Numerical Simulation of Changes in Tropical Cyclone Intensity Using a Coupled Air-Sea Model

A coupled air-sea model for tropical cyclones （TCs） is constructed by coupling the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research mesoscale model （MM5） with the Princeton Ocean Model.Four numerical simulations of tropical cyclone development have been conducted using different configurations of the coupled model on the f-plane.When coupled processes are excluded,a weak initial vortex spins up into a mature symmetric TC that strongly resembles those observed and simulated in prior research.The coupled model reproduces the reduction in sea temperature induced by the TC reasonably well,as well as changes in the minimum central pressure of the TC that result from negative atmosphere-ocean feedbacks.Asymmetric structures are successfully simulated under conditions of uniform environmental flow.The coupled ocean-atmosphere model is suitable for simulating air-sea interactions under TC conditions.The effects of the ocean on the track of the TC and changes in its intensity under uniform environmental flow are also investigated.TC intensity responds nonlinearly to sea surface temperature （SST）.The TC intensification rate becomes smaller once the SST exceeds a certain threshold.Oceanic stratification also influences TC intensity,with stronger stratification responsible for a larger decrease in intensity.The value of oceanic enthalpy is small when the ocean is weakly stratified and large when the ocean is strongly stratified,demonstrating that the oceanic influence on TC intensity results not only from SST distributions but also from stratification.Air-sea interaction has only a slight influence on TC movement in this model.     

A New Ocean Mixed-Layer Model Coupled into WRF

A new mesoscale air-sea coupled model (WRF- OMLM-Noh) was constructed based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and an improved Mellor-Yamada ocean mixed-layer model from Noh and Kim (OMLM-Noh). Through off-line tests and a simulation of a real typhoon, the authors compared the performance of the WRF-OMLM-Noh with another existing ocean mixed-layer coupled model (WRF-OMLM-Pollard). In the off-line tests with Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Program’s Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA-COARE) observational data, the results show that OMLM-Noh is better able to simulate sea surface temperature (SST) variational trends than OMLM -Pollard. Moreover, OMLM-Noh can sufficiently reproduce the diurnal cycle of SST. Regarding the typhoon case study, SST cooling due to wind-driven ocean mixing is underestimated in WRF-OMLM-Pollard, which artificially increases the intensity of the typhoon due to more simulated air-sea heat fluxes. Compared to the WRF- OMLM-Pollard, the performance of WRF-OMLM-Noh is superior in terms of both the spatial distribution and temporal variation of SST and air-sea heat fluxes.     

Study of the Air-Sea Interaction During Typhoon Kaemi (2006)

The high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is coupled to the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) to investigate the effect of air-sea interaction during Typhoon Kaemi that formed in the Northwest Pacific at 0000 UTC 19 July 2006. The coupled model can reasonably reproduce the major features of ocean response to the moving tropical cyclone (TC) forcing, including the deepening of ocean mixed layer (ML), cooling of sea surface temperature (SST), and decaying of typhoon.     

Introduction to the Regional Coupled Model WRF4-LICOM: Performance and Model Intercomparison over the Western North Pacific

Regional coupled modeling is one of the frontiers of regional climate modeling, but intercomparison has not been well coordinated. In this study, a community regional climate model, WRF4, with a resolution of 15 km, was coupled with a high-resolution(0.1°) North Pacific Ocean model(LICOM_np). The performance of the regional coupled model,WRF4_LICOM, was compared to that of another regional coupled model, RegCM4_LICOM, which was a coupling of version 4 of the Regional Climate Model(RegCM4) with LICOM_np. The analysis focused on the 2005 western North Pacific summer monsoon rainfall. The results showed that the regional coupled models with either RegCM4 or WRF4 as their atmospheric model component simulated the broad features over the WNP reasonably well. Quantitative intercomparison of the regional coupled simulations exhibited different biases for different climate variables.RegCM4_LICOM exhibited smaller biases in its simulation of the averaged June–July–August SST and rainfall, while WRF4_LICOM better captured the tropical cyclone(TC) intensity, the percentage contributions of rainfall induced by TCs to the total rainfall, and the diurnal cycle of rainfall and stratiform percentages, especially over land areas. The different behaviors in rainfall simulated by the two models were partly ascribed to the behaviors in the simulated western North Pacific subtropical high(WNPSH). The stronger(weaker) WNPSH in WRF4_LICOM(RegCM4_LICOM) was driven by overestimated(underestimated) diabatic heating, which peaked at approximately 450 hPa over the region around the Philippines in association with different condensation–radiation processes. Coupling of WRF4 with LIOCM is a crucial step towards the development of the next generation of regional earth system models at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.     

耦合模式热带太平洋云—气候反馈模拟误差评估

云—气候反馈是热带海气相互作用的重要过程, 同时也是气候模拟的难点。本文利用IPCC AR4提供的耦合模式20世纪模拟试验结果和观测资料, 通过滤波和经验正交展开 (EOF) 的方法将热带太平洋海表温度的年际变化和年代际变化信号分别提取出来, 然后再分别计算观测和模式在年际和年代际时间尺度上云—辐射和热通量反馈特征, 发现在上述两个时间尺度上, 耦合模式模拟的云—辐射和热通量的反馈都要比观测和再分析资料的偏弱。反馈偏弱的可能原因是模式中热带大气对流和云对海表温度变化的敏感性比真实大气要偏弱。值得注意的是, 尽管耦合模式热带太平洋年代际热力反馈偏弱, 但是耦合模式模拟的热带太平洋南北纬10°之间海表温度的年代际增温趋势与观测相当。进一步分析表明, 只用年代际热力反馈来解释热带太平洋的气候变化是不够的, 还必须考虑动力反馈对于海表温度变化的调节作用。     

热带太平洋线性海气耦合系统的主模与ENSO

本文利用包含海洋表面边界层、线性海洋大气动力学以及完整的关于不均匀气候态线性化SST预报方程的热带太平洋海气耦合模式， 在真实的气候背景态和参数域内，研究了海气耦合系统的特征值问题，确定了线性耦合系统主模的特征周期及其稳定性特征，进而揭示了主模和ENSO的关系。结果表明:准两年振荡是线性海气耦合系统中的最不稳定模态，且只有该模态类似于ENSO水平结构。因此，准两年振荡很可能是海气耦合系统固有的最根本性的振荡过程。本文也对准两年振荡的形成与年循环的关系以及它在ENSO时间尺度形成中的作用进行了讨论。     

区域海气耦合模式模拟的2003年东亚夏季风季节内振荡

评估了一个区域海气耦合模式(由区域环境系统集成模式RIEMS和普林斯顿海洋模式POM组成)对2003年东亚夏季风季节内振荡(ISO)的模拟性能。通过与观测海温驱动单独大气模式结果的比较,分析了海气耦合过程对东亚夏季大气ISO模拟性能的影响。结果表明:耦合模式能够模拟出2003年中国东部地区夏季降水的气候态分布,模拟的中国东部尤其是江淮地区大气ISO活动较单独大气模式更为显著。同时,耦合模式能够较好地再现大气ISO经向上北传的传播特征,模拟的江淮流域降水处于活跃和中断期时西北太平洋地区低频降水和环流异常在强度和空间分布上较单独大气模式都更为合理。相比于单独大气模式,耦合模式对大气ISO模拟的改善,一方面与其对气候态西北太平洋副热带高压和相关对流层底层风场模拟的改善有关,另一方面与其包含海气相互作用,因而对低频降水与海温和水汽辐合位相关系模拟的改善有关。     

利用一个海气耦合模式对台风Krovanh的模拟

采用中尺度大气模式MM5和区域海洋模式POM构造了中尺度海气耦合模式, 模拟了Krovanh (0312) 台风过程中台风－海洋相互作用, 分析了台风引起的海面降温影响台风强度的机制和海洋对台风响应的特征。试验结果显示: 考虑台风引起的海面降温使台风强度模拟有了较大改进, 模拟的台风中心气压和近中心最大风速均与实况较符合。POM模拟的海表面温度与TRMM/TMI观测的海表面温度也较为一致, 台风Krovanh在其路径右侧95 km处引起较大的海面降温, 最大降温幅度达5.8℃。与海表面温度降低相对应的是混合层深度的增加, 较大的海面降温对应较大的混合层加深, 表明大风夹卷在海表面温度的降低中起主要作用。分析表明, 台风引起的海面降温降低海洋向大气输送的潜热通量和感热通量, 特别是在台风内核区, 平均总热通量减少了32.1%。热通量的减少使得湿静力能及湿静力能径向梯度减小, 削弱了台风强度。     

Sensitivity of Nonlinearity on the ENSO Cycle in a Simple Air-sea Coupled Model

In this paper,the influence of the El NioSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle on the sensitivity of nonlinear factors in the numerical simulation is investigated by conducting numerical experiments in a simple air-sea coupled model for ENSO prediction.Two sets of experiments are conducted in which zonal nonlinear factors,meridional nonlinear factors,or both are incorporated into the governing equations for the atmosphere or ocean.The results suggest that the ENSO cycle is very sensitive to the nonlinear factor of the governing equation for the atmosphere or ocean.Thus,incorporating nonlinearity into air-sea coupled models is of exclusive importance for improving ENSO simulation.     

STUDY ON THE AIR-SEA INTERACTION ON THE INTERANNUAL TIME SCALE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA*

In this paper we document the correlationship between sea surface temperature(SST) and low level-winds such as sea level wind and 850 hPa wind in the South China Sea(SCS) based on COADS(1958-1987) and ECMWF objective analysis data(1973-1986).Further statistical analyses tell us that there is a fixed SCS basin mode for variations both of SST and low-level winds in the region on the interannual time scale due to air-sea interactions.A simplified,coupled model that is designed following the McCreary and Anderson's(1985) model and includes the feedback between the upper ocean and the circulation of East Asian monsoon demonstrates an interannual oscillation in the coupled air-sea system,which is similar to the observations in the SCS.     

Simulating Eastern-and Central-Pacific Type ENSO Using a Simple Coupled Model

Severe biases exist in state-of-the-art general circulation models(GCMs) in capturing realistic central-Pacific(CP) El Nino structures. At the same time, many observational analyses have emphasized that thermocline(TH) feedback and zonal advective(ZA) feedback play dominant roles in the development of eastern-Pacific(EP) and CP El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO), respectively. In this work, a simple linear air-sea coupled model, which can accurately depict the strength distribution of the TH and ZA feedbacks in the equatorial Pacific, is used to investigate these two types of El Nino. The results indicate that the model can reproduce the main characteristics of CP ENSO if the TH feedback is switched off and the ZA feedback is retained as the only positive feedback, confirming the dominant role played by ZA feedback in the development of CP ENSO. Further experiments indicate that, through a simple nonlinear control approach, many ENSO characteristics,including the existence of both CP and EP El Nino and the asymmetries between El Nino and La Nina, can be successfully captured using the simple linear air-sea coupled model. These analyses indicate that an accurate depiction of the climatological sea surface temperature distribution and the related ZA feedback, which are the subject of severe biases in GCMs, is very important in simulating a realistic CP El Nino.     

Evaluation of a Regional Ensemble Data Assimilation System for Typhoon Prediction

An ensemble Kalman filter(EnKF) combined with the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting model(WRF) is cycled and evaluated for western North Pacific(WNP) typhoons of year 2016. Conventional in situ data, radiance observations, and tropical cyclone(TC) minimum sea level pressure(SLP) are assimilated every 6 h using an 80-member ensemble. For all TC categories, the 6-h ensemble priors from the WRF/EnKF system have an appropriate amount of variance for TC tracks but have insufficient v...     

区域海气耦合模式FROALS的发展及其应用

区域海气耦合模式是研究局地海气相互作用过程影响气候变率的重要平台,也是对全球气候模式进行"动力降尺度"的重要工具.本文介绍了LASG(State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics)/IAP(Institute of Atmospheric Physics)发展的区域海气耦合模式FROALS(Flexible Regional Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model),并总结了过去五年围绕该区域海气耦合模式开展的研究工 作.FROALS的特点之一是有两个完全不同的大气模式分量和海洋模式分量选项,可以适应不同的模拟研究需 求.针对区域海气耦合模式在西北太平洋地区的模拟偏差,通过分步骤考察不同大气模式分量和不同海洋模式分量对模式模拟性能的影响,指出大气模式是导致区域海气耦合偏差的主要分量.通过改进对流触发的相对湿度阈值标准,有效地改善了此前区域海气耦合模式在亚洲季风区普遍出现的"模拟海温冷偏差".改进的FROALS对西北太平洋地区的大气和海洋环境有较好的模拟能力,合理地再现了西北太平洋地区表层洋流气候态和年际变率.较之非耦合模式,考虑区域海气耦合过程后,改进了东亚和南亚地区的降水和热带气旋潜势年际变率的模拟.最后,针对东亚—西北太平洋地区,利用FROALS对IAP/LASG全球气候模式模拟和预估的结果进行了动力降尺 度,得到了东亚区域50 km高分辨率区域气候变化信息.分析显示,FROALS模拟得到的东亚区域气候较之全球气候模式和非耦合区域气候模式结果具有明显的"增值",显示出区域海气耦合模式在该区域良好的应用前景.     

Importance of Air-Sea Coupling in Simulating Tropical Cyclone Intensity at Landfall

An atmosphere-only model system for making seasonal prediction and projecting future intensities of landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) along the South China coast is upgraded by including ocean and wave models. A total of 642 TCs have been re-simulated using the new system to produce a climatology of TC intensity in the South China Sea. Detailed comparisons of the simulations from the atmosphere-only and the fully coupled systems reveal that the inclusion of the additional ocean and wave models enable differential sea surface temperature responses to various TC characteristics such as translational speed and size. In particular, interaction with the ocean does not necessarily imply a weakening of the TC, with the coastal bathymetry possibly playing a role in causing a near-shore intensification of the TC. These results suggest that to simulate the evolution of TC structure more accurately, it is essential to use an air-sea coupled model instead of an atmosphere-only model.     

Potential Predictability of Sea Surface Temperature in a Coupled Ocean--Atmosphere GCM

Using the Flexible Global Ocean--Atmosphere--Land System model (FGOALS) version g1.11, a group of seasonal hindcasting experiments were carried out. In order to investigate the potential predictability of sea surface temperature (SST), singular value decomposition (SVD) analyses were applied to extract dominant coupled modes between observed and predicated SST from the hindcasting experiments in this study. The fields discussed are sea surface temperature anomalies over the tropical Pacific basin (20^oS--20^oN, 120^oE--80^oW), respectively starting in four seasons from 1982 to 2005. On the basis of SVD analysis, the simulated pattern was replaced with the corresponding observed pattern to reconstruct SST anomaly fields to improve the ability of the simulation. The predictive skill, anomaly correlation coefficients (ACC), after systematic error correction using the first five modes was regarded as potential predictability. Results showed that: 1) the statistical postprocessing approach was effective for systematic error correction; 2) model error sources mainly arose from mode 2 extracted from the SVD analysis---that is, during the transition phase of ENSO, the model encountered the spring predictability barrier; and 3) potential predictability (upper limits of predictability) could be high over most of the tropical Pacific basin, including the tropical western Pacific and an extra 10-degrees region of the mid and eastern Pacific.     

Influence of Sea Surface Temperature on the Predictability of Idealized Tropical Cyclone Intensity

The role of sea surface temperature (SST) forcing in the development and predictability of tropical cyclone (TC) intensity is examined using a large set of idealized numerical experiments in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The results indicate that the onset time of rapid intensification of TC gradually decreases, and the peak intensity of TC gradually increases, with the increased magnitude of SST. The predictability limits of the maximum 10 m wind speed (MWS) and minimum sea level pressure (MSLP) are ~72 and ~84 hours, respectively. Comparisons of the analyses of variance for different simulation time confirm that the MWS and MSLP have strong signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) from 0-72 hours and a marked decrease beyond 72 hours. For the horizontal and vertical structures of wind speed, noticeable decreases in the magnitude of SNR can be seen as the simulation time increases, similar to that of the SLP or perturbation pressure. These results indicate that the SST as an external forcing signal plays an important role in TC intensity for up to 72 hours, and it is significantly weakened if the simulation time exceeds the predictability limits of TC intensity.     

Seasonal and Intraseasonal Variations of East Asian Summer Monsoon Precipitation Simulated by a Regional Air-Sea Coupled Model

The performance of a regional air-sea coupled model, comprising the Regional Integrated Environment Model System (RIEMS) and the Princeton Ocean Model (POM), in simulating the seasonal and intraseasonal variations of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) rainfall was investigated. Through comparisons of the model results among the coupled model, the uncoupled RIEMS, and observations, the impact of air-sea coupling on simulating the EASM was also evaluated. Results showed that the regional air-sea coupled climate model performed better in simulating the spatial pattern of the precipitation climatology and produced more realistic variations of the EASM rainfall in terms of its amplitude and principal EOF modes. The coupled model also showed greater skill than the uncoupled RIEMS in reproducing the principal features of climatological intraseasonal oscillation (CISO) of EASM rainfall, including its dominant period, intensity, and northward propagation. Further analysis indicated that the improvements in the simulation of the EASM rainfall climatology and its seasonal variation in the coupled model were due to better simulation of the western North Pacific Subtropical High, while the improvements of CISO simulation were owing to the realistic phase relationship between the intraseasonal convection and the underlying SST resulting from the air-sea coupling.     

简单热带海气耦合模型中不同扰动形式间的耦合作用

在局地热平衡情况下研究了简单热带海气耦合模式中不同扰动形式间的耦合，依次讨论了由大气准定常Kelvin波与海洋R0ssby波、大气准定常Rossby波与海洋Kelvin波、大气准定常Kelvin波与海洋KelVin波、大气准定常Rossby波与海洋Rossby波组成的耦合系统的性质，并研究了存在于其中的耦合扰动的特征。     

一个海气耦合模式对东亚夏季气候预测潜力的评估

利用一个具有较高分辨率的海气耦合模式SINTEX-F(Scale Interaction Experiment-Frontier Research Center for Global Change coupled GCM)的多年回报结果,评估了该海气耦合模式对东亚区域,尤其是中国地区气候异常的预测潜力.与观测实况的比较结果表明:SINTEX-F模式对夏季降水、500 hPa高度场和地表气温都有一定的预测技巧,但是相比而言降水与高度场的回报技巧要高于地表气温;而且耦合模式对东亚地区气候异常的主要空间分布和年际变化特征也有较好的预测潜力,对500 hPa高度场效果较好;对降水异常的年际变化也有一定的预测潜力,尤其是我国中部地区效果较好,但是模式预测的降水异常的幅值较观测相对偏弱;此外对我国西部的极端气候也有一定的预测潜力.     

Impact of Surface Exchange Coefficients and Sea Surface Cooling on Tropical Cyclone Simulation

The surface flux exchange associated with the exchange coefficients and upper ocean conditions is essential to the development of tropical cyclones (TCs). Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, the present study has investigated the impact of exchange coefficients and ocean coupling during Super Typhoon Saomai (2006). Firstly, two experiments with different formula of roughness are conducted. The experiment with the Donelan formula for drag coefficient (Cd) and ramped formula for enthalpy coefficient (Ck) can simulate stronger intensity compared to other experiments due to the increased surface wind and enthalpy fluxes. That is because the new formulas allows for a smaller Cd and larger Ck in the high wind regime than the former formulas did. Moreover, two coupled simulations between WRF and a one-dimensional ocean model are conducted to examine the feedback of sea surface cooling to the TC. In the experiments with a horizontal uniform mixed layer depth of 70 m, the sea surface cooling is too weak to change the evolution of TC. While in the experiment with an input mixed layer calculated using the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) data, the significant sea surface cooling induces obvious impact on TC intensity and structure. Under the negative feedback of sea surface cooling, the sensible and latent heat fluxes decreases, especially in the right part of Saomai (2006). The negative feedback with coupled ocean model plays a vital role in simulating the intensity and structure of TC.