scholarly journals A Pressure-Based Analysis of the Historical Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Intensity Record

2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
pp. 2611-2631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Knapp ◽  
John A. Knaff ◽  
Charles R. Sampson ◽  
Gustavo M. Riggio ◽  
Adam D. Schnapp

Abstract The western North Pacific Ocean is the most active tropical cyclone (TC) basin. However, recent studies are not conclusive on whether the TC activity is increasing or decreasing, at least when calculations are based on maximum sustained winds. For this study, TC minimum central pressure data are analyzed in an effort to better understand historical typhoons. Best-track pressure reports are compared with aircraft reconnaissance observations; little bias is observed. An analysis of wind and pressure relationships suggests changes in data and practices at numerous agencies over the historical record. New estimates of maximum sustained winds are calculated using recent wind–pressure relationships and parameters from International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) data. The result suggests potential reclassification of numerous typhoons based on these pressure-based lifetime maximum intensities. Historical documentation supports these new intensities in many cases. In short, wind reports in older best-track data are likely of low quality. The annual activity based on pressure estimates is found to be consistent with aircraft reconnaissance and between agencies; however, reconnaissance ended in the western Pacific in 1987. Since then, interagency differences in maximum wind estimates noted here and by others also exist in the minimum central pressure reports. Reconciling these recent interagency differences is further exasperated by the lack of adequate ground truth. This study suggests efforts to intercalibrate the interagency intensity estimate methods. Conducting an independent and homogeneous reanalysis of past typhoon activity is likely necessary to resolve the remaining discrepancies in typhoon intensity records.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhisa Tsuboki ◽  
Hiroyuki Yamada ◽  
Tadayasu Ohigashi ◽  
Taro Shinoda ◽  
Kosuke Ito ◽  
...  

<p>Typhoon is a tropical cyclone in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea. It is the most devastating weather system in East Asia. Strong winds and heavy rainfalls associated with a typhoon often cause severe disasters in these regions. There are many cases of typhoon disasters even in the recent decades in these regions. Furthermore, future projections of typhoon activity in the western North Pacific show that its maximum intensity will increase with the climate change. However, the historical data of typhoon (best track data) include large uncertainty after the US aircraft reconnaissance of typhoon was terminated in 1987. Another problem is that prediction of typhoon intensity has not been improved for the last few decades. To improve these problems, in situ observations of typhoon using an aircraft are indispensable. The T-PARCII (Tropical cyclone-Pacific Asian Research Campaign for Improvement of Intensity estimations/forecasts) project is aiming to improve estimations and forecasts of typhoon intensity as well as storm track forecasts.</p><p>In 2017, the T-PARCII team performed dropsonde observations of intense Typhoon Lan in collaboration with Taiwan DOTSTAR, which was the most intense typhoon in 2017 and caused huge disaster over the central Japan. It was categorized as a supertyphoon by JTWC and as a very intense and huge typhoon by JMA. Typhoon Lan moved northeastward to the east of the Okinawa main island and it was located around 23 N on 21 and 28 N on 22 October. In these two days, we made dropsonde observations at the center of the eye and in the surrounding area of the eyewall. The observations showed that the central pressure of Lan slightly increases from 926 hPa on 21 to 928 hPa on 22 October with the northward movement. On the other hand, The JMA best track data indicate that the central pressure decreases from 935 hPa on 21 to 915 hPa on 22 October. The observations also showed a significant double warm core structure in the eye and the maximum wind speed along the eyewall. The dropsonde data were used for forecast experiments. The result shows an improvement of typhoon track prediction.</p><p>The T-PARCII team also made aircraft observations of Typhoon Trami during the period from 25 to 28 September 2018 in collaboration with the SATREPS ULAT group and DOTSTAR. Trami was almost stationary during the period to the south of the Okinawa main island. Then, it moved northward and finally made a landfall over the central part of Japan. This also caused a big disaster and electricity was shut down for several days in the central part of Japan. Typhoon Trami showed a drastic change of intensity from 25 to 26 September with a large change of eye size from about a diameter of 60 km to 200 km. Dropsonde observations showed the change of central pressure and maximum wind speed as well as the thermodynamic structure of the eye.</p>


2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 2006-2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Shang Lee ◽  
Kevin K. W. Cheung ◽  
Jenny S. N. Hui ◽  
Russell L. Elsberry

Abstract The mesoscale features of 124 tropical cyclone formations in the western North Pacific Ocean during 1999–2004 are investigated through large-scale analyses, satellite infrared brightness temperature (TB), and Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) oceanic wind data. Based on low-level wind flow and surge direction, the formation cases are classified into six synoptic patterns: easterly wave (EW), northeasterly flow (NE), coexistence of northeasterly and southwesterly flow (NE–SW), southwesterly flow (SW), monsoon confluence (MC), and monsoon shear (MS). Then the general convection characteristics and mesoscale convective system (MCS) activities associated with these formation cases are studied under this classification scheme. Convection processes in the EW cases are distinguished from the monsoon-related formations in that the convection is less deep and closer to the formation center. Five characteristic temporal evolutions of the deep convection are identified: (i) single convection event, (ii) two convection events, (iii) three convection events, (iv) gradual decrease in TB, and (v) fluctuating TB, or a slight increase in TB before formation. Although no dominant temporal evolution differentiates cases in the six synoptic patterns, evolutions ii and iii seem to be the common routes taken by the monsoon-related formations. The overall percentage of cases with MCS activity at multiple times is 63%, and in 35% of cases more than one MCS coexisted. Most of the MC and MS cases develop multiple MCSs that lead to several episodes of deep convection. These two patterns have the highest percentage of coexisting MCSs such that potential interaction between these systems may play a role in the formation process. The MCSs in the monsoon-related formations are distributed around the center, except in the NE–SW cases in which clustering of MCSs is found about 100–200 km east of the center during the 12 h before formation. On average only one MCS occurs during an EW formation, whereas the mean value is around two for the other monsoon-related patterns. Both the mean lifetime and time of first appearance of MCS in EW are much shorter than those developed in other synoptic patterns, which indicates that the overall formation evolution in the EW case is faster. Moreover, this MCS is most likely to be found within 100 km east of the center 12 h before formation. The implications of these results to internal mechanisms of tropical cyclone formation are discussed in light of other recent mesoscale studies.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (18) ◽  
pp. 7777-7786
Author(s):  
Kaiyue Shan ◽  
Xiping Yu

AbstractThe establishment of a tropical cyclone (TC) trajectory model that can represent the basic physics and is practically advantageous considering both accuracy and computational cost is essential to the climatological studies of various global TC activities. In this study, a simple deterministic model is proposed based on a newly developed semiempirical formula for the beta drift under known conditions of the environmental steering flow. To verify the proposed model, all historical TC tracks in the western North Pacific and the North Atlantic Ocean basins during the period 1979–2018 are simulated and statistically compared with the relevant results derived from observed data. The proposed model is shown to well capture the spatial distribution patterns of the TC occurrence frequency in the two ocean basins. Prevailing TC tracks as well as the latitudinal distribution of the landfall TC number in the western North Pacific Ocean basin are also shown to agree better with the results derived from observed data, as compared to the existing models that took different strategies to include the effect of the beta drift. It is then concluded that the present model is advantageous in terms of not only the accuracy but also the capacity to accommodate the varying climate. It is thus believed that the proposed TC trajectory model has the potential to be used for assessing possible impacts of climate change on tropical cyclone activities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (15) ◽  
pp. 9110-9117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Sun ◽  
Dingqi Wang ◽  
Xiaomin Hu ◽  
Zheng Ling ◽  
Lu Wang

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 6339-6352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Huang ◽  
Chia Chou ◽  
Ronghui Huang

Abstract The seasonal modulation of tropical intraseasonal oscillation (TISO) on tropical cyclone (TC) geneses over the western North Pacific Ocean (WNP) is investigated in three periods of the WNP TC season: May–June (MJ), July–September (JAS), and October–December (OND). The modulation of the TISO–TC geneses over the WNP is strong in MJ, while it appears weaker in JAS and OND. In MJ, TISO propagates northward via two routes, the west route through the South China Sea and the east route through the WNP monsoon trough region, which are two clustering locations of TC geneses. TISO can synchronously influence most TC geneses over these two regions. In JAS, however, the modulation is out of phase between the monsoon trough region and the East Asian summer monsoon region, as well as the WNP subtropical high region, as a result of further northward propagation of TISO and scattered TC geneses. The TISO–TC genesis modulation in each individual region is comparable to that in MJ, although the modulation over the entire WNP in JAS appears weaker. In OND, TISO has a stronger influence on TC geneses west than east of 150°E because TISO decays and its convection center located at the equator is out of the TC genesis region when propagating eastward into east of 150°E. Midlevel relative humidity is the primary contribution to the modulations of TISO on the genesis environment, while vorticity could contribute to the modulation over the subtropics in JAS.


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