scholarly journals Impact of SSTA in the East Indian Ocean on the Frequency of Northwest Pacific Tropical Cyclones: A Regional Atmospheric Model Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (23) ◽  
pp. 6227-6242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruifen Zhan ◽  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Chun-Chieh Wu

Abstract The impact of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the East Indian Ocean (EIO) on the tropical cyclone (TC) frequency over the western North Pacific (WNP) and the involved physical mechanisms are examined using the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) Regional Atmospheric Model (iRAM) driven by the reanalysis and the observed SSTs. The model reproduces generally quite realistic climatic features of the WNP TC activity, including the interannual variability of the WNP TC genesis frequency, the geographical distributions of TC genesis and frequency of occurrence. In particular, the model reproduces the observed statistical (negatively correlated) relationship between the WNP TC frequency and the EIO SSTA, as recently studied by Zhan et al. The experiments with artificially imposed SSTA in the EIO in the year 2004 with normal EIO SST and WNP TC activity confirm that the EIO SSTA does affect the TC genesis frequency in the entire genesis region over the WNP by significantly modulating both the western Pacific summer monsoon and the equatorial Kelvin wave activity over the western Pacific, two major large-scale dynamical controls of TC genesis over the WNP. Additional sensitivity experiments are performed for two extreme years: one (1994) with the highest and one (1998) with the lowest TC annual frequencies in the studied period. The results reveal that after the EIO SSTAs in the two extreme years are removed, the TC frequency in 1998 is close to the climatological mean, while the excessive TCs in 1994 are still simulated. The model results suggest that the warm EIO might be a major factor contributing to the unusually few TCs formed over the WNP in 1998, but the cold EIO seemed to contribute little to the excessive WNP TCs in 1994.

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 509-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruifen Zhan ◽  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Xiaotu Lei

Abstract This study attempts to understand contributions of ENSO and the boreal summer sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the East Indian Ocean (EIO) to the interannual variability of tropical cyclone (TC) frequency over the western North Pacific (WNP) and the involved physical mechanisms. The results show that both ENSO and EIO SSTA have a large control on the WNP TC genesis frequency, but their effects are significantly different. ENSO remarkably affects the east–west shift of the mean genesis location and accordingly contributes to the intense TC activity. The EIO SSTA affects the TC genesis in the entire genesis region over the WNP and largely determines the numbers of both the total and weak TCs. ENSO modulates the large-scale atmospheric circulation and barotropic energy conversion over the WNP, contributing to changes in both the TC genesis location and the frequency of intense TCs. The EIO SSTA significantly affects both the western Pacific summer monsoon and the equatorial Kelvin wave activity over the western Pacific, two major large-scale dynamical controls of TC genesis over the WNP. In general the warm (cold) EIO SSTA suppresses (promotes) the TC genesis over the WNP. Therefore, a better understanding of the combined contributions of ENSO and EIO SSTA could help improve the seasonal prediction of the WNP TC activity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (23) ◽  
pp. 8724-8739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruifen Zhan ◽  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Li Tao

Abstract A recent finding is the significant impact of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) over the east Indian Ocean (EIO) on the genesis frequency of tropical cyclones (TCs) over the western North Pacific (WNP). In this study it is shown that such an impact is significant only after the late 1970s. The results based on both data analysis and numerical model experiments demonstrate that prior to the late 1970s the EIO SSTA is positively correlated with the equatorial central Pacific SSTA and the latter produces an opposite atmospheric circulation response over the WNP to the former. As a result, the impact of the EIO SSTA on the TC genesis over the WNP is largely suppressed by the latter. After the late 1970s, the area coverage of the EIO SSTA is expanding. This considerably enhances the large-scale circulation response over the WNP to the EIO SSTA and significantly intensifies the impact of the EIO SSTA on TC genesis frequency over the WNP. The results from this study have great implications for seasonal prediction of TC activity over the WNP.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 849
Author(s):  
Hyun-Ju Lee ◽  
Emilia-Kyung Jin

The global impact of the tropical Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific (IOWP) is expected to increase in the future because this area has been continuously warming due to global warming; however, the impact of the IOWP forcing on West Antarctica has not been clearly revealed. Recently, ice loss in West Antarctica has been accelerated due to the basal melting of ice shelves. This study examines the characteristics and formation mechanisms of the teleconnection between the IOWP and West Antarctica for each season using the Rossby wave theory. To explicitly understand the role of the background flow in the teleconnection process, we conduct linear baroclinic model (LBM) simulations in which the background flow is initialized differently depending on the season. During JJA/SON, the barotropic Rossby wave generated by the IOWP forcing propagates into the Southern Hemisphere through the climatological northerly wind and arrives in West Antarctica; meanwhile, during DJF/MAM, the wave can hardly penetrate the tropical region. This indicates that during the Austral winter and spring, the IOWP forcing and IOWP-region variabilities such as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and Indian Ocean Basin (IOB) modes should paid more attention to in order to investigate the ice change in West Antarctica.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Zhang ◽  
Bizheng Wang ◽  
Qingcun Zeng

Abstract The impact of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) on summer rainfall in Southeast China is investigated using the Real-time Multivariate MJO (RMM) index and the observational rainfall data. A marked transition of rainfall patterns from being enhanced to being suppressed is found in Southeast China (east of 105°E and south of 35°N) on intraseasonal time scales as the MJO convective center moves from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific Ocean. The maximum positive and negative anomalies of regional mean rainfall are in excess of 10% relative to the climatological regional mean. Such different rainfall regimes are associated with the corresponding changes in physical fields such as the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH), moisture, and vertical motions. When the MJO is mainly over the Indian Ocean, the WPSH shifts farther westward, and the moisture and upward motions in Southeast China are increased. In contrast, when the MJO enters the western Pacific, the WPSH retreats eastward, and the moisture and upward motions in Southeast China are decreased. It is suggested that the MJO may influence summer rainfall in Southeast China through remote and local dynamical mechanisms, which correspond to the rainfall enhancement and suppression, respectively. The remote role is the energy propagation of the Rossby wave forced by the MJO-related heating over the Indian Ocean through the low-level westerly waveguide from the tropical Indian Ocean to Southeast China. The local role is the northward shift of the upward branch of the anomalous meridional circulation when the MJO is over the western Pacific, which causes eastward retreat of the WPSH and suppressed moisture transport toward Southeast China.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Ren ◽  
Shanshan Zhong ◽  
Dan Chen ◽  
Xiang Li ◽  
Tangtang Zhang

The interannual relationship between the spring sea surface temperature over the western tropical Indian Ocean (WTIO SST) and summer water vapor content over Tibetan Plateau (TPWVC) enhances significantly after 1992/1993. The regressed atmospheric circulation against WTIO SST index (WTIO SSTI) for two periods is explored to explain the interdecadal variation. During ID1 (1979–1991), the center of the anomalous anticyclone is generally located eastward and the weak easterly anomalies on its southern flank transport moisture from the western Pacific to Southeast China with no effects on TPWVC. In ID2 (1994–2017), the Northwest Pacific anticyclone, the anomalous easterlies, and the subtropical high at 500 hPa all move westward and enhance significantly; thus, it forms a westward moisture transport pathway delivering the water vapor from the western Pacific into Tibetan Plateau. A possible mechanism is raised. On the one hand, the SST anomalies (SSTA) related to WTIO SSTI extend eastward from spring to summer in ID2. With the increased mean SST in the Indo-western Pacific Ocean under the global warming and the stronger mean summer SST in the eastern Indian Ocean, the positive SSTA induce the enhanced Kelvin waves and Northwest Pacific anticyclone with strong easterly anomalies during ID2. But in ID1, the SSTA related to WTIO SST confined in the western-central Indian Ocean from spring to summer excite the decreased Kelvin waves with less significant easterly anomalies due to the weaker mean SST. On the other hand, the eastward shift of tropical summer SSTA generates the increased convection and rising motion over the Southeast Indian Ocean in ID2. They enhance the easterly anomalies on the southern flank of the Northwest Pacific anticyclone and induce anticyclonic shear through the meridional circulation. As a result, the easterly anomalies shift westward to transport more moisture into Tibetan Plateau. However, in ID1, the easterly anomalies of the anticyclone cannot be strengthened with no westward shift. Therefore, the above reasons lead to the interdecadal enhancement of relationship between the spring WTIO SST and summer TPWVC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Liang Yi ◽  
Haifeng Wang ◽  
Xiguang Deng ◽  
Haifan Yuan ◽  
Dong Xu ◽  
...  

Seamounts are ubiquitous topographic units in the global ocean, and their effects on local circulation have attracted great research attention in physical oceanography; however, fewer relevant efforts were made on geological timescales in previous studies. The Caiwei (Pako) Guyot in the Magellan Seamounts of the western Pacific is a typical seamount and oceanographic characteristics have been well documented. In this study, we investigate a sediment core by geochronological and geochemical studies to reveal a topography-induce surface-to-bottom linkage. The principal results are as follows: (1) Two magnetozones are recognized in core MABC–11, which can be correlated to the Brunhes and Matuyama chrons; (2) Elements Ca, Si, Cl, K, Mn, Ti, and Fe are seven elements with high intensities by geochemical scanning; (3) Ca intensity can be tuned to global ice volume to refine the age model on glacial-interglacial timescales; (4) The averaged sediment accumulation rate is ~0.73 mm/kyr, agreeing with the estimate of the excess 230Th data in the upper part. Based on these results, a proxy of element Mn is derived, whose variability can be correlated with changes in global ice volume and deep-water masses on glacial-interglacial timescales. This record is also characterized by an evident 23-kyr cycle, highlighting a direct influence of solar insolation on deep-sea sedimentary processes. Overall, sedimentary archives of the Caiwei Guyot not only record an intensified abyssal ventilation during interglaciations in the western Pacific, but also provide a unique window for investigating the topography-induced linkage between the upper and bottom ocean on orbital timescales.


Author(s):  
Maria Saburova ◽  
Manal Al-Kandari ◽  
Igor Polikarpov ◽  
Abrar Akbar ◽  
Sumaiah Hussain ◽  
...  

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