamical Characteristics and Wave Structure of Typhoon Rananim （2004）

Typhoon Rananim (2004) was one of the severest typhoons landfalling the Chinese mainland from 1996 to 2004. It brought serious damage and induced prodigious economical loss. Using a new generation of mesoscale model, named the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system, with 1.667 km grid horizontal spacing on the finest nested mesh, Rananim was successfully simulated in terms of track, intensity, eye, eyewall, and spiral rainbands. We compared the structures of Rananim to those of hurricanes in previous studies and observations to assess the validity of simulation. The three-dimensional (3D) dynamic and thermal structures of eye and eyewall were studied based on the simulated results. The focus was investigation of the characteristics of the vortex Rossby waves in the inner-core region. We found that the Rossby vortex waves propagate azimuthally upwind against the azimuthal mean tangential flow around the eyewall, and their period was longer than that of an air parcel moving within the azimuthal mean tangential flow. They also propagated outward against the boundary layer inflow of the azimuthal mean vortex. Futhermore, we studied the connection between the spiral potential vorticity (PV) bands and spiral rainbands, and found that the vortex Rossby waves played an important role in the formation process of spiral rainbands.