scholarly journals Initial Development and Genesis of Hurricane Dolly (2008)

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 655-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Fang ◽  
Fuqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Weather Research And Forecasting ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Initial Burst ◽  
Positive Vorticity ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
Stretching Effect

Abstract Based on a successful cloud-resolving simulation with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, this study examines key processes that led to the early development of Hurricane Dolly (2008). The initial development of Dolly consisted of three stages: (i) an initial burst of convection; (ii) stratiform development, dry intrusion, and thermodynamic recovery; and (iii) reinvigoration of moist convection and rapid intensification. Advanced diagnosis of the simulation—including the use of vorticity budget analysis, contour frequency analysis diagrams, and two-dimensional spectral decomposition and filtering—suggests that the genesis of Dolly is essentially a “bottom-up” process. The enhancement of the low-level vorticity is mainly ascribed to the stretching effect, which converges the ambient vorticity through stretching enhanced by moist convection. In the rapid intensification stage, smaller-scale positive vorticity anomalies resulting from moist convection are wrapped into the storm center area under the influence of background convergent flow. The convergence and accompanying aggregation of vorticity anomalies project the vorticity into larger scales and finally lead to the spinup of the system-scale vortex. On the other hand, although there is apparent stratiform development in the inner-core areas of incipient storm after the initial burst of convection, little evidence is found to support the genesis of Dolly through downward extension of the midlevel vorticity, a key process in the “top-down” thinking.

scholarly journals Vertical Vortex Development in Hurricane Michael (2018) during Rapid Intensification

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. DesRosiers ◽  
Michael M. Bell ◽  
Ting-Yu Cha
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Vertical Gradient ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Wind Retrieval ◽  
Retrieval Technique ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Tangential Wind

AbstractThe landfall of Hurricane Michael (2018) at category 5 intensity occurred after rapid intensification (RI) spanning much of the storm’s lifetime. Four Hurricane Hunter aircraft missions observed the RI period with tail Doppler radar (TDR). Data from each of the 14 aircraft passes through the storm were quality controlled via a combination of interactive and machine learning techniques. TDR data from each pass were synthesized using the SAMURAI variational wind retrieval technique to yield three-dimensional kinematic fields of the storm to examine inner core processes during RI. Vorticity and angular momentum increased and concentrated in the eyewall region. A vorticity budget analysis indicates the tendencies became more axisymmetric over time. In this study we focus in particular on how the eyewall vorticity tower builds vertically into the upper levels. Horizontal vorticity associated with the vertical gradient of tangential wind was tilted into the vertical by the eyewall updraft to yield a positive vertical vorticity tendency inward atop the existing vorticity tower, that is further developed locally upward and outward along the sloped eyewall through advection and stretching. Observed maintenance of thermal wind balance from a thermodynamic retrieval shows evidence of a strengthening warm core, which aided in lowering surface pressure and further contributed to the efficient intensification in the latter stages of this RI event.

Inner-core dynamics during the rapid intensification of Hurricane Wilma (2005) with a steady radius of the maximum wind

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nannan Qin ◽  
Da-Lin Zhang ◽  
William Miller ◽  
Chanh Kieu
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Vertical Motion ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Flux Divergence ◽  
Hurricane Wilma ◽  
Maximum Wind ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Core Dynamics ◽  
Major Process ◽  
Frictional Dissipation

<p>Recent studies show that some hurricanes may undergo rapid intensification (RI) without contracting the radius of maximum wind (RMW). A cloud-resolving WRF-prediction of Hurricane Wilma (2005) is used herein to examine what controls the RMW contraction and how a hurricane could undergo RI without contraction. Results show that the processes controlling the RMW contraction are different within and above the planetary boundary layer (PBL). In the PBL, radial inflows contribute to contraction, with frictional dissipation acting as an inhibiting factor. Above the PBL, radial outflows and vertical motion govern the RMW contraction, with the former inhibiting it. A budget analysis of absolute angular momentum (AAM) shows that the radial AAM flux convergence is the major process accounting for the spinup of the maximum rotation, while the vertical flux divergence of AAM and the frictional sink in the PBL oppose the spinup. During the RI stage with no RMW contraction, the local AAM tendencies in the eyewall are smaller in magnitude and narrower in width than those during the contracting RI stage. In addition, the AAM following the time-dependent RMW decreases with time in the PBL and remains nearly constant aloft during the contracting stage, whereas it increases during the non-contracting stage. These results reveal different constraints for the RMW contraction and RI, and help explain why a hurricane vortex can still intensify after the RMW ceases contraction</p>

scholarly journals Potential Vorticity Mixing and Rapid Intensification in the Numerically Simulated Supertyphoon Haiyan (2013)

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 2067-2090
Author(s):  
Satoki Tsujino ◽  
Hung-Chi Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Central Pressure ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Tangential Wind ◽  
Balanced Dynamics ◽  
Omega Equation

Abstract The inner-core dynamics of Supertyphoon Haiyan (2013) undergoing rapid intensification (RI) are studied with a 2-km-resolution cloud-resolving model simulation. The potential vorticity (PV) field in the simulated storm reveals an elliptical and polygonal-shaped eyewall at the low and middle levels during RI onset. The PV budget analysis confirms the importance of PV mixing at this stage, that is, the asymmetric transport of diabatically generated PV to the storm center from the eyewall and the ejection of PV filaments outside the eyewall. We employ a piecewise PV inversion (PPVI) and an omega equation to interpret the model results in balanced dynamics. The omega equation diagnosis suggests eye dynamical warming is associated with the PV mixing. The PPVI indicates that PV mixing accounts for about 50% of the central pressure fall during RI onset. The decrease of central pressure enhances the boundary layer (BL) inflow. The BL inflow leads to contraction of the radius of the maximum tangential wind (RMW) and the formation of a symmetric convective PV tower inside the RMW. The eye in the later stage of the RI is warmed by the subsidence associated with the convective PV towers. The results suggest that the pressure change associated with PV mixing, the increase of the symmetric BL radial inflow, and the development of a symmetric convective PV tower are the essential collaborating dynamics for RI. An experiment with 500-m resolution shows that the convergence of BL inflow can lead to an updraft magnitude of 20 m s−1 and to a convective PV tower with a peak value of 200 PVU (1 PVU = 10−6 K kg−1 m2 s−1).

scholarly journals Evolution of Dynamic and Thermodynamic Structures before and during Rapid Intensification of Tropical Cyclones: Sensitivity to Vertical Wind Shear

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171-1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Tao ◽  
Fuqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Wind Shear ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Onset Time ◽  
Vertical Wind ◽  
Asymmetric Structure ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Background Flow ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Axisymmetric Structure

Abstract This study explores the spatial and temporal changes in tropical cyclone (TC) thermodynamic and dynamic structures before, near, and during rapid intensification (RI) under different vertical wind shear conditions through four sets of convection-permitting ensemble simulations. A composite analysis of TC structural evolution is performed by matching the RI onset time of each member. Without background flow, the axisymmetric TC undergoes a gradual strengthening of the inner-core vorticity and warm core throughout the simulation. In the presence of moderate environmental shear (5–6 m s−1), both the location and magnitude of the asymmetries in boundary layer radial flow, relative humidity, and vertical motion evolve with the tilt vector throughout the simulation. A budget analysis indicates that tilting is crucial to maintaining the midlevel vortex while stretching and vertical advection are responsible for the upper-level vorticity generation before RI when strong asymmetries arise. Two warm anomalies are observed before the RI onset when the vortex column is tilted. When approaching the RI onset, these two warm anomalies gradually merge into one. Overall, the most symmetric vortex structure is found near the RI onset. Moderately sheared TCs experience an adjustment period from a highly asymmetric structure with updrafts concentrated at the down-tilt side before RI to a more axisymmetric structure during RI as the eyewall updrafts develop. This adjustment period near the RI onset, however, is found to be the least active period for deep convection. TC development under a smaller environmental shear (2.5 m s−1) condition displays an intermediate evolution between ensemble experiments with no background flow and with moderate shear (5–6 m s−1).

scholarly journals A Numerical Study on Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Vicente (2012) in the South China Sea. Part II: Roles of Inner-Core Processes

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Chen ◽  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Juan Fang ◽  
Ming Xue
Keyword(s):  
Inner Core ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Surface Heat Fluxes ◽  
Positive Vorticity ◽  
Vertical Development

In Part I of this study, the role of environmental monsoon flow in the onset of rapid intensification (RI) of Typhoon Vicente (2012) was discussed. In this Part II, key inner-core processes that effectively resist environmental vertical wind shear during RI onset are investigated. The convective precipitation shield (CPS) embedded in the downshear convergence zone plays a vital role in preconditioning the tropical cyclone (TC) vortex before RI. The CPS induces a mesoscale positive vorticity band (PVB) characterized by vortical hot tower structures upstream and shallower structures (~4 km) downstream. Multiple mesovortices form successively along the PVB and are detached from the PVB at its downstream end, rotating cyclonically around the TC center. The sufficient amount of vorticity anomalies in the PVB facilitates the upscale growth of a mesovortex into a reformed inner vortex, which eventually replaces the parent TC vortex (i.e., downshear reformation), leading to RI onset. The timing of downshear reformation is closely related to the gradually enhancing convective activity in the CPS, which is likely triggered/enhanced by increased surface heat fluxes in the downshear-left quadrant. Results from vorticity budget analyses suggest that convection in the CPS contributes to the vertical development of the tilted reformed inner vortex largely through tilting horizontal vorticity and advecting vorticity upward. The enhanced midlevel inner vortex precesses more quickly into the upshear flank and is concurrently advected toward the low-level inner vortex, resulting in vertical alignment of the reformed inner vortex and parent TC vortex at the end of downshear reformation.

scholarly journals Assimilation of All-Sky Infrared Radiances from Himawari-8 and Impacts of Moisture and Hydrometer Initialization on Convection-Permitting Tropical Cyclone Prediction

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (10) ◽  
pp. 3241-3258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masashi Minamide ◽  
Fuqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Geostationary Satellite ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Infrared Radiances ◽  
Cyclone Prediction

Abstract This study explores the impacts of assimilating all-sky infrared satellite radiances from Himawari-8, a new-generation geostationary satellite that shares similar remote sensing technology with the U.S. geostationary satellite GOES-16, for convection-permitting initialization and prediction of tropical cyclones with an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). This case studies the rapid intensification stages of Supertyphoon Soudelor (2015), one of the most intense tropical cyclones ever observed by Himawari-8. It is found that hourly cycling assimilation of the infrared radiance improves not only the estimate of the initial intensity, but also the spatial distribution of essential convective activity associated with the incipient tropical cyclone vortex. Deterministic convection-permitting forecasts initialized from the EnKF analyses are capable of simulating the early development of Soudelor, which demonstrates encouraging prospects for future improvement in tropical cyclone prediction through assimilating all-sky radiances from geostationary satellites such as Himawari-8 and GOES-16. A series of forecast sensitivity experiments are designed to systematically explore the impacts of moisture updates in the data assimilation cycles on the development and prediction of Soudelor. It is found that the assimilation of the brightness temperatures contributes not only to better constraining moist convection within the inner-core region, but also to developing a more resilient initial vortex, both of which are necessary to properly capture the rapid intensification process of tropical cyclones.

Fluctuations in inner-core structure during the rapid intensification of Super Typhoon Nepartak (2016)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Hardy ◽  
Juliane Schwendike ◽  
Roger K. Smith ◽  
Chris J. Short ◽  
Michael J. Reeder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Core Structure ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
Tangential Wind ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe key physical processes responsible for inner-core structural changes and associated fluctuations in the intensification rate for a recent, high-impact western North Pacific tropical cyclone that underwent rapid intensification (Nepartak, 2016) are investigated using a set of convection-permitting ensemble simulations. Fluctuations in the inner-core structure between ring-like and monopole states develop in 60% of simulations. A tangential momentum budget analysis of a single fluctuation reveals that during the ring-like phase, the tangential wind generally intensifies, whereas during the monopole phase, the tangential wind remains mostly constant. In both phases, the mean advection terms spin up the tangential wind in the boundary layer, whereas the eddy advection terms deepen the storm’s cyclonic circulation by spinning up the tangential wind between 1.5 and 4 km. Further calculations of the azimuthally-averaged, radially-integrated vertical mass flux suggest that periods of near-constant tangential wind tendency are accompanied by a weaker eyewall updraft, which is unable to evacuate all the mass converging in the boundary layer. Composite analyses calculated from 18 simulations produce qualitatively similar results to those from the single case, a finding that is also in agreement with some previous observational and modelling studies. Above the boundary layer, the integrated contribution of the eddy term to the tangential wind tendency is over 80% of the contribution from the mean term, irrespective of inner-core structure. Our results strongly indicate that to fully understand the storm’s three-dimensional evolution, the contribution of the eddies must be quantified.

The Intensity- and Size-Dependent Response of Tropical Cyclones to Increasing Vertical Wind Shear

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Finocchio ◽  
Rosimar Rios-Berrios
Keyword(s):  
Wind Field ◽  
Wind Shear ◽  
Diabatic Heating ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Vertical Wind ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Vertical Coupling ◽  
Tangential Wind

AbstractThis study describes a set of idealized simulations in which westerly vertical wind shear increases from 3 to 15 m s−1 at different stages in the lifecycle of an intensifying tropical cyclone (TC). The TC response to increasing shear depends on the intensity and size of the TC’s tangential wind field when shear starts to increase. For a weak tropical storm, increasing shear decouples the vortex and prevents intensification. For Category 1 and stronger storms, increasing shear causes a period of weakening during which vortex tilt increases by 10–30 km before the TCs reach a near-steady Category 1–3 intensity at the end of the simulations. TCs exposed to increasing shear during or just after rapid intensification tend to weaken the most. Backward trajectories reveal a lateral ventilation pathway between 8–11 km altitude that is capable of reducing equivalent potential temperature in the inner core of these TCs by nearly 2°C. In addition, these TCs exhibit large reductions in diabatic heating inside the radius of maximum winds (RMW) and lower-entropy air parcels entering downshear updrafts from the boundary layer, which further contributes to their substantial weakening. The TCs exposed to increasing shear after rapid intensification and an expansion of the outer wind field reach the strongest near-steady intensity long after the shear increases because of strong vertical coupling that prevents the development of large vortex tilt, resistance to lateral ventilation through a deep layer of the middle troposphere, and robust diabatic heating within the RMW.

Pathways to the Production of Precipitating Hydrometeors and Tropical Cyclone Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 2395-2420 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-W. Bao ◽  
S. A. Michelson ◽  
E. D. Grell
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Weather Research And Forecasting ◽  
Rapid Intensification ◽  
Latent Heating ◽  
Vertical Distributions ◽  
Double Moment ◽  
Microphysical Processes ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Pathways to the production of precipitation in two cloud microphysics schemes available in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model are investigated in a scenario of tropical cyclone intensification. Comparisons of the results from the WRF Model simulations indicate that the variation in the simulated initial rapid intensification of an idealized tropical cyclone is due to the differences between the two cloud microphysics schemes in their representations of pathways to the formation and growth of precipitating hydrometeors. Diagnoses of the source and sink terms of the hydrometeor budget equations indicate that the major differences in the production of hydrometeors between the schemes are in the spectral definition of individual hydrometeor categories and spectrum-dependent microphysical processes, such as accretion growth and sedimentation. These differences lead to different horizontally averaged vertical profiles of net latent heating rate associated with significantly different horizontally averaged vertical distributions and production rates of hydrometeors in the simulated clouds. Results from this study also highlight the possibility that the advantage of double-moment formulations can be overshadowed by the uncertainties in the spectral definition of individual hydrometeor categories and spectrum-dependent microphysical processes.

scholarly journals Impact of environmental moisture on tropical cyclone intensification

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 16111-16139 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Wu ◽  
H. Su ◽  
R. G. Fovell ◽  
T. J. Dunkerton ◽  
Z. Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Weather Research And Forecasting ◽  
Convective Activity ◽  
Dry Air ◽  
Moving Storm ◽  
Lagrangian Boundary ◽  
Moisture Increase

Abstract. The impacts of environmental moisture on the intensification of a tropical cyclone (TC) are investigated in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, with a focus on the azimuthal asymmetry of the moisture impacts. A series of sensitivity experiments with varying moisture perturbations in the environment are conducted and the Marsupial Paradigm framework is employed to understand the different moisture impacts. We find that modification of environmental moisture has insignificant impacts on the storm in this case unless it leads to convective activity in the environment, which deforms the quasi-Lagrangian boundary of the storm. By facilitating convection and precipitation outside the storm, enhanced environmental moisture ahead of the northwestward-moving storm induces a dry air intrusion to the inner core and limits TC intensification. However, increased moisture in the rear quadrants favors intensification by providing more moisture to the inner core and promoting storm symmetry, with primary contributions coming from moisture increase in the boundary layer. The different impacts of environmental moisture on TC intensification are governed by the relative locations of moisture perturbations and their interactions with the storm Lagrangian structure.

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