Abstract

This study investigates the physical processes associated with changes in the convective structure of a tropical cyclone (TC) during landfall using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model, version 3 (MM5). The land surface is moved toward a spunup vortex at a constant zonal speed on an f plane. Four experiments are carried out with the following fluxes modified over land: turning off sensible heat flux, turning off moisture flux, setting a higher surface roughness, and combining the last two processes.

The results suggest that sensible heat flux appears to show no appreciable effect while moisture supply is the dominant factor in modifying the convective structure. Prior to landfall, maximum precipitation is found to the front and left quadrants of the TC but to the front and right quadrants after landfall when moisture is turned off and surface roughness increased.

To understand the physical processes involved, a conceptual experiment is carried out in which moisture supply only occurs over the ocean and at the lowest level of the atmosphere, and such supply is transported around by the averaged circulation of the TC. It is shown that the dry air over land is being advected up and around so that at some locations the stability of the atmosphere is reduced. Analyses of the data from the more realistic numerical experiments demonstrate that convective instability is indeed largest just upstream of where the maximum rainfall occurs. In other words, the effect of the change in moisture supply on the convection distribution during TC landfall is through the modification of the moist static stability of the atmosphere.

Abstract

In most dynamical studies of synoptic-scale phenomena, only the components of the Coriolis force contributed by the horizontal motion are considered, and only in the horizontal momentum equation. The other components are neglected based on a scale analysis. However, it is shown that such an analysis may not be fully valid in a tropical cyclone (TC) and that these terms should be included. The two neglected terms are 1) e_w , the Coriolis force in the x-momentum equation due to vertical motion, and 2) w_e , the Coriolis force in the vertical equation of motion due to the zonal wind. In this paper, effects of the first term (i.e., e_w ) on the structure and motion of a TC are investigated through numerical simulations using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5).

The results suggest that after the e_w term has been included, the structure of a TC even on an f plane is changed. A southwestward displacement of a TC center with a speed of ∼1 km h⁻¹ is found in the f-plane experiment. On a β plane, inclusion of the e_w term gives a vortex track that is generally west to southwest of the inherent northwestward track (due to the β effect). A scale analysis suggests that the e_w term can be as large as half the magnitude of the horizontal acceleration. This term generates an asymmetric wind structure with a generally easterly flow near the center, which therefore causes the vortex to displace toward the southwest. A rainfall asymmetry consistent with the convergence associated with the wind asymmetry is also found and accounts for 10%–20% of the symmetric parts.

Abstract

This paper presents an observational study of the physics of tropical cyclone motion. Analyses of the vorticity budget using both aircraft and rawinsonde composite data were performed. As expected, the results show a definite link between the local change in relative vorticity and tropical cyclone movement. The main contributor to this local change, at least in the middle troposphere, is the horizontal advection of absolute vorticity with the divergence term usually playing a secondary but not necessarily negligible role. The vertical advection and tilting terms are generally much smaller.

The contribution of the divergence term as an extra component in determining the movement of tropical cyclone is discussed. The mass to wind adjustment as a result of the increase in vorticity is viewed as a combination of the advection of temperature (or mass) and subsidence. Substantiating evidence of this viewpoint is presented for cyclones undergoing turning motion.

Abstract

The β-effect on tropical cyclone motion is studied using an analytical as well as a numerical model in a nondivergent barotropic framework. The analytical model and the linear version of the numerical model give essentially the same result: the linear β-effect causes a westward stretching of the model vortex but no significant movement of the vortex center. An east-west asymmetry in the meridional wind field is also created. It is the inclusion of the nonlinear term that produces the northwestward movement of the vortex previously found by other investigators (e.g., Kitade, 1981). This northwestward movement increases with both the maximum wind speed and the radius of maximum wind in a constant-shape vortex. A wind maximum is also found to the northeast of the vortex, which appears to be consistent with the observational findings of Shea and Gray. This asymmetry plays an important role in the vortex motion.

Abstract

The motion of tropical vortices in east–west mean flows is studied with the barotropic vorticity equation on the beta plane. The vorticity equation is integrated numerically from an initially symmetric vortex embedded in (i) a linear shear flow or (ii) a parabolic jet. The first experiment with flow (i) has β = 0 and it is linearized about the mean flow. The vortex is distorted by the mean flow so that the even Fourier components around the vortex grow, but the vortex does not move. When nonlinear effects are included the distortion is damped in the inner part of the vortex, but wavenumber two grows in the outer region. The addition of the beta effect causes the vortex to move in the same direction as the no mean flow solution provided the mean flow advection is removed from the trajectories. The trajectory for the anticyclonic mean flow is significantly longer than the cyclonic and no mean flow trajectories, which are about equal. For mean flow (ii), with the same absolute vorticity gradient as β but on an f plane, the vortex has a much shorter trajectory and a more westerly direction of movement than the no mean flow solution with beta. This effect comes from the advective distortion of the vortex, which projects onto wavenumber one in the disturbance vorticity equation. It is shown with other experiments that beta has a stronger effect on vortex motion than the relative vorticity gradient.

Abstract

The fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) is used to simulate tropical cyclone (TC) wind distribution near landfall. On an f plane at 15°N, the effects of the different surface roughness between the land and sea on the wind asymmetry is examined under a strong constraint of a dry atmosphere and time-invariant axisymmetric mass fields. The winds are found to adjust toward a steady state for prelandfall (50, 100, and 150 km offshore), landfall, and postlandfall (50, 100, and 150 km inland) TC positions.

The TC core is asymmetric even when it lies completely offshore or inland. The surface (10 m) wind asymmetry at the core for pre- (post) landfall position is apparently related to the acceleration (deceleration) of the flow that has just moved over the sea (land) as a response to the sudden change of surface friction. For prelandfall TC positions, the resulted strong surface inflow to the left and front left (relative to the direction pointing from sea to land) also induces a tangential (or total) wind maxima at a smaller radius, about 90° downstream of the maximum inflow, consistent with the absolute angular momentum advection (or work done by pressure). The surface maximum wind is of similar magnitude as the gradient wind. There is also a small region of weak outflow just inside the wind maxima. For postlandfall TC positions, inflow is weakened to the right and rear right associated with the onshore flow. Both onshore and offshore flows affect the surface wind asymmetry of the core in the landfall case. Above the surface and near the top of the planetary boundary layer (PBL), the wind is also asymmetric and a strongly supergradient tangential wind is primarily maintained by vertical advection of the radial wind. Much of the steady-state vertical structure of the asymmetric wind is similar to that forced by the motion-induced frictional asymmetry, as found in previous studies.

The associated asymmetry of surface and PBL convergences has radial dependence. For example, the landfall case has stronger PBL convergence to the left for the 0–50-km core region, due to the radial inflow, but to the right for the 100–500-km outer region, due to the tangential wind convergence along the coastline.

The strong constraint is then removed by considering an experiment that includes moisture, cumulus heating, and the free adjustments of mass fields. The TC is weakening and the sea level pressure has a slightly wavenumber-1 feature with larger gradient wind to the right than to the left, consistent with the drift toward the land. The asymmetric features of the wind are found to be very similar to those in the conceptual experiments.

Abstract

The structure and intensity changes of tropical cyclones (TCs) in environmental vertical wind shear (VWS) are investigated in this study using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5). Triply nested domains of 36-, 12-, and 4-km resolution are used with fully explicit moisture physics in the 4-km domain. Idealized environments with easterly shears of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 m s⁻¹ between 800 and 200 hPa are applied on an f plane. Under small values of VWS (2 and 4 m s⁻¹), the TC intensities are similar to that of the control (CTRL; i.e., no VWS) after initial adjustments. The TCs under 6 and 8 m s⁻¹ of VWS are not as intense, although they do not weaken during the simulation. On the other hand, the TC in 10 m s⁻¹ of VWS weakened significantly.

Given the same VWS, the TC intensity is also found to be sensitive to TC size. Experiments with TCs with a smaller radius of 15 m s⁻¹ wind reveal that while the TC in 2 m s⁻¹ of VWS remains as intense as the CTRL, the TC in the 4 m s⁻¹ VWS case weakened significantly to a minimal hurricane by the end of the simulation. A VWS of 6 m s⁻¹ is strong enough to cause dissipation of the TC in 72 h. These results indicate that the size of a TC has to be taken into account in determining the intensity change of a TC in VWS.

In the 10 m s⁻¹ VWS case, the average temperature over the lower half of the troposphere within 50 km from the TC surface center is higher than that of the CTRL throughout the simulation. Such a warming, though of a small magnitude, is also observed for a brief period in the upper half of the troposphere before the rapid weakening of the TC and is related to the asymmetry of temperature required for a tilt of the vortex axis. The evolution of the vortex tilt is found to be similar to the dry simulations in previous studies, with the midlevel center (σ = 0.525) located mainly in the southeast quadrant of the surface center. A tendency for the midlevel center to rotate about the surface center is also observed. These results support the idea that the resistance to vertical tilt by the mutual rotation between the low-level and midlevel centers is also valid in the moist simulations.

It is hypothesized that the secondary circulation and the associated diabatic heating reduce the vertical tilt and the weakening. Condensation heating offsets the anomalous cooling effect due to the anomalous rising motion ahead of the vortex tilt. For small VWS, the vertical motion asymmetry is not strong enough to destroy the complete secondary circulation and the eyewall. As a result, a large temperature asymmetry and the associated vortex tilt cannot develop. Furthermore, there is no entrainment of cool/dry air in the upper troposphere. Therefore, TCs under small shears can be as intense as the CTRL.

Large-scale asymmetries in the form of anticyclones found in previous studies are also observed. These asymmetries are apparently related to the change of shears near the TCs. While the shears at outer radii stay roughly constant with time, the shears near the TC centers can have large temporal fluctuations both in magnitude and orientation. This result suggests that the location at which the VWS is estimated in observational studies could be important in determining the relationship between VWS and TC intensity change.

Abstract

Numerical experiments are performed with the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) to study the effects of surface-moisture flux and friction over land on the movement of tropical cyclones (TCs). On an f plane, the TCs are initially placed 150 km due east of a north–south-oriented coastline in an atmosphere at rest. It is found that a TC could drift toward land when the roughness length is 0.5 m over land, with an average drift speed of ∼1 m s⁻¹. Friction, but not surface-moisture flux over land, is apparently essential for the movement toward land. The friction-induced asymmetry in the large-scale flow is the primary mechanism responsible for causing the TC drift. The mechanism responsible for the development of the large-scale asymmetric flow over the lower to midtroposphere (∼900–600 hPa) appears to be the creation of asymmetric vorticity by the divergence term in the vorticity equation. Horizontal advection then rotates the asymmetric vorticity to give a northeasterly flow in the TC periphery (∼500–1000 km from the TC center). The flow near the TC center has a more northerly component because of the stronger rotation by the tangential wind of the TC at inner radii. However, the TC does not move with the large-scale asymmetric flow. Potential vorticity budget calculations indicate that while the horizontal advection term is basically due to the effect of advection by the large-scale asymmetric flow, the diabatic heating and vertical advection terms have to be considered in determining the vortex landward drift, because of the strong asymmetry in vertical motion. Two mechanisms could induce the asymmetry in vertical motion and cause a deviation of the TC track from the horizontal asymmetric flow. First, the large-scale asymmetric flow in the upper troposphere differs from that in the lower troposphere, both in magnitude and direction, which results in a vertical shear that could force the asymmetry. A vertical tilt of the vortex axis is also found that is consistent with the direction of shear and also the asymmetry in rainfall and vertical motion. Second, asymmetric boundary layer convergence that results from the internal boundary layer could also force an asymmetry in vertical motion.

Abstract

The interaction between a tropical cyclone (TC) and the underlying ocean is investigated using an atmosphere–ocean coupled model. The atmospheric model is developed from the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) mesoscale model version 4 MM4 and the ocean model consists of a mixed layer and an inactive stagnant layer beneath. Coupling between the atmosphere and the ocean models is achieved through wind stress and surface heat and moisture fluxes that depend on the sea surface temperature (SST). In the absence of a background flow, the atmospheric component consists of only a predefined vortex with an initial central pressure and the radius of the 15 m s⁻¹ wind. The basic control experiments demonstrate that the coupled model can simulate the development of a TC and its interaction with the ocean.

Changes in TC intensity are sensitive to those of SST and the response is almost instantaneous. An SST of ∼27°C is found to be the threshold for TC development. In addition, the initial depth of the ocean mixed layer has an appreciable effect on TC intensity, which also depends on the movement of the TC. Furthermore, the vertical structure of ocean (vertical temperature gradient in the stagnant layer and temperature differential between the two layers) plays a significant role in modulating TC intensity.

In the presence of a warm core eddy (WCE), a TC intensifies before its center reaches the edge of the WCE. Although the TC attains maximum intensity at the center of the WCE, it does not weaken to its original intensity after leaving the WCE. During the entire passage of the TC, the SST at the center of the WCE decreases by about only 1°C, and the WCE generally maintains its original characteristics. However, two cold pools are observed around its periphery. A similar intensification process occurs when a TC moves over a sharp SST gradient and a locally deep ocean mixed layer. These results are explained by the interaction between the ocean and the TC circulation as well as the change in the total surface heat flux.

Abstract

The influence of a uniform flow on the structural changes of a tropical cyclone (TC) is investigated using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). Idealized experiments are performed on either an f plane or a β plane. A strong uniform flow on an f plane results in a weaker vortex due to the development of a vertical wind shear induced by the asymmetric vertical motion and a rotation of upper-level anticyclone. The asymmetric vertical motion also reduces the secondary circulation of the vortex.

On a β plane with no flow, a broad anticyclonic flow is found to the southeast of the vortex, which expands with time. Similar to the f-plane case, asymmetric vertical motion and vertical wind shear are also found. This beta-induced shear weakens the no-flow case significantly relative to that on an f plane. When a uniform flow is imposed on a β plane, an easterly flow produces a stronger asymmetry whereas a westerly flow reduces it. In addition, an easterly uniform flow tends to strengthen the beta-induced shear whereas a westerly flow appears to reduce it by altering the magnitude and direction of the shear vector. As a result, a westerly flow enhances TC development while an easterly flow reduces it.

The vortex tilt and midlevel warming found in this study agree with the previous investigations of vertical wind shear. A strong uniform flow with a constant f results in a tilted and deformed potential vorticity at the upper levels. For a variable f, such tilting is more pronounced for a vortex in an easterly flow, while a westerly flow reduces the tilt. In addition, the vortex tilt appears to be related to the midlevel warming such that the warm core in the lower troposphere cannot extent upward, which leads to the subsequent weakening of the TC.