Forecasting hurricane winds in extratropical cyclones in Russia

In contrast to the common opinion, hurricane winds in extratropical cyclones are a quite frequent phenomenon followed by huge damage, especially in densely populated areas. This phenomenon has been poorly studied and is hardly predictable so far. The features of hurricane winds in extratropical cyclones, and the similarity and difference in their structure as compared to those in tropical cyclones are revealed.     

Development of a hurricane boundary-layer wind model

Summary Hurricanes cause a variety of damage due to high winds, heavy rains, and storm surges. This study focuses on hurricanes’ high winds. The most devastating effects of sustained high winds occur in the first few hours of landfall. During the short period, hurricanes’ rainfall often increases, while the low-level pressure gradients continue to weaken. Latent heating does not appear to strengthen the surface winds. The indicator is that dry mechanisms such as the boundary layer processes and terrain are responsible for the damaging winds in the coastal areas. In this study, the design of a dry hurricane boundary layer wind model is described. The goal is to develop a forecast tool with near-real time applications in expeditious wind damage assessment and disaster mitigation during a hurricane landfall event. Different surface roughness lengths and topographic features ranging from flat land to the mountainous terrain of Taiwan were used in the model simulation experiments to reveal how the coastal environment affected the hurricane surface winds. The model performed quite well in all cases. The experiments suggested that the downward transfer of high momentum aloft played a significant role in the maintenance of high wind speeds at the surface. The surface wind maximums were observed on the lee sides of high terrain. The surface streamline analyses showed that the high mountains tended to block the relatively weak flow and caused small eddies, while they forced the stronger flow to turn around the mountains. Due to great difficulty in data collection, the hurricane boundary layer over land remains one of the least understood parts of the system. The dry model proves to be an effective way to study many aspects of hurricane boundary layer winds over a wide range of terrain features and landfall sites. The model runs efficiently and can be run on a medium-size personal computer. Received March 16, 2001 Revised September 10, 2001     

Hurricane Wind Power Spectra, Cospectra, and Integral Length Scales

Atmospheric turbulence is an important factor in the modelling of wind forces on structures and the losses they produce in extreme wind events. However, while turbulence in non-hurricane winds has been thoroughly researched, turbulence in tropical cyclones and hurricanes that affect the Gulf and Atlantic coasts has only recently been the object of systematic study. In this paper, Florida Coastal Monitoring Program surface wind measurements over the sea surface and open flat terrain are used to estimate tropical cyclone and hurricane wind spectra and cospectra as well as integral length scales. From the analyses of wind speeds obtained from five towers in four hurricanes it can be concluded with high confidence that the turbulent energy at lower frequencies is considerably higher in hurricane than in non-hurricane winds. Estimates of turbulence spectra, cospectra, and integral turbulence scales presented can be used for the development in experimental facilities of hurricane wind flows and the forces they induce on structures.     

Dependence of Hurricane Intensity and Structures on Vertical Resolution and Time-Step Size

In view of the growing interests in the explicit modeling of clouds and precipitation, the effects of varying vertical resolution and time-step sizes on the 72-h explicit simulation of Hurricane Andrew (1992) are studied using the Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model (i.e., MM5) with the finest grid size of 6 km. It is shown that changing vertical resolution and time-step size has significant effects on hurricane intensity and inner-core cloud/precipitation, but little impact on the hurricane track. In general, increasing vertical resolution tends to produce a deeper storm with lower central pressure and stronger three-dimensional winds, and more precipitation. Similar effects, but to a less extent, occur when the time-step size is reduced. It is found that increasing the low-level vertical resolution is more efficient in intensifying a hurricane, whereas changing the upper-level vertical resolution has little impact on the hurricane intensity. Moreover, the use of a thicker surface layer tends to produce higher maximum surface winds. It is concluded that the use of higher vertical resolution,a thin surface layer, and smaller time-step sizes, along with higher horizontal resolution, is desirable to model more realistically the intensity and inner-core structures and evolution of tropical storms as well as the other convectively driven weather systems.     

A Note on the Drag of the Sea Surface at Hurricane Winds

Based on the solution of the turbulent kinetic energy balance equation for the airflow in the regime of limited saturation by suspended sea-spray droplets, some experimental evidence, and simple arguments, a resistance law of the sea surface at hurricane winds is derived. It predicts the reduction of the drag coefficient for the wind speed exceeding hurricane values of 30–40 m s ^-1 in agreement with field data.     

Risk assessment of hurricane winds for Eglin air force base in northwestern Florida, USA

Hurricane winds present a significant hazard for coastal infrastructure. An estimate of the local risk of extreme wind speeds is made using a new method that combines historical hurricane records with a deterministic wind field model. The method is applied to Santa Rosa Island located in the northwestern panhandle region of Florida, USA. Firstly, a hurricane track is created for a landfall location on the island that represents the worst-case scenario for Eglin Air Force Base (EAFB). The track is based on averaging the paths of historical hurricanes in the vicinity of the landfall location. Secondly, an extreme-value statistical model is used to estimate 100-year wind speeds at locations along the average track based again on historical hurricanes in the vicinity of the track locations. Thirdly, the 100-year wind speeds together with information about hurricane size and forward speed are used as input to the HAZUS hurricane wind field model to produce a wind swath across EAFB. Results show a 100-year hurricane wind gust on Santa Rosa Island of 58 (±5) m?s^?1 (90% CI). A 100-year wind gust at the same location based on a 105-year simulation of hurricanes is lower at 55?m?s^?1, but within the 90% confidence limits. Based on structural damage functions and building stock data for the region, the 100-year hurricane wind swath results in $574 million total loss to residential and commercial buildings, not including military infrastructure, with 25% of all buildings receiving at least some damage. This methodology may be applied to other coastal areas and adapted to predict extreme winds and their impacts under climate variability and change.     

Tropical storm motion and structure in a fine mesh primitive equation model

Summary Convective to planetary scale processes govern the motion and structure of tropical storms. A model with a high resolution and a large domain is required for accurate prediction of a storm's track and intensity. A series of integrations are performed using a primitive equation model and an initial state that defines a tropical storm that later developed into a hurricane in the real atmosphere. Increasing the horizontal resolution or domain of the model improves the forecast track. However only the increase in the horizontal resolution produces a better hurricane structure.Banded structure in the vertical motion field, asymmetries in the low tropospheric winds similar to those observed and upper tropospheric cyclonic outflow develop in high horizontal resolution experiments. It is shown that horizontal advection and pressure gradient terms produce wind tendencies in the low troposphere that displace the vortex in the observed direction. A high pressure area surrounding the central low pressure area appears in the upper troposphere. Around this high pressure area large pressure gradients develop that induce outflow winds in the distal storm area.     

Atlantic Basin Hurricanes: Indices of Climatic Changes

Accurate records of basinwide Atlantic and U.S. landfalling hurricanes extend back to the mid 1940s and the turn of the century, respectively, as a result of aircraft reconnaissance and instrumented weather stations along the U.S. coasts. Such long-term records are not exceeded elsewhere in the tropics. The Atlantic hurricanes, U.S. landfalling hurricanes and U.S. normalized damage time series are examined for interannual trends and multidecadal variability. It is found that only weak linear trends can be ascribed to the hurricane activity and that multidecadal variability is more characteristic of the region. Various environmental factors including Caribbean sea level pressures and 200mb zonal winds, the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, African West Sahel rainfall and Atlantic sea surface temperatures, are analyzed for interannual links to the Atlantic hurricane activity. All show significant, concurrent relationships to the frequency, intensity and duration of Atlantic hurricanes. Additionally, variations in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation are significantly linked to changes in U.S. tropical cyclone-caused damages. Finally, much of the multidecadal hurricane activity can be linked to the Atlantic Multidecadal Mode - an empirical orthogonal function pattern derived from a global sea surface temperature record. Such linkages may allow for prediction of Atlantic hurricane activity on a multidecadal basis. These results are placed into the context of climate change and natural hazards policy.     

Effects of Bubbles and Sea Spray on Air–Sea Exchange in Hurricane Conditions

The lower limit on the drag coefficient under hurricane force winds is determined by the break-up of the air–sea interface due to Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and formation of the two-phase transition layer consisting of sea spray and air bubbles. As a consequence, a regime of marginal stability develops. In this regime, the air–sea drag coefficient is determined by the turbulence characteristics of the two-phase transition layer. The upper limit on the drag coefficient is determined by the Charnock-type wave resistance. Most of the observational estimates of the drag coefficient obtained in hurricane conditions and in laboratory experiments appear to lie between the two extreme regimes: wave resistance and marginal stability.     

Caribbean hurricanes: interannual variability and prediction

Climatic conditions that affect the interannual variability of Caribbean hurricanes are studied. Composite meteorological and oceanographic reanalysis fields are constructed for active and inactive seasons since 1979, and differences are calculated for spring and summer periods to provide guidance in statistical analysis. Predictors are extracted for areas exhibiting high contrast between active and inactive seasons, and intercomparisons are made. Zonal winds north of Venezuela exhibit westerly anomalies prior to active years, so coastal upwelling and the north Brazil current are diminished. Rainfall increases in the Orinoco River basin, creating a fresh warm plume north of Trinidad. The predictor time series are regressed onto an index of Caribbean hurricanes, and multivariate algorithms are formulated. It is found that atmospheric kinematic and convective predictors explain only ??20% of hurricane variance at 3?C5-month lead time. Subsurface ocean predictors offer higher levels of explained hurricane variance (42%) at 3?C5-month lead time, using 1?C200-m-depth-averaged temperatures in the east Pacific and southern Caribbean. We place the statistical results in a conceptual framework to better understand climatic processes anticipating Caribbean hurricanes.     

2010年极端天气和气候事件及其他相关事件的概要回顾

2009/2010年冬季,英国等欧洲国家经历自1981年来持续时间最长的寒流;2010年2月27日,罕见强风暴“辛加(Xynthia)”袭击欧洲多国;季风季节,巴基斯坦遭遇80年来最严重的暴雨洪涝;7～8月中旬,俄罗斯的极端高温干旱引发多起森林火灾;7～9月,亚马逊部分地区经历40年来最严重的干旱;10月中旬,超强台风...     

Revisiting the parcel method and CAPE

Although the parcel method and the convective available potential energy (CAPE) are widely used to predict the strength and height of convection, they ignore the pressure perturbation and fail to explain strong updrafts observed in tropical cyclones and hurricanes without CAPE, or deep, strong warm downdrafts in hurricane eye-walls, tropopause folds, or downslope winds leeward of mountains. Those phenomena can be explained by the Bernoulli equation that conserves the sum of kinetic energy, potential energy and enthalpy in an inviscid fluid. Our analytic and numerical results also show how, in a moist stable environment without CAPE, updrafts and clouds can develop against negative buoyancy. Deep warm downdrafts can also form in cloud-free regions or areas without significant evaporative cooling from precipitation.     

Development of an eye-wall like structure in a tropical cyclone model simulation

Structural changes during the intensification of a tropical storm into a hurricane in a numerical simulation are examined. A 10 layer primitive equation model that employs a horizontal grid spacing of 20 km over 4400 × 4400 km area is integrated. An elongated band in vertical motion over the storm area intensifies slowly during the first few hours. In the upper troposphere high pressures arise due to condensational heating. Between 8–12 h strong outflow winds develop in the upper troposphere due to the increased pressure gradients. Strong divergence occurs in the outflow wind region, and a large increase in the vertical motion, condensational heating and intensification rate of the storm ensues. Between 12–24 h the elongated band of the storm stage transforms into an eye-wall like structure, and the tropical storm intensifies into a hurricane. Regions with negative moist potential vorticity appear in the high troposphere. Widening of area of condensation and slanting of the convergence area occurs with height in the high level negative moist potential vorticity regions. Results suggest that the formation of anvil clouds in some cases may be due to the development of slantwise convection on the outer periphery of a hurricane's eye-wall.     

Simulation of the probable maximum flood in the area of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant with account of wind waves

At the designing of nuclear power facilities at the coastal sites the risk of their flooding caused by the combinations of adverse hydrometeorological events should be assessed with the probability of exceedance to 0.01%. According to the IAEA recommendations, the combination of statistical and deterministic methods was used to calculate the flood level of such rare occurrence. The level of flooding caused by the storm surge and reiated wind waves were computed with the probability of 0.01% for the coastal part of the Koporye Bay of the Gulf of Finland in the area of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant 2 (LNPP 2) construction; the results are presented. The calculations are based on the CARDINAL and SWAN software and four nested numerical models (for the Baltic Sea, the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, the Koporye Bay, and a part of the bay in the area of LNPP). The decrease in sea-surface drag coefficient at hurricane winds is taken into account.     

Comparison of observed gale radius statistics

Summary Forecasts of tropical cyclone track and intensity have long been used to characterize the evolution and expected threat from a tropical storm. However, in recent years, recognition of the contributions of subtropical cyclogenesis to tropical storm formation and the process of extratropical transition to latter stages of the once-tropical storm’s lifecycle have raised awareness about the importance of storm structure. Indeed, the structure of a cyclone determines the distribution and intensity of the significant weather associated with that storm. In this study, storm structure is characterized in terms of significant wind radii. The radii of tropical storm, damaging, and hurricane-force winds, as well as the radius of maximum winds are all analyzed. These wind radii are objectively derived from the H^*Wind surface wind analysis system. Initially, six years of these data are examined for consistency with previous studies. Having ascertained that the H^*Wind radii are realistic, detailed comparisons are performed between the H^*Wind and NHC Best Track wind radii for two years (2004 and 2005) of North Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane cases. This intercomparison reveals an unexpected bias: the H^*Wind radii are consistently larger than the NHC Best Track for all but the smallest and least intense storms. Further examination of the objectively-determined H^*Wind tropical storm force wind radius data compared to subjectively-determined radii for the same storm times demonstrates that the objective wind radii are underestimating the extent of the tropical storm force wind area. Since the objective H^*Wind radii are large compared to the NHC Best Track – and yet underestimate the area of tropical storm force winds – this argues for further examination of the methods used to ascertain these significant wind radii.     

Temporal distribution of weather catastrophes in the USA

The temporal distributions of the nation’s four major storm types during 1950–2005 were assessed, including those for thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter storms. Storms are labeled as catastrophes, defined as events causing $1 million or more in property losses, based on time-adjusted data provided by the insurance industry. Most catastrophic storms occurred in the eastern half of the nation. Analysis of the regional and national storm frequencies revealed there was little time-related relationship between storm types, reflecting how storm types were reported. That is, when tornadoes occurred with thunderstorms, the type producing the greatest losses was the one identified by the insurance industry, not both. Temporal agreement was found in the timing of relatively high incidences of thunderstorms, hurricanes, and winter storms during 2002–2005. This resulted in upward time trends in the national losses of hurricane and thunderstorm catastrophes, The temporal increase in hurricanes is in agreement with upward trends in population density, wealth, and insurance coverage in Gulf and East coastal areas. The upward trends in thunderstorm catastrophes and losses result from increases in heavy rain days, floods, high winds, and hail days, revealing that atmospheric conditions conducive to strong convective activity have been increasing since the 1960s. Tornado catastrophes and their losses peaked in 1966–1973 and had no upward time trend. Temporal variability in tornado catastrophes was large, whereas the variability in hurricane and thunderstorm catastrophes was only moderate, and that for winter storms was low.     

An investigation into the contraction of the hurricane radius of maximum wind

The radius of the maximum tangential wind (RMW) associated with the hurricane primary circulation has been long known to undergo continuous contraction during the hurricane development. In this study, we document some characteristic behaviors of the RMW contraction in a series of ensemble real-time simulations of Hurricane Katrina (2005) and in idealized experiments using the Rotunno and Emanuel (Mon Weather Rev 137:1770–1789, 1987) axisymmetric hurricane model. Of specific interest is that the contraction appears to slow down abruptly at the middle of the hurricane intensification, and the RMW becomes nearly stationary subsequently, despite the rapidly strengthening rotational flows. A kinematic model is then presented to examine such behaviors of the RMW in which necessary conditions for the RMW to stop contracting are examined. Further use of the Emanuel’s (J Atmos Sci 43:585–605, 1986) analytical hurricane theory reveals a connection between the hurricane maximum potential intensity and the hurricane eye size, an issue that has not been considered adequately in previous studies.     

Projected future changes in tropical cyclone-related wave climate in the North Atlantic

Tropical cyclones are a major hazard for numerous countries surrounding the tropical-to-subtropical North Atlantic sub-basin including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Their intense winds, which can exceed 300 km h⁻¹, can cause serious damage, particularly along coastlines where the combined action of waves, currents and low atmospheric pressure leads to storm surge and coastal flooding. This work presents future projections of North Atlantic tropical cyclone-related wave climate. A new configuration of the ARPEGE-Climat global atmospheric model on a stretched grid reaching ~ 14 km resolution to the north-east of the eastern Caribbean is able to reproduce the distribution of tropical cyclone winds, including Category 5 hurricanes. Historical (1984–2013, 5 members) and future (2051–2080, 5 members) simulations with the IPCC RCP8.5 scenario are used to drive the MFWAM (Météo-France Wave Action Model) spectral wave model over the Atlantic basin during the hurricane season. An intermediate 50-km resolution grid is used to propagate mid-latitude swells into a higher 10-km resolution grid over the tropical cyclone main development region. Wave model performance is evaluated over the historical period with the ERA5 reanalysis and satellite altimetry data. Future projections exhibit a modest but widespread reduction in seasonal mean wave heights in response to weakening subtropical anticyclone, yet marked increases in tropical cyclone-related wind sea and extreme wave heights within a large region extending from the African coasts to the North American continent.

     

Global warming and hurricanes: the potential impact of hurricane intensification and sea level rise on coastal flooding

Tens of millions of people around the world are already exposed to coastal flooding from tropical cyclones. Global warming has the potential to increase hurricane flooding, both by hurricane intensification and by sea level rise. In this paper, the impact of hurricane intensification and sea level rise are evaluated using hydrodynamic surge models and by considering the future climate projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. For the Corpus Christi, Texas, United States study region, mean projections indicate hurricane flood elevation (meteorologically generated storm surge plus sea level rise) will, on average, rise by 0.3 m by the 2030s and by 0.8 m by the 2080s. For catastrophic-type hurricane surge events, flood elevations are projected to rise by as much as 0.5 m and 1.8 m by the 2030s and 2080s, respectively.     

The impact of tropical sea surface temperatures on various measures of Atlantic tropical cyclone activity

Summary Since 1995 there has been a resurgence of Atlantic hurricane activity, with 2005 being the most active and destructive hurricane season on record. The influence of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) upon trends in Atlantic hurricane activity is investigated by considering SSTs in the southern tropical North Atlantic, an area known as the main development region (MDR). Significant differences in hurricane activity are observed when comparing the ten coolest and ten warmest years of SSTs in the MDR for the period spanning from 1941 to 2006, with increasing MDR SSTs linked to the increased duration and frequency of tropical cyclones. It is concluded that future increases in SSTs, as climate models project, could result in increased Atlantic basin hurricane activity. Understanding how oceanic processes affecting the MDR may change with climate change could therefore help increase the predictive capability for hurricane activity. Authors’ addresses: Paul A. Steenhof, 50 Hendrick, Chelsea, Quebec, J9B 1M1 Canada; William A. Gough, Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada