scholarly journals Mesoscale Horizontal Kinetic Energy Spectra of a Tropical Cyclone

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3579-3596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Lifeng Zhang ◽  
Jun Peng ◽  
Saisai Liu

A high-resolution cloud-permitting simulation with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is performed to investigate the mesoscale horizontal kinetic energy (HKE) spectra of a tropical cyclone (TC). The spectrum displays an arc-like shape in the troposphere and a quasi-linear shape in the lower stratosphere for wavelengths below 500 km during the mature period of the TC, while they both develop a quasi −5/3 slope. The total HKE spectrum is dominated by its rotational component in the troposphere but by its divergent component in the lower stratosphere. Further spectral HKE budget diagnosis reveals a generally downscale cascade of HKE, although a local upscale cascade gradually forms in the lower stratosphere. However, the mesoscale energy spectrum is not only governed by the energy cascade, but is evidently influenced also by other physical processes, among which the buoyancy effect converts available potential energy (APE) to HKE in the mid- and upper troposphere and converts HKE to APE in the lower stratosphere, the vertically propagating inertia–gravity waves transport the HKE from the upper troposphere to lower and higher layers, and the vertical transportation of convection always transports HKE upward.

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 3175-3182 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. Kim ◽  
H.-Y. Chun ◽  
W. Jang

Abstract. The characteristics of horizontal divergence induced by typhoon-generated gravity waves (HDTGWs) and the influence of HDTGW on typhoon evolution are investigated based on the simulation results of Typhoon Saomai (2006) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The power spectral density of HDTGW shows dominant powers at horizontal wavelengths of 20–30 km and at periods of less than 1 h. This is associated with gravity waves generated by vigorous convective clouds in an inner core region of the typhoon. However, the domain-averaged HDTGW in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere had a spectral peak at 24 h, which is well correlated with the minimum sea-level pressure of the typhoon, especially during a rapidly developing period. The 24 h period of the averaged HDTGW stems from the inertia–gravity waves generated by the convective clouds in the spiral rainbands, and showed no clear association with the thermal tides or the diurnal variation of precipitation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 28953-28972
Author(s):  
S. H. Kim ◽  
H.-Y. Chun ◽  
W. Jang

Abstract. The characteristics of horizontal divergence induced by typhoon-generated gravity waves (HDTGW) and the influence of HDTGW on typhoon evolution are investigated based on the simulation results of Typhoon Saomai (2006) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The power spectral density of HDTGW shows dominant powers at horizontal wavelengths of 20–30 km and at periods of less than one hour. This is associated with gravity waves generated by vigorous convective clouds in an inner core region of the typhoon. However, the domain-averaged HDTGW in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere had a spectral peak at 24 h, which is well correlated with the minimum sea-level pressure of the typhoon, especially during a rapidly developing period. The 24 h period of the averaged HDTGW stems from the inertia-gravity waves generated by the convective clouds in the spiral rainbands, and showed no clear association with the thermal tides or the diurnal variation of precipitation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 6029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hepeng Zheng ◽  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Lifeng Zhang ◽  
Jun Peng ◽  
...  

The intensification of Typhoon Lekima (2019) is simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting model to study the atmospheric horizontal kinetic energy (HKE) spectra and corresponding spectral HKE budgets under the control of real tropical cyclone (TC). The results show that the TC has the ability to modify the canonical atmospheric energy spectrum during its evolution, which is dominated by its rotational mode. With the intensification of Lekima, the HKE spectrum in the troposphere swells over the central mesoscale and develops an arc-like shape. The stronger the TC, the more pronounced the arc-like shape is and the smaller scale it extends to. The roles various physical processes play at different heights and horizontal scales during the intensification of Lekima are investigated and the dependence of the effect of physical processes on scale and height is revealed. Meanwhile, the potential relationship between the intensification of TC, the activation of energy activity at smaller scales, and the downscale extension of the arc-like spectral shape is found.


2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 688-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan S. Gentry ◽  
Gary M. Lackmann

Abstract The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to test the sensitivity of simulations of Hurricane Ivan (2004) to changes in horizontal grid spacing for grid lengths from 8 to 1 km. As resolution is increased, minimum central pressure decreases significantly (by 30 hPa from 8- to 1-km grid spacing), although this increase in intensity is not uniform across similar reductions in grid spacing, even when pressure fields are interpolated to a common grid. This implies that the additional strengthening of the simulated tropical cyclone (TC) at higher resolution is not attributable to sampling, but is due to changes in the representation of physical processes important to TC intensity. The most apparent changes in simulated TC structure with resolution occur near a grid length of 4 km. At 4-km grid spacing and below, polygonal eyewall segments appear, suggestive of breaking vortex Rossby waves. With sub-4-km grid lengths, localized, intense updraft cores within the eyewall are numerous and both polygonal and circular eyewall shapes appear regularly. Higher-resolution simulations produce a greater variety of shapes, transitioning more frequently between polygonal and circular eyewalls relative to lower-resolution simulations. It is hypothesized that this is because of the ability to resolve a greater range of wavenumbers in high-resolution simulations. Also, as resolution is increased, a broader range of updraft and downdraft velocities is present in the eyewall. These results suggest that grid spacing of 2 km or less is needed for representation of important physical processes in the TC eyewall. Grid-length and domain size suggestions for operational prediction are provided; for operational prediction, a grid length of 3 km or less is recommended.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Chane Ming ◽  
Samuel Jolivet ◽  
Yuei-An Liou ◽  
Fabrice Jégou ◽  
Dominique Mekies ◽  
...  

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are complex sources of atmospheric gravity waves (GWs). In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting Model was used to model TC Soudelor (2015) and the induced elliptical structures of GWs in the upper troposphere (UT) and lower stratosphere (LS) prior to its landfall over Taiwan. Conventional, spectral and wavelet analyses exhibit dominant GWs with horizontal and vertical wavelengths, and periods of 16–700 km, 1.5–5 km, and 1–20 h, respectively. The wave number one (WN1) wind asymmetry generated mesoscale inertia GWs with dominant horizontal wavelengths of 100–300 km, vertical wavelengths of 1.5–2.5 km (3.5 km) and westward (eastward) propagation at the rear of the TC in the UT (LS). It was also revealed to be an active source of GWs. The two warm anomalies of the TC core induced two quasi-diurnal GWs and an intermediate GW mode with a 10-h period. The time evolution of dominant periods could be indicative of changes in TC dynamics. The FormoSat-3/COSMIC (Formosa Satellite Mission-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) dataset confirmed the presence of GWs with dominant vertical wavelengths of about 3.5 km in the UT and LS.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (13) ◽  
pp. 7667-7684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuqing Zhang ◽  
Junhong Wei ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
K. P. Bowman ◽  
L. L. Pan ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study analyzes in situ airborne measurements from the 2008 Stratosphere–Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport (START08) experiment to characterize gravity waves in the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (ExUTLS). The focus is on the second research flight (RF02), which took place on 21–22 April 2008. This was the first airborne mission dedicated to probing gravity waves associated with strong upper-tropospheric jet–front systems. Based on spectral and wavelet analyses of the in situ observations, along with a diagnosis of the polarization relationships, clear signals of mesoscale variations with wavelengths ~ 50–500 km are found in almost every segment of the 8 h flight, which took place mostly in the lower stratosphere. The aircraft sampled a wide range of background conditions including the region near the jet core, the jet exit and over the Rocky Mountains with clear evidence of vertically propagating gravity waves of along-track wavelength between 100 and 120 km. The power spectra of the horizontal velocity components and potential temperature for the scale approximately between ~ 8 and ~ 256 km display an approximate −5/3 power law in agreement with past studies on aircraft measurements, while the fluctuations roll over to a −3 power law for the scale approximately between ~ 0.5 and ~ 8 km (except when this part of the spectrum is activated, as recorded clearly by one of the flight segments). However, at least part of the high-frequency signals with sampled periods of ~ 20–~ 60 s and wavelengths of ~ 5–~ 15 km might be due to intrinsic observational errors in the aircraft measurements, even though the possibilities that these fluctuations may be due to other physical phenomena (e.g., nonlinear dynamics, shear instability and/or turbulence) cannot be completely ruled out.


2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 2395-2420 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-W. Bao ◽  
S. A. Michelson ◽  
E. D. Grell

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 16111-16139 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Wu ◽  
H. Su ◽  
R. G. Fovell ◽  
T. J. Dunkerton ◽  
Z. Wang ◽  
...  

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 10757-10807 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Chane Ming ◽  
C. Ibrahim ◽  
S. Jolivet ◽  
P. Keckhut ◽  
Y.-A. Liou ◽  
...  

Abstract. Activity and spectral characteristics of gravity-waves (GWs) are analyzed during tropical cyclone (TC) Ivan (2008) in the troposphere and lower stratosphere using radiosonde and GPS radio occultation data, ECMWF outputs and simulations of French numerical model Meso-NH with vertical resolution varying between 150 m near the surface and 500 m in the lower stratosphere. Conventional methods for GW analysis and signal and image processing tools provide information on a wide spectrum of GWs with horizontal wavelengths of 40–1800 km and short vertical wavelengths of 0.6–10 km respectively and periods of 20 min–2 days. MesoNH model, initialized with Aladin-Réunion analyses, produces realistic and detailed description of TC dynamics, GWs, variability of the tropospheric and stratospheric background wind and TC rainband characteristics at different stages of TC Ivan. In particular a dominant eastward propagating TC-related quasi-inertia GW is present during intensification of TC Ivan with horizontal and vertical wavelengths of 400–600 km and 1.5–3.5 km respectively during intensification. A wavenumber-1 vortex Rossby wave is identified as a source of this medium-scale mode while short-scale modes located at north-east and south-east of the TC could be attributed to strong localized convection in spiral bands resulting from wavenumber-2 vortex Rossby waves. Meso-NH simulations also reveal high-frequency GWs with horizontal wavelengths of 20–80 km near the TC eye and high-frequency GWs-related clouds behind TC Ivan. In addition, GWs produced during landfall are likely to strongly contribute to background wind in the middle and upper troposphere as well as the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation.


For the continual development of the kinetic energy of the winds, it is necessary for the upper troposphere to be cooled by radiation. Results are reported of nine aircraft ascents on which the upward and downward flows of infra-red radiation were measured and com­pared with values calculated using the radiation charts of Elsasser and Yamamoto. The divergence of radiative flux deduced from these measurements clearly shows that the cooling in the troposphere is not very different from that calculated from radiation charts. The importance of clouds on the radiative pattern is demonstrated; at the moment, incom­plete knowledge of cloud structure will be the chief factor limiting the value of calculations of atmospheric radiation. The measurements are of very limited value in the stratosphere, since, for the very small quantities of water there, the effective radiation is in the rotation band of water vapour ( λ between 30 and 70 μ ) and the radiometer used was not sensitive to these wavelengths. If the use of radiation charts is extrapolated to these conditions they indicate that the radiative cooling continues in the lower stratosphere. This is in contrast with the ‘classical’ view that the stratosphere is in radiative equilibrium.


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