Downstream Development Associated with the Extratropical Transition of Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
pp. 1295-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A. Harr ◽  
Jonathan M. Dea

Abstract The movement of a tropical cyclone into the midlatitudes involves interactions among many complex physical processes over a variety of space and time scales. Furthermore, the extratropical transition (ET) of a tropical cyclone may also result in a high-amplitude Rossby wave response that can extend to near-hemispheric scales. After an ET event occurs over the western portion of a Northern Hemisphere ocean basin, the high-amplitude downstream response often forces anomalous midlatitude circulations for periods of days to a week. These circulations may then be related to high-impact weather events far downstream of the forcing by the ET event. In this study, downstream development following ET events over the western North Pacific Ocean is examined. Local eddy kinetic energy analyses are conducted on four cases of North Pacific tropical cyclones of varying characteristics during ET into varying midlatitude flow characteristics during 15 July–30 September 2005. The goal is to examine the impact of each case on downstream development across the North Pacific during a period in which these events might increase the midlatitude cyclogenesis across the North Pacific during a season in which cyclogenesis is typically weak. Four typhoon (TY) cases from the summer of 2005 are chosen to represent the wide spectrum of variability in ET. This includes a case (TY Nabi 14W) that directly resulted in an intense midlatitude cyclone, a case in which a weak midlatitude cyclone resulted (TY Banyan 07W), a case in which the decaying tropical cyclone was absorbed into the midlatitude flow (TY Guchol 12W), and a case (TY Saola 17W) in which the tropical cyclone decayed under the influence of strong vertical wind shear. The variability in downstream response to each ET case is related to specific physical characteristics associated with the evolution of the ET process and the phasing between the poleward-moving tropical cyclone and the midlatitude circulation into which it is moving. A case of downstream development that occurred during September 2005 without an ET event is compared with the four ET cases.

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2223-2229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken-Chung Ko ◽  
Huang-Hsiung Hsu

Abstract The impact of tropical perturbation on the extratropical wave activity in the North Pacific in the submonthly time scale is demonstrated here. Previous studies identified a tropical cyclone (TC)/submonthly wave pattern, which propagated north-northwestward in the Philippine Sea and recurved in the oceanic region between Japan and Taiwan. This study found that, after the arrival of the TC/submonthly wave pattern at the recurving region, the eastward-propagating wave activity in the extratropical North Pacific was significantly enhanced. It is suggested that the TC/submonthly wave pattern, which is originated in the tropical western North Pacific, enhances the eastward energy propagation of Rossby wave–like perturbation in the extratropical North Pacific and may have an impact on the long-range weather predictability in the eastern North Pacific and western North America.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Ritchie ◽  
Kimberly M. Wood ◽  
Oscar G. Rodríguez-Herrera ◽  
Miguel F. Piñeros ◽  
J. Scott Tyo

Abstract The deviation-angle variance technique (DAV-T), which was introduced in the North Atlantic basin for tropical cyclone (TC) intensity estimation, is adapted for use in the North Pacific Ocean using the “best-track center” application of the DAV. The adaptations include changes in preprocessing for different data sources [Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-East (GOES-E) in the Atlantic, stitched GOES-E–Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-West (GOES-W) in the eastern North Pacific, and the Multifunctional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) in the western North Pacific], and retraining the algorithm parameters for different basins. Over the 2007–11 period, DAV-T intensity estimation in the western North Pacific results in a root-mean-square intensity error (RMSE, as measured by the maximum sustained surface winds) of 14.3 kt (1 kt ≈ 0.51 m s−1) when compared to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center best track, utilizing all TCs to train and test the algorithm. The RMSE obtained when testing on an individual year and training with the remaining set lies between 12.9 and 15.1 kt. In the eastern North Pacific the DAV-T produces an RMSE of 13.4 kt utilizing all TCs in 2005–11 when compared with the National Hurricane Center best track. The RMSE for individual years lies between 9.4 and 16.9 kt. The complex environment in the western North Pacific led to an extension to the DAV-T that includes two different radii of computation, producing a parametric surface that relates TC axisymmetry to intensity. The overall RMSE is reduced by an average of 1.3 kt in the western North Pacific and 0.8 kt in the eastern North Pacific. These results for the North Pacific are comparable with previously reported results using the DAV for the North Atlantic basin.


2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
pp. 774-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Schreck ◽  
John Molinari ◽  
Anantha Aiyyer

Abstract This study investigates the number of tropical cyclone formations that can be attributed to the enhanced convection from equatorial waves within each basin. Tropical depression (TD)-type disturbances (i.e., easterly waves) were the primary tropical cyclone precursors over the Northern Hemisphere basins, particularly the eastern North Pacific and the Atlantic. In the Southern Hemisphere, however, the number of storms attributed to TD-type disturbances and equatorial Rossby waves were roughly equivalent. Equatorward of 20°N, tropical cyclones formed without any equatorial wave precursor most often over the eastern North Pacific and least often over the western North Pacific. The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) was an important tropical cyclone precursor over the north Indian, south Indian, and western North Pacific basins. The MJO also affected tropical cyclogenesis by modulating the amplitudes of higher-frequency waves. Each wave type reached the attribution threshold 1.5 times more often, and tropical cyclogenesis was 3 times more likely, within positive MJO-filtered rainfall anomalies than within negative anomalies. The greatest MJO modulation was observed for storms attributed to Kelvin waves over the north Indian Ocean. The large rainfall rates associated with tropical cyclones can alter equatorial wave–filtered anomalies. This study quantifies the contamination over each basin. Tropical cyclones contributed more than 20% of the filtered variance for each wave type over large potions of every basin except the South Pacific. The largest contamination, exceeding 60%, occurred for the TD band near the Philippines. To mitigate the contamination, the tropical cyclone–related anomalies were removed before filtering in this study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 245-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiushu Pu ◽  
Quanliang Chen ◽  
Quanjia Zhong ◽  
Ruiqiang Ding ◽  
Ting Liu

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 761-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Wang ◽  
Liguang Wu

The strong westerly shear to the south flank of the tropical upper-tropospheric trough (TUTT) limits the eastward extension of tropical cyclone (TC) formation over the western North Pacific (WNP) and thus the zonal shift of the TUTT in warming scenarios has an important implication for the mean formation location of TCs. The impact of global warming on the zonal shift of the TUTT is investigated by using output from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) of 36 climate models in this study. It is found that considerable spread exists in the zonal position, orientation, and intensity of the simulated-climatologic TUTT in the historical runs, which is forced by observed conditions such as changes in atmospheric composition, solar forcing, and aerosols. The large spread is closely related to the diversity in the simulated SST biases over the North Pacific. Based on the 15 models with relatively high skill in their historical runs, the near-term (2016–35) projection shows no significant change of the TUTT longitude, while the TUTT experiences an eastward shift of 1.9° and 3.2° longitude in the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios in the long-term (2081–2100) projection with considerable intermodel variability. Further examination indicates that the projected changes in the zonal location of the TUTT are also associated with the projected relative SST anomalies over the North Pacific. A stronger (weaker) relative SST warming over the North Pacific favors an eastward (westward) shift of the TUTT, suggesting that the spatial pattern of the future SST change is an important factor for the zonal shift of the mean formation location of TCs.


2020 ◽  
pp. 269-286
Author(s):  
Robert L. Brownell ◽  
Phillip J. Clapham ◽  
Tomio Miyashita ◽  
Toshio Kasuya

The North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) is among the most endangered of all great whales, having been subject to intensivecommercial whaling in the 19th century. All available 20th century records of this species in the North Pacific were reviewed. There hasbeen a total of 1,965 recorded sightings since 1900; of these, 988 came from the western North Pacific, 693 from the eastern North Pacificand 284 had no location specified. Thirteen strandings (all but one from the western North Pacific) were recorded. Known catches forcommercial or scientific purposes totalled 742 (331 in the western North Pacific, 411 in the eastern North Pacific). Most of the reportedSoviet ‘sightings’ in the eastern North Pacific were actually catches, as may be the case for Soviet sightings in the Okhotsk Sea. In addition,the impact of known Soviet illegal catches in the Okhotsk Sea may be reflected in an apparent decline in sightings after the 1960s (althoughthis may be partly explained by low observer effort). Overall, the data support the hypothesis that at least two stocks of right whales existin the North Pacific. Any recovery in the western North Pacific population was compromised by the Soviet catches in the Okhotsk region,although recent sightings suggest that this population is still large enough to sustain reproduction. By contrast, Soviet catches in thenow-smaller eastern North Pacific population have severely reduced its prospects for recovery. Although the prognosis for this populationis poor, a long-term monitoring programme is required to better understand its conservation status and to determine whether it may beaffected by human-related problems that would require mitigation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
pp. 2325-2346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Archambault ◽  
Lance F. Bosart ◽  
Daniel Keyser ◽  
Jason M. Cordeira

Abstract Although prior studies have established that the extratropical flow pattern often amplifies downstream of recurving tropical cyclones (TCs), the extratropical flow response to recurving TCs has not to the authors' knowledge been systematically examined from a climatological perspective. In this study, a climatology of the extratropical flow response to recurving western North Pacific TCs is constructed from 292 cases of TC recurvature during 1979–2009. The extratropical flow response to TC recurvature is evaluated based on a time-lagged composite time series of an index of the North Pacific meridional flow surrounding TC recurvature. Similar time series are constructed for recurving TCs stratified by characteristics of the large-scale flow pattern, the TC, and the phasing between the TC and the extratropical flow to assess factors influencing the extratropical flow response to TC recurvature. Results reveal that following TC recurvature, significantly amplified flow develops over the North Pacific and persists for ~4 days. The tendency for significantly amplified North Pacific flow to develop following TC recurvature is sensitive to the strength of the TC–extratropical flow interaction (the phasing between the TC and the extratropical flow), which is based on the negative potential vorticity advection by the divergent outflow of the TC. In contrast, the tendency for significantly amplified North Pacific flow to develop following TC recurvature is relatively insensitive to the intensity or size of the recurving TC, or whether it subsequently reintensifies after becoming extratropical.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-466
Author(s):  
Melanie Bieli ◽  
Adam H. Sobel ◽  
Suzana J. Camargo ◽  
Michael K. Tippett

Abstract This paper introduces a logistic regression model for the extratropical transition (ET) of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and the western North Pacific, using elastic net regularization to select predictors and estimate coefficients. Predictors are chosen from the 1979–2017 best track and reanalysis datasets, and verification is done against the tropical/extratropical labels in the best track data. In an independent test set, the model skillfully predicts ET at lead times up to 2 days, with latitude and sea surface temperature as its most important predictors. At a lead time of 24 h, it predicts ET with a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.4 in the North Atlantic, and 0.6 in the western North Pacific. It identifies 80% of storms undergoing ET in the North Atlantic and 92% of those in the western North Pacific. In total, 90% of transition time errors are less than 24 h. Select examples of the model’s performance on individual storms illustrate its strengths and weaknesses. Two versions of the model are presented: an “operational model” that may provide baseline guidance for operational forecasts and a “hazard model” that can be integrated into statistical TC risk models. As instantaneous diagnostics for tropical/extratropical status, both models’ zero lead time predictions perform about as well as the widely used cyclone phase space (CPS) in the western North Pacific and better than the CPS in the North Atlantic, and predict the timings of the transitions better than CPS in both basins.


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