A Comparison Study of the Contributions of Additional Observations in the Sensitive Regions Identified by CNOP and FSV to Reducing Forecast Error Variance for the Typhoon Morakot

The sensitive regions of conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs) and the first singular vector (FSV) for a northwest Pacific typhoon case are reported in this paper. A large number of probes have been designed in the above regions and the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF) techniques are utilized to examine which approach can locate more appropriate regions for typhoon adaptive observations. The results show that, in general, the majority of the probes in the sensitive regions of CNOPs can reduce more forecast error variance than the probes in the sensitive regions of FSV. This implies that adaptive observations in the sensitive regions of CNOPs are more effective than in the sensitive regions of FSV. Furthermore, the reduction of the forecast error variance obtained by the best probe identified by CNOPs is twice the reduction of the forecast error variance obtained by FSV. This implies that dropping sondes, which is the best probe identified by CNOPs, can improve the forecast more than the best probe identified by FSV. These results indicate that the sensitive regions identified by CNOPs are more appropriate for adaptive observations than those identified by FSV.

The Sensitive Regions Identified by CNOPs of Three Typhoon Events

In this paper, several sets of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) were designed for three typhoon cases to determine whether or not the additional observation data in the sensitive regions identified by conditional nonlinear optimal perturbations (CNOPs) could improve the short-range forecast of typhoons. The results show that the CNOPs capture the sensitive regions for typhoon forecasts, which implies that conducting additional observation in these specific regions and eliminating initial errors could reduce forecast errors. It is inferred from the results that dropping sondes in the CNOP sensitive regions could lead to improvements in typhoon forecasts.

Environmental Conditions Determining the Timing of the Lifetime Maximum Intensity of Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific and Their Frequency of Occurrence

Environmental conditions determining the timing of the lifetime maximum intensities of tropical cyclones(TCs)are investigated for the TCs over the western North Pacific during the period 2008-2017.The results show that the land controls the timings of the lifetime maximum intensities in 42% of the TCs over this basin,indicating that accurate track forecasts are beneficial for TC intensity forecasts.With respect to other TCs that are not affected by the land(i.e.,Ocean-TCs),the timings of their lifetime maximum intensities are determined by multiple oceanic factors.In particular,interactions between TCs and cold-core eddies occur in a large proportion(nearly 60%)of Ocean-TCs at or shortly after the times of their lifetime maximum intensities,especially in strong TCs(categories 4 and 5),suggesting that a consideration of the above interactions is necessary for improving TC intensity forecasting skills.In addition,unfavorable oceanic heat content conditions become common as the latitude increases over 25°N,influencing half of the Ocean-TCs.Strong vertical wind shear contributes detrimentally to the atmospheric environment in 17% of the TCs over this basin,especially in moderate and weak TCs.In contrast,neither the maximum potential intensity nor the humidity in the middle level of the atmosphere plays dominant roles when TCs turn from their peak intensities to weakening.