Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Impacts of Evaporation of Rainwater on Tropical Cyclone Structure and Intensity—A Revisit

Qingqing Li Pacific Typhoon Research Center, Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of the Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, and State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, and Shanghai Typhoon Institute, China Meteorological Administration, Shanghai, China

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Yuqing Wang International Pacific Research Center, and Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii

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Yihong Duan State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China

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Print Publication:
01 Apr 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-14-0224.1
Page(s):
1323–1345
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Abstract

The impact of evaporation of rainwater on tropical cyclone (TC) intensity and structure is revisited in this study. Evaporative cooling can result in strong downdrafts and produce low–equivalent potential temperature air in the inflow boundary layer, particularly in the region outside the eyewall, significantly suppressing eyewall convection and reducing the final intensity of a TC. Different from earlier findings, results from this study show that outer rainbands still form but are short lived in the absence of evaporation. Evaporation of rainwater is shown to facilitate the formation of outer rainbands indirectly by reducing the cooling due to melting of ice particles outside the inner core, not by the cold-pool dynamics, as previously believed. Only exclusion of evaporation in the eyewall region or the rapid filamentation zone has a very weak effect on the inner-core size change of a TC, whereas how evaporation in the outer core affects the inner-core size depends on how active the inner rainbands are. More (less) active inner rainbands may lead to an increase (a decrease) in the inner-core size.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Qingqing Li, Shanghai Typhoon Institute, 166 Puxi Road, Shanghai 200030, China.E-mail: liqq@mail.typhoon.gov.cn

Abstract

The impact of evaporation of rainwater on tropical cyclone (TC) intensity and structure is revisited in this study. Evaporative cooling can result in strong downdrafts and produce low–equivalent potential temperature air in the inflow boundary layer, particularly in the region outside the eyewall, significantly suppressing eyewall convection and reducing the final intensity of a TC. Different from earlier findings, results from this study show that outer rainbands still form but are short lived in the absence of evaporation. Evaporation of rainwater is shown to facilitate the formation of outer rainbands indirectly by reducing the cooling due to melting of ice particles outside the inner core, not by the cold-pool dynamics, as previously believed. Only exclusion of evaporation in the eyewall region or the rapid filamentation zone has a very weak effect on the inner-core size change of a TC, whereas how evaporation in the outer core affects the inner-core size depends on how active the inner rainbands are. More (less) active inner rainbands may lead to an increase (a decrease) in the inner-core size.

Corresponding author address: Dr. Qingqing Li, Shanghai Typhoon Institute, 166 Puxi Road, Shanghai 200030, China.E-mail: liqq@mail.typhoon.gov.cn
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