scholarly journals Effects of Asymmetric SST Distribution on Straight-Moving Typhoon Ewiniar (2006) and Recurving Typhoon Maemi (2003)

2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
pp. 3950-3967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumi Choi ◽  
Kyung-Sook Yun ◽  
Kyung-Ja Ha ◽  
Kwang-Yul Kim ◽  
Soon-Jo Yoon ◽  
...  

Abstract The effects of asymmetric sea surface temperature (SST) distribution on the tropical cyclone (TC) motion around East Asia have been examined using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model for the straight-moving Typhoon Ewiniar (2006) and recurving Typhoon Maemi (2003). The SST–TC motion relationships associated with the two different TCs and the physical mechanism of recurvature are investigated in the context of the potential vorticity tendency framework. A zonally asymmetric SST distribution alters the TC translating direction and speed, which is ascribable to the interaction between a TC and the environmental current associated with asymmetric SST forcing. A north–south SST gradient has an insignificant role in the TC motion. It is noted that the straight-moving (i.e., northward moving) TC deflects toward the region of warmer SST when SST is zonally asymmetric. A contribution of the horizontal advection including asymmetric flow induced by asymmetric forcing is dominant for the deflection. The recurving TC reveals northeastward acceleration and deceleration after the recurvature point in the western warming (WW) and eastern warming (EW) experiments, respectively. When it comes to a strong southerly vertical wind shear under the recurvature condition, diabatic heating can be a significant physical process associated with the downward motion over the region of upshear right. The enhanced (reduced) southwesterly flow effectively produces the acceleration (deceleration) of northeastward movement in WW (EW) after recurvature.

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 827-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Rantanen ◽  
Jouni Räisänen ◽  
Juha Lento ◽  
Oleg Stepanyuk ◽  
Olle Räty ◽  
...  

Abstract. A software package (OZO, Omega–Zwack–Okossi) was developed to diagnose the processes that affect vertical motions and geopotential height tendencies in weather systems simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. First, this software solves a generalised omega equation to calculate the vertical motions associated with different physical forcings: vorticity advection, thermal advection, friction, diabatic heating, and an imbalance term between vorticity and temperature tendencies. After this, the corresponding height tendencies are calculated with the Zwack–Okossi tendency equation. The resulting height tendency components thus contain both the direct effect from the forcing itself and the indirect effects (related to the vertical motion induced by the same forcing) of each physical mechanism. This approach has an advantage compared with previous studies with the Zwack–Okossi equation, in which vertical motions were used as an independent forcing but were typically found to compensate the effects of other forcings.The software is currently tailored to use input from WRF simulations with Cartesian geometry. As an illustration, results for an idealised 10-day baroclinic wave simulation are presented. An excellent agreement is found between OZO and the direct WRF output for both the vertical motion and the height tendency fields. The individual vertical motion and height tendency components demonstrate the importance of both adiabatic and diabatic processes for the simulated cyclone. OZO is an open-source tool for both research and education, and the distribution of the software will be supported by the authors.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mika Rantanen ◽  
Jouni Räisänen ◽  
Juha Lento ◽  
Oleg Stepanyuk ◽  
Olle Räty ◽  
...  

Abstract. A software package (OZO, Omega-Zwack-Okossi) was developed to diagnose the processes that affect vertical motions and geopotential height tendencies in weather systems simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. First, this software solves a generalized omega equation to calculate the vertical motions associated with different physical forcings: vorticity advection, thermal advection, friction, diabatic heating, and an imbalance term between vorticity and temperature tendencies. After this, the corresponding height tendencies are calculated with the Zwack-Okossi tendency equation. The resulting height tendency components thus contain both the direct effect from the forcing itself and the indirect effects (related to the vertical motion induced by the same forcing) of each physical mechanism. This approach has an advantage compared with previous studies with the Zwack-Okossi equation, in which vertical motions were used as an independent forcing but were typically found to compensate the effects of other forcings. The software is tailored to use input from WRF simulations with Cartesian geometry. As an illustration, results for an idealized 10-day baroclinic wave simulation are presented. An excellent agreement is found between OZO and the direct WRF output for both the vertical motion (correlation 0.97 in the midtroposphere) and the height tendency fields (correlation 0.95–0.98 in the whole troposphere). The individual vertical motion and height tendency components demonstrate the importance of both adiabatic and diabatic processes for the simulated cyclone. OZO is an open source tool for both research and education, and the distribution of the software will be supported by the authors.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 710-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley B. Goldenberg ◽  
Sundararaman G. Gopalakrishnan ◽  
Vijay Tallapragada ◽  
Thiago Quirino ◽  
Frank Marks ◽  
...  

Abstract The Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting Model (HWRF) was operationally implemented with a 27-km outer domain and a 9-km moving nest in 2007 (H007) as a tropical cyclone forecast model for the North Atlantic and eastern Pacific hurricane basins. During the 2012 hurricane season, a modified version of HWRF (H212), which increased horizontal resolution by adding a third (3 km) nest within the 9-km nest, replaced H007. H212 thus became the first operational model running at convection-permitting resolution. In addition, there were modifications to the initialization, model physics, tracking algorithm, etc. This paper compares H212 hindcast forecasts for the 2010–11 Atlantic hurricane seasons with forecasts from H007 and H3GP, a triply nested research version of HWRF. H212 reduced track forecast errors for almost all forecast times versus H007 and H3GP. H3GP was superior for intensity forecasts, although H212 showed some improvement over H007. Stratifying the cases by initial vertical wind shear revealed that the main weakness for H212 intensity forecasts was for cases with initially high shear. In these cases, H212 over- and under-intensified storms that were initially stronger and weaker, respectively. These results suggest the primary deficiency negatively impacting H212 intensity forecasts, especially in cases of rapid intensification, was that physics calls were too infrequent for the 3-km inner mesh. Correcting this deficiency along with additional modifications in the 2013 operational version yielded improved track and intensity forecasts. These intensity forecasts were comparable to statistical–dynamical models, showing that dynamical models can contribute to a decrease in operational forecast errors.


Author(s):  
Alessio Golzio ◽  
Silvia Ferrarese ◽  
Claudio Cassardo ◽  
Gugliemina Adele Diolaiuti ◽  
Manuela Pelfini

AbstractWeather forecasts over mountainous terrain are challenging due to the complex topography that is necessarily smoothed by actual local-area models. As complex mountainous territories represent 20% of the Earth’s surface, accurate forecasts and the numerical resolution of the interaction between the surface and the atmospheric boundary layer are crucial. We present an assessment of the Weather Research and Forecasting model with two different grid spacings (1 km and 0.5 km), using two topography datasets (NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010, digital elevation models) and four land-cover-description datasets (Corine Land Cover, U.S. Geological Survey land-use, MODIS30 and MODIS15, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer land-use). We investigate the Ortles Cevadale region in the Rhaetian Alps (central Italian Alps), focusing on the upper Forni Glacier proglacial area, where a micrometeorological station operated from 28 August to 11 September 2017. The simulation outputs are compared with observations at this micrometeorological station and four other weather stations distributed around the Forni Glacier with respect to the latent heat, sensible heat and ground heat fluxes, mixing-layer height, soil moisture, 2-m air temperature, and 10-m wind speed. The different model runs make it possible to isolate the contributions of land use, topography, grid spacing, and boundary-layer parametrizations. Among the considered factors, land use proves to have the most significant impact on results.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1507-1527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Keeler ◽  
Brian F. Jewett ◽  
Robert M. Rauber ◽  
Greg M. McFarquhar ◽  
Roy M. Rasmussen ◽  
...  

Abstract This paper assesses the influence of radiative forcing and latent heating on the development and maintenance of cloud-top generating cells (GCs) in high-resolution idealized Weather Research and Forecasting Model simulations with initial conditions representative of the vertical structure of a cyclone observed during the Profiling of Winter Storms campaign. Simulated GC kinematics, structure, and ice mass are shown to compare well quantitatively with Wyoming Cloud Radar, cloud probe, and other observations. Sensitivity to radiative forcing was assessed in simulations with longwave-only (nighttime), longwave-and-shortwave (daytime), and no-radiation parameterizations. The domain-averaged longwave cooling rate exceeded 0.50 K h−1 near cloud top, with maxima greater than 2.00 K h−1 atop GCs. Shortwave warming was weaker by comparison, with domain-averaged values of 0.10–0.20 K h−1 and maxima of 0.50 K h−1 atop GCs. The stabilizing influence of cloud-top shortwave warming was evident in the daytime simulation’s vertical velocity spectrum, with 1% of the updrafts in the 6.0–8.0-km layer exceeding 1.20 m s−1, compared to 1.80 m s−1 for the nighttime simulation. GCs regenerate in simulations with radiative forcing after the initial instability is released but do not persist when radiation is not parameterized, demonstrating that radiative forcing is critical to GC maintenance under the thermodynamic and vertical wind shear conditions in this cyclone. GCs are characterized by high ice supersaturation (RHice > 150%) and latent heating rates frequently in excess of 2.00 K h−1 collocated with vertical velocity maxima. Ice precipitation mixing ratio maxima of greater than 0.15 g kg−1 were common within GCs in the daytime and nighttime simulations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 2008-2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Ying-Hwa Kuo ◽  
Shu-Ya Chen ◽  
Xiang-Yu Huang ◽  
Ling-Feng Hsiao

Abstract The nonlocal excess phase observation operator for assimilating the global positioning system (GPS) radio occultation (RO) sounding data has been proven by some research papers to produce significantly better analyses for numerical weather prediction (NWP) compared to the local refractivity observation operator. However, the high computational cost and the difficulties in parallelization associated with the nonlocal GPS RO operator deter its application in research and operational NWP practices. In this article, two strategies are designed and implemented in the data assimilation system for the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to demonstrate the capability of parallel assimilation of GPS RO profiles with the nonlocal excess phase observation operator. In particular, to solve the parallel load imbalance problem due to the uneven geographic distribution of the GPS RO observations, round-robin scheduling is adopted to distribute GPS RO observations among the processing cores to balance the workload. The wall clock time required to complete a five-iteration minimization on a demonstration Antarctic case with 106 GPS RO observations is reduced from more than 3.5 h with a single processing core to 2.5 min with 106 processing cores. These strategies present the possibility of application of the nonlocal GPS RO excess phase observation operator in operational data assimilation systems with a cutoff time limit.


2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 2451-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Du ◽  
Tangdong Qu ◽  
Gary Meyers

Abstract Using results from the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA), this study assesses the mixed layer heat budget to identify the mechanisms that control the interannual variation of sea surface temperature (SST) off Java and Sumatra. The analysis indicates that during the positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) years, cold SST anomalies are phase locked with the season cycle. They may exceed −3°C near the coast of Sumatra and extend as far westward as 80°E along the equator. The depth of the thermocline has a prominent influence on the generation and maintenance of SST anomalies. In the normal years, cooling by upwelling–entrainment is largely counterbalanced by warming due to horizontal advection. In the cooling episode of IOD events, coastal upwelling–entrainment is enhanced, and as a result of mixed layer shoaling, the barrier layer no longer exists, so that the effect of upwelling–entrainment can easily reach the surface mixed layer. Horizontal advection spreads the cold anomaly to the interior tropical Indian Ocean. Near the coast of Java, the northern branch of an anomalous anticyclonic circulation spreads the cold anomaly to the west near the equator. Both the anomalous advection and the enhanced, wind-driven upwelling generate the cold SST anomaly of the positive IOD. At the end of the cooling episode, the enhanced surface thermal forcing overbalances the cooling effect by upwelling/entrainment, and leads to a warming in SST off Java and Sumatra.


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