scholarly journals Erratum: Development of a Nonhydrostatic Version of the Mesoscale-Convection-Resolving Model and its Application to the Eyewall and Spiral Rainbands of Tropical Cyclones [Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 88 (2010), No. 4 pp.755–780]

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 589
Author(s):  
Masanori YAMASAKI
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Mesoscale Convection ◽  
Spiral Rainbands

scholarly journals How Do Outer Spiral Rainbands Affect Tropical Cyclone Structure and Intensity?*

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1250-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Surface Pressure ◽  
Diabatic Heating ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Atmospheric Column ◽  
Tangential Wind ◽  
Spiral Rainbands

Abstract A long-standing issue on how outer spiral rainbands affect the structure and intensity of tropical cyclones is studied through a series of numerical experiments using the cloud-resolving tropical cyclone model TCM4. Because diabatic heating due to phase changes is the main driving force of outer spiral rainbands, their effect on the tropical cyclone structure and intensity is evaluated by artificially modifying the heating and cooling rate due to cloud microphysical processes in the model. The view proposed here is that the effect of diabatic heating in outer spiral rainbands on the storm structure and intensity results mainly from hydrostatic adjustment; that is, heating (cooling) of an atmospheric column decreases (increases) the surface pressure underneath the column. The change in surface pressure due to heating in the outer spiral rainbands is significant on the inward side of the rainbands where the inertial stability is generally high. Outside the rainbands in the far field, where the inertial stability is low and internal atmospheric heating is mostly lost to gravity wave radiation and little is left to warm the atmospheric column and lower the local surface pressure, the change in surface pressure is relatively small. This strong radially dependent response reduces the horizontal pressure gradient across the radius of maximum wind and thus the storm intensity in terms of the maximum low-level tangential wind while increasing the inner-core size of the storm. The numerical results show that cooling in the outer spiral rainbands maintains both the intensity of a tropical cyclone and the compactness of its inner core, whereas heating in the outer spiral rainbands decreases the intensity but increases the size of a tropical cyclone. Overall, the presence of strong outer spiral rainbands limits the intensity of a tropical cyclone. Because heating or cooling in the outer spiral rainbands depends strongly on the relative humidity in the near-core environment, the results have implications for the formation of the annular hurricane structure, the development of concentric eyewalls, and the size change in tropical cyclones.

Rapid Filamentation Zone in a Numerically Simulated Tropical Cyclone*

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1158-1181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Considerable Effect ◽  
Convective Clouds ◽  
Radar Images ◽  
Shearing Deformation ◽  
Spiral Rainbands

Abstract In a recent study, Rozoff et al. proposed a possible mechanism to explain the formation and maintenance of the weak-echo annulus (or moat) outside of the primary eyewall of a tropical cyclone observed in radar images. By this mechanism, the moat is determined to be a region of the strain-dominated flow outside of the radius of maximum wind in which essentially all fields are filamented and deep convection is hypothesized to be highly distorted and even suppressed. This strain-dominated region is defined as the rapid filamentation zone wherein the filamentation time is shorter than the overturning time of deep convection. An attempt has been made in this study to test the hypothesis in a full-physics tropical cyclone model under idealized conditions and to extend the concept to the study of the inner-core dynamics of tropical cyclones. The foci of this paper are the evolution of the rapid filamentation zone during the storm intensification, the potential roles of rapid filamentation in the organization of inner spiral rainbands, and the damping of high azimuthal wavenumber asymmetries in the tropical cyclone inner core. The presented results show that instead of suppressing deep convection, the strain flow in the rapid filamentation zone outside the elevated potential vorticity core provides a favorable environment for the organized inner spiral rainbands, which generally have time scales of several hours, much longer than the typical overturning time scale of individual convective clouds. Although the moat in the simulated tropical cyclone is located in the rapid filamentation zone, it is mainly controlled by the subsidence associated with the overturning flow from eyewall convection and downdrafts from the anvil stratiform precipitation outside of the eyewall. It is thus suggested that rapid filamentation is likely to play a secondary role in the formation of the moat in tropical cyclones. Although the deformation field is determined primarily by the structure of the tropical cyclone, it can have a considerable effect on the evolution of the storm. Because of strong straining deformation, asymmetries with azimuthal wavenumber >4 are found to be damped effectively in the rapid filamentation zone. The filamentation time thus provides a quantitative measure of the stabilization and axisymmetrization of high-wavenumber asymmetries in the inner core by shearing deformation and filamentation.

A Theory for Mixed Vortex Rossby–Gravity Waves in Tropical Cyclones

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 3366-3381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhong ◽  
Da-Lin Zhang ◽  
Han-Cheng Lu
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Frequency Equation ◽  
Dynamical Instability ◽  
Wave Instability ◽  
Constant Coefficients ◽  
Mixed Wave ◽  
Spiral Rainbands

Abstract Vortex–Rossby waves (VRWs) and inertial gravity waves (IGWs) have been proposed to explain the propagation of spiral rainbands and the development of dynamical instability in tropical cyclones (TCs). In this study, a theory for mixed vortex–Rossby–inertia–gravity waves (VRIGWs), together with VRWs and IGWs, is developed by including both rotational and divergent flows in a shallow-water equations model. A cloud-resolving TC simulation is used to help simplify the radial structure equation for linearized perturbations and then transform it to a Bessel equation with constant coefficients. A cubic frequency equation describing the three groups of allowable (radially discrete) waves is eventually obtained. It is shown that low-frequency VRWs and high-frequency IGWs may coexist, but with separable dispersion characteristics, in the eye and outer regions of TCs, whereas mixed VRIGWs with inseparable dispersion and wave instability properties tend to occur in the eyewall. The mixed-wave instability, with shorter waves growing faster than longer waves, appears to explain the generation of polygonal eyewalls and multiple vortices with intense rotation and divergence in TCs. Results show that high-frequency IGWs would propagate at half their typical speeds in the inner regions with more radial “standing” structures. Moreover, all the propagating waves appear in the forms of spiral bands with different intensities as their radial widths shrink in time, suggesting that some spiral rainbands in TCs may result from the radial differential displacements of azimuthally propagating perturbations.

Evolution of the Moat Associated with the Secondary Eyewall Formation in a Simulated Tropical Cyclone

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nannan Qin ◽  
Liguang Wu ◽  
Qingyuan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Vertical Wind Shear ◽  
Outer Edge ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Subsequent Evolution ◽  
Secondary Eyewall Formation ◽  
Spiral Rainband ◽  
Spiral Rainbands ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Negative Buoyancy

AbstractPrevious studies have focused on the formation and maintenance of spiral rainbands in the secondary eyewall formation (SEF) of tropical cyclones (TCs). However, the evolution of the moat, a region with weak precipitation separating spiral rainbands from the inner eyewall, is also essential for the SEF. In this study, a semi-idealized numerical experiment is conducted to understand the SEF by focusing on the evolution of the moat. In the simulated TC, a secondary eyewall forms around 32 h, and then intensifies and replaces the inner eyewall at 46 h.It is found that the occurrence and subsequent evolution of the moat in the simulated TC are closely associated with the inner-eyewall structure. As the eyewall updraft becomes strong and the eyewall anvil is well developed, the upper-level inflow develops below the eyewall anvil in response to the diabatic warming in the eyewall anvil. The warming-induced inflow causes a drying effect and promotes the sublimation cooling below the anvil, inducing strong subsidence between the inner eyewall and the spiral rainband through the resulting negative buoyancy. Moreover, the resulting subsidence is enhanced by the compensated downward motion in the outer edge of the inner eyewall. Further analysis indicates that the rapidly decreasing vertical shear of environmental wind and the rapid filamentation zone outside the inner eyewall also play important role in the axisymmetrization of the rainband and the moat subsidence. Our results demonstrate that an intense inner eyewall with a wide upper-level anvil is favorable for the SEF in an environment with decreasing vertical wind shear.

An Examination of the Pressure–Wind Relationship for Intense Tropical Cyclones

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 895-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanh Q. Kieu ◽  
Hua Chen ◽  
Da-Lin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Surface Friction ◽  
Intensity Change ◽  
Additional Contribution ◽  
Pressure Drops ◽  
Hurricane Wilma ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Tangential Wind ◽  
Spiral Rainbands

Abstract In this study, the dynamical constraints underlining the pressure–wind relationship (PWR) for intense tropical cyclones (TCs) are examined with the particular focus on the physical connections between the maximum surface wind (VMAX) and the minimum sea level pressure (PMIN). Use of the Rankine vortex demonstrates that the frictional forcing in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) could explain a sizeable portion of the linear contributions of VMAX to pressure drops. This contribution becomes increasingly important for intense TCs with small eye sizes, in which the radial inflows in the PBL could no longer be neglected. Furthermore, the inclusion of the tangential wind tendency can make an additional contribution to the pressure drops when coupled with the surface friction. An examination of the double-eyewall configuration reveals that the formation of an outer eyewall or well-organized spiral rainbands complicates the PWR. An analysis of a cloud-resolving simulation of Hurricane Wilma (2005) shows that the outer eyewall could result in the continuous deepening of PMIN even with a constant VMAX. The results presented here suggest that (i) the TC size should be coupled with VMAX rather than being treated as an independent predictor as in the current PWRs, (ii) the TC intensity change should be at least coupled linearly with the radius of VMAX, and (iii) the radial wind in the PBL is of equal importance to the linear contribution of VMAX and its impact should be included in the PWR.

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