scholarly journals Tropical Cyclogenesis Detection in the North Pacific Using the Deviation Angle Variance Technique

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1663-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly M. Wood ◽  
Oscar G. Rodríguez-Herrera ◽  
Elizabeth A. Ritchie ◽  
Miguel F. Piñeros ◽  
Ivan Arias Hernández ◽  
...  

Abstract The deviation angle variance technique (DAV-T) for genesis detection is applied in the western and eastern North Pacific basins. The DAV-T quantifies the axisymmetric organization of cloud clusters using infrared brightness temperature. Since axisymmetry is typically correlated with intensity, the technique can be used to identify relatively high levels of organization at early stages of storm life cycles associated with tropical cyclogenesis. In addition, the technique can be used to automatically track cloud clusters that exhibit signs of organization. In the western North Pacific, automated tracking results for the 2009–11 typhoon seasons show that for a false alarm rate of 25.6%, 96.8% of developing tropical cyclones are detected with a median time of 18.5 h before the cluster reaches an intensity of 30 knots (kt; 1 kt = 0.51 m s−1) in the Joint Typhoon Warning Center best track at a DAV threshold of 1750°2. In the eastern North Pacific, for a false alarm rate of 38.0%, the system detects 92.9% of developing tropical cyclones with a median time of 1.25 h before the cluster reaches an intensity of 30 kt in the National Hurricane Center best track during the 2009–11 hurricane seasons at a DAV threshold of 1650°2. A significant decrease in tracked nondeveloping clusters occurs when a second organization threshold is introduced, particularly in the western North Pacific.

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (9) ◽  
pp. 2723-2734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Schreck ◽  
John Molinari

The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) influences tropical cyclone formation around the globe. Convectively coupled Kelvin waves are often embedded within the MJO, but their role in tropical cyclogenesis remains uncertain. This case study identifies the influences of the MJO and a series of Kelvin waves on the formation of two tropical cyclones. Typhoons Rammasun and Chataan developed in the western North Pacific on 28 June 2002. Two weeks earlier, conditions had been unfavorable for tropical cyclogenesis because of uniform trade easterlies and a lack of organized convection. The easterlies gave way to equatorial westerlies as the convective envelope of the Madden–Julian oscillation moved into the region. A series of three Kelvin waves modulated the development of the westerlies. Cyclonic potential vorticity (PV) developed in a strip between the growing equatorial westerlies and the persistent trade easterlies farther poleward. Rammasun and Chataan emerged from the apparent breakdown of this strip. The cyclonic PV developed in association with diabatic heating from both the MJO and the Kelvin waves. The tropical cyclones also developed during the largest superposition of equatorial westerlies from the MJO and the Kelvin waves. This chain of events suggests that the MJO and the Kelvin waves each played a role in the development of Rammasun and Chataan.


2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
pp. 774-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Schreck ◽  
John Molinari ◽  
Anantha Aiyyer

Abstract This study investigates the number of tropical cyclone formations that can be attributed to the enhanced convection from equatorial waves within each basin. Tropical depression (TD)-type disturbances (i.e., easterly waves) were the primary tropical cyclone precursors over the Northern Hemisphere basins, particularly the eastern North Pacific and the Atlantic. In the Southern Hemisphere, however, the number of storms attributed to TD-type disturbances and equatorial Rossby waves were roughly equivalent. Equatorward of 20°N, tropical cyclones formed without any equatorial wave precursor most often over the eastern North Pacific and least often over the western North Pacific. The Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) was an important tropical cyclone precursor over the north Indian, south Indian, and western North Pacific basins. The MJO also affected tropical cyclogenesis by modulating the amplitudes of higher-frequency waves. Each wave type reached the attribution threshold 1.5 times more often, and tropical cyclogenesis was 3 times more likely, within positive MJO-filtered rainfall anomalies than within negative anomalies. The greatest MJO modulation was observed for storms attributed to Kelvin waves over the north Indian Ocean. The large rainfall rates associated with tropical cyclones can alter equatorial wave–filtered anomalies. This study quantifies the contamination over each basin. Tropical cyclones contributed more than 20% of the filtered variance for each wave type over large potions of every basin except the South Pacific. The largest contamination, exceeding 60%, occurred for the TD band near the Philippines. To mitigate the contamination, the tropical cyclone–related anomalies were removed before filtering in this study.


2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (10) ◽  
pp. 4101-4116
Author(s):  
Yi-Huan Hsieh ◽  
Cheng-Shang Lee ◽  
Hsu-Feng Teng

AbstractA total of 14 tropical cyclones (TCs) that formed from 2008 to 2009 over the western North Pacific are simulated to examine the effects that environmental low-frequency and high-frequency vorticity (more than 10 days and less than 10 days, respectively) have on the formations of TCs [where the maximum surface wind ~25 kt (≈13 m s−1)]. Results show that all the simulations can reproduce the formation of a TC in an environment with a large 850-hPa low-frequency vorticity, even if the high-frequency parts are removed from the initial conditions. High-frequency vorticity mainly affects the timing and location of TC formation in such an environment. The 850-hPa vorticity is also analyzed in 3854 tropical cloud clusters that developed in 1981–2009 and may or may not have formed TCs; this reveals that the strength of the low-frequency vorticity is a crucial factor in TC formation. A tropical cloud cluster is expected to develop into a TC in an environment favorable for TC formation in the presence of a large 850-hPa low-frequency vorticity. The lead time for forecasting the formation of a TC can probably be extended under such conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-434
Author(s):  
Shumin Chen ◽  
Weibiao Li ◽  
Zhiping Wen ◽  
Mingsen Zhou ◽  
Youyu Lu ◽  
...  

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