Modulation of Low-Latitude West Wind on Abnormal Track and Intensity of Tropical Cyclone Nargis (2008) in the Bay of Bengal

Tropical cyclone （TC） Nargis （2008） made landfall in Myanmar on 02 May 2008, bringing a storm surge, major flooding, and resulting in a significant death toll. TC Nargis （2008） displayed abnormal features, including rare eastward motion in its late stage, rapid intensification before landing. Using reanalysis data and a numerical model, we investigated how a low-latitude westerly wind modulated TC Nargis’ （2008） track and provided favorable atmospheric conditions for its rapid intensification. More importantly, we found a possible counterbalance effect of flows from the two hemispheres on the TC track in the Bay of Bengal. Our analysis indicates that a strong westerly wind burst across the Bay of Bengal, resulting in TC Nargis’ （2008） eastward movement after its recurvature. This sudden enhancement of westerly wind was mainly due to the rapidly intensified mid-level cross-equatorial flow. Our results show that a high-pressure system in the Southern Hemisphere induced this strong, mid-level, cross-equatorial flow. During the rapid intensification period of TC Nargis （2008）, this strong and broad westerly wind also transported a large amount of water vapor to TC Nargis （2008）. Sufficient water vapor gave rise to continuously high and increased mid-level relative humidity, which was favorable to TC Nargis’ （2008） intensification. Condensation of water vapor increased the energy supply, which eventuated the intensification of TC Nargis （2008） to a category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Climatological and Seasonal Variations of the Tropical Cyclone Genesis Potential Index Based on Oceanic Parameters in the Global Ocean

This study investigates the global performance of the tropical cyclone(TC)genesis potential index based on oceanic parameters(GPI_(ocean))proposed by Zhang et al.(2016).In six major TC formation basins,GPI_(ocean)can represent the seasonal variations of TC genesis over most basins,except for the North Indian Ocean(NIO).The monthly climatological GPI_(ocean)shows only a single peak in the NIO,which cannot describe the bimodal pattern of the annual cycle of TC genesis.To determine the cause of the poor performance of GPI_(ocean)in the NIO,the relative contributions of different parameters related to GPI_(ocean)are calculated and compared with those related to the genesis potential index developed by Emanuel and Nolan(2004)(GPI04).Results show that the net longwave radiation on the sea surface is responsible for the single peak of TC genesis in the NIO in boreal summer.Compared with GPI04,vertical wind shear is not involved in GPI_(ocean).Vertical wind shear is the dominant factor inhibiting TC genesis in the NIO in boreal summer.Therefore,the absence of vertical wind shear in GPI_(ocean)results in the failure of the annual cycle of TC genesis in the NIO.

The correctness to the spuriously simulated semi-annual cycle of the sea surface temperature in the equatorial eastern Pacific

One of the challenges faced by the climate model of the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) is the spuriously simulated semi-annual cycle of the sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial eastern Pacific. This model bias has limited the performance of the climate simulation and prediction. Based on the surface wave-circulation coupled theory, an atmosphere-wave-ocean coupled model was developed, which incorporates the MASNUM (key laboratory of Marine Sciences and Numerical Modeling) wave number spectral model into CCSM3. The new coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean model successfully removes the spurious semi-annual cycle simulated by the original CCSM3 and reasonably produces an SST annual cycle with warm and cold phases in April and August, respectively. The correlation between the simulated and observed SST in the equatorial eastern Pacific is improved from 0.66 to 0.93. The ocean surface layer heat budget analysis indicates that the wave-induced vertical mixing is responsible for improving the simulation of the SST seasonal cycle in the equatorial eastern Pacific.