The Relationship Between Indian Ocean SST and Tropical Cyclone Genesis Frequency over North Indian Ocean in May

Tropical cyclone(TC)activities in the North Indian Ocean(NIO)peak in May during the pre-monsoon period,but the TC frequency shows obvious inter-annual variations.By conducting statistical analysis and dynamic diagnosis of long-term data from 1948 to 2016,the relationship between the inter-annual variations of Indian Ocean SST and NIO TC genesis frequency in May is analyzed in this paper.Furthermore,the potential mechanism concerning the effect of SST anomaly on TC frequency is also investigated.The findings are as follows:1)there is a broadly consistent negative correlation between NIO TC frequency in May and SST in the Indian Ocean from March to May,with the key influencing area located in the southwestern Indian Ocean(SWIO);2)the anomalies of SST in SWIO(SWIO-SST)are closely related to a teleconnection pattern surrounding the Indian Ocean,which can significantly modulate the high-level divergence,mid-level vertical motion and other related environmental factors and ultimately influence the formation of TCs over the NIO;3)the increasing trend of SWIO-SST may play an essential role in the downward trend of NIO TC frequency over the past 69 years.

A Survey of Statistical Relationships between Tropical Cyclone Genesis and Convectively Coupled Equatorial Rossby Waves

Convectively coupled equatorial Rossby waves(ERW)modulate tropical cyclone activities over tropical oceans.This study presents a survey of the statistical relationship between intraseasonal ERWs and tropical cyclone genesis(TCG)over major global TC basins using four-decade-long outgoing longwave radiation(OLR)and TC best-track datasets.Intraseasonal ERWs are identified from the OLR anomalies using an empirical orthogonal function(EOF)analysis method without imposing equatorial symmetry.We find that westward-propagating ERWs are most significant in four tropical ocean basins over the summer hemisphere and that ERWs exhibit similar northeast-southwest(southeast-northwest)tilted phase lines in the northern(southern)hemisphere,with an appreciable poleward advance of wave energy in most TC basins.The EOF-based ERW indices quantitatively show that ERWs significantly modulate TC genesis.The convectively active(suppressed)phases of ERWs coincide with increased(reduced)TCG occurrences.The TCG modulation by ERWs achieves the maximum where the ERWs propagate through the climatological TCG hotspots.As a result,the total number of TCG occurrences in the TC basins varies significantly according to the ERW phase.The ERW-TCG relationship is significant over the northwestern Pacific Ocean,northeastern Pacific Ocean,and the northern Indian Ocean during the northern summer seasons.In the southern summer season,the ERW-TCG relationship is significant over the southern Indian Ocean,Indonesian-Australia basin,and the southwestern Pacific Ocean.However,ERW activities are weak in the main TC development region of the Atlantic Ocean;and the impact on Atlantic TCG appears to be insignificant.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TROPICAL CYCLONE GENESIS IN THE WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC DURING THE DEVELOPING AND DECAYING PHASES OF TWO TYPES OF EL NIO

During the developing phase of central Pacific El Nio(CPEN), more frequent TC genesis over the northwest quadrant of the western North Pacific(WNP) is attributed to the horizontal shift of environmental vorticity field.Such a northwestward shift resembles the La Nia composite, even though factors that cause the shift differ(in the La Nia case the relative humidity effect is crucial). Greater reduction of TC frequency over WNP happened during the decaying phase of eastern Pacific El Nio(EPEN) than CPEN, due to the difference of the anomalous Philippine Sea anticyclone strength. The TC genesis exhibits an upward(downward) trend over the northern(southern) part of the WNP,which is linked to SST and associated circulation changes through local and remote effects.

Recent advances in operational tropical cyclone genesis forecast

Tropical cyclone(TC)genesis prediction is a major scientific challenge to the TC operation and research community.This report surveys the current status of TC genesis forecasts by a number of major operational centers covering the key ocean basins across both hemispheres.Since IWTC-9,we see an emergence of probabilistic TC genesis forecast products by operational centers,typically supported by the statistical processing of a combination of ensemble prediction and satellite analysis,covering time periods of couple of days to weeks ahead.The prevalence of multi-center grand ensemble approach highlights the uncertainties involved and the forecast challenges in quantitative genesis prediction.While operational practice might differ across agencies,verification efforts generally report a steady or slightly improving skill level in terms of reliability,which likely results from the continual improvement in global numerical weather prediction capability.

Bias Analysis in the Simulation of the Western North Pacific Tropical Cyclone Characteristics by Two High-Resolution Global Atmospheric Models

This study compares the atmosphere-only HighResMIP simulations from FGOALS-f3-H(FGOALS)and MRIAGCM3-2-S(MRI)with respect to tropical cyclone(TC)characteristics over the Western North Pacific(WNP)for the July-October months of 1985-2014.The focus is on investigating the role of the tropical easterly jet over the Western Pacific(WP_TEJ)in modulating the simulation biases in terms of their climatological distribution and interannual variability of WNP TC genesis frequency(TCGF)based on the analysis of the genesis potential index(GPI).Results show that the two models reasonably capture the main TC genesis location,the maximum center of frequency,and track density;however,their biases mainly lie in simulating the intense TCs and TCGF distributions.The MRI better simulates the windpressure relationship(WPR)but overestimates the proportion of super typhoons(SSTYs).At the same time,FGOALS underestimates the WPR and the proportion of SSTYs but better simulates the total WNP TC precipitation.In particular,FGOALS overestimates the TCGF in the northeastern WNP,which is strongly tied to an overestimated WP_TEJ and the enhanced vertical circulation to the north of its entrance region.In contrast,the MRI simulates a weaker WP_TEJ and vertical circulation,leading to a negative TCGF bias in most of the WNP.Both models exhibit comparable capability in simulating the interannual variability of WP_TEJ intensity,but the composite difference of large-scale atmospheric factors between strong and weak WP_TEJ years is overestimated,resulting in larger interannual anomalies of WNP TCGF,especially for FGOALS.Therefore,accurate simulations of the WP_TEJ and the associated oceanic and atmospheric factors are crucial to further improving WNP TC simulations for both models.

EVALUATION OF TROPICAL CYCLONE GENESIS PRECURSORS WITH REI ATIVE OPER ATING CHARACTERISTICS(ROC)IN HIGH-RESOLUTION ENSEMBLE FORECASTS:HURRICANE ERNESTO

Identifying the environmental conditions that control tropical cyclone(TC)genesis is a challenging problem.This study examines a new method to evaluate the precursors of TC genesis using high-resolution ensemble forecasts and relative operating characteristic(ROC)diagrams.With an advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model,high-resolution ensemble forecasts(at 5 km horizontal resolution)are conducted in various configurations using a bred vector method to form a set of 140 ensemble members for predicting Hurricane Ernesto’s genesis.Basic evaluation shows that high-resolution ensemble forecasts are able to predict well-developed TCs,whereas the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecast System(GEFS)fails to do so.This set of 140 ensemble members is employed to study the precursors of Hurricane Ernesto’s genesis by contrasting the genesis and nongenesis cases.Specifically,ROC curves,composite figures for genesis and nongenesis cases,and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests are applied to characterize the relationship between important environmental parameters near the beginning of the simulation and genesis likelihood 15-18 h later.It is found that moist conditions at 850 hPa,vertical wind shear,the strength of the 850 hPa pre existing wave,and upper-level warming play notable roles in Ernesto’s genesis.

CHAR ACTERISTICS OF TROPICAL CYCLONE GENESIS FORECASTS AND UNDERDISPERSION IN HIGH-RESOLUTION ENSEMBLE FORECASTING WITH A STOCHASTIC KINETIC ENERGY BACKSCATTER SCHEME

This study evaluates ensemble forecasts with a stochastic kinetic energy backscatter scheme(SKEBS)to predict tropical cyclone(TC)genesis and also to characterize the related ensemble underdispersion.Several sets of ensemble forecasts are generated using an advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model at 5 km horizontal resolution to predict the genesis of Hurricane Ernesto(2006)and Typhoon Nuri(2008).Ensemble forecasts with SKEBS are compared against a control ensemble forecast with the WRF model using downscaled initial conditions derived from the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecasting System.It is found that ensemble forecasts with SKEBS are able to generate probabilistic forecasts for TC genesis and also capable of indicating the forecast uncertainties.Compared with the deterministic forecast that fails to predict the genesis of Typhoon Nuri,the ensemble forecast with SKEBS is able to produce the genesis forecast.However,the underdispersion of ensemble forecasts with SKEBS is also present in all cases in terms of the simulation period and over the whole model domain,TC environment,and inner core regions,although it is reduced near the TC inner core region.In addition,the initial perturbation–based ensemble forecasts shows slightly less underdispersion compared with the SKEBS ensembles.

IMPACT OF CONVECTION OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA ON TROPICAL CYCLONE MOTION OVER THE WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC DURING SUMMER MONSOON

The intraseasonal oscillation(ISO) of the South China Sea(SCS, 105-120°E, 5-20°N) convection and its influences on the genesis and track of the western North Pacific(WNP) tropical cyclones(TCs) were explored, based on the daily average of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the OLR data and the western North Pacific tropical cyclone best-track data from 1979 to 2008. The mechanism of the influences of ISO on TC movement and the corresponding large-scale circulation were discussed by a trajectory model. It was found as follows.(1) During the SCS summer monsoon, the SCS convection exhibits the ISO features with active phases alternating with inactive phases. The monsoon circulation patterns are significantly different during these two phases. When the SCS convection is active(inactive), the SCS-WNP monsoon trough stretches eastward(retreats westward) due to the activity(inactivity) of SCS monsoon, and the WNP subtropical high retreats eastward(stretches westward), which enhances(suppresses) the monsoon circulation.(2) The amount of TC genesis in the active phase is much more than that in the inactive phase. A majority of TCs form west of 135 °E during the active phases but east of 135 °E in the inactive phases.(3) The TCs entering the area west of 135 °E and south of 25 °N would move straight into the SCS in the active phase, or recurve northward in the inactive phase.(4) Simulation results show that the steering flow associated with the active(inactive)phases is in favor of straight-moving(recurving) TCs. Meanwhile, the impacts of the locations of TC genesis on the characteristics of TC track cannot be ignored. TCs that occurred father westward are more likely to move straight into the SCS region.

Influence of Summer Monsoon on Asymmetric Bimodal Pattern of Tropical Cyclogenesis Frequency over the Bay of Bengal

The influence of summer monsoon on tropical cyclone (TC) genesis over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) is explored using an empirical genesis potential (GP) index. The annual cycle of cyclogenesis frequency over the BoB shows an asymmetric bimodal pattern with the maximum genesis number appearing in late October and the second largest in early May. The two peaks correspond to the withdrawal and onset of the BoB summer monsoon, respectively. The semimonthly GP index calculated without TC days over the BoB is consistent with TC genesis frequency, indicating that the index captures the monsoon-induced changes in the environment that are responsible for the seasonal variation of TC genesis frequency. Of the four environmental variables (i.e., low-level vorticity, mid-level relative humidity, potential intensity, and vertical wind shear) that enter into the GP index, the potential intensity makes the largest contribution to the bimodal distribution, followed by vertical wind shear due to small wind speed during the summer monsoon onset and withdrawal. The difference in TC genesis frequency between autumn and late spring is mainly owing to the relative humid-ity difference because a divergence (convergence) of horizontal moisture flux associated with cold dry northerlies (warm wet wester-lies) dominates the BoB in late spring (autumn).

Characteristics and mechanism of vertical coupling in the genesis of tropical cyclone Durian(2001)

The vertical coupling(VC)process and mechanism during the genesis of a tropical cyclone(TC)implied by the weak vertical shear of horizontal wind,one of the key factors impacting TC genesis,constitute important but unanswered fundamental scientific problems.This paper carried out a targeted investigation of this problem through numerical simulation and theoretical analyses.The main conclusions are as follows.Even if TC genesis occurs in a barotropic environment,a VC process still occurs between the trough(vortex)at the middle level and that at the lower level in the TC embryo area.VC mainly occurs at the tropical disturbance(TDS)stage.Only after the VC is accomplished can the tropical depression(TD)organize further by itself and develop into the tropical storm(TS)stage or the stronger tropical typhoon(TY)stage through the WISHE(wind-induced surface heat exchange)mechanism.In the VC process,vortical hot towers(VHTs)play vertical connecting roles and are the actual practitioners of the VC.Through the VHTs’vertical connections,the middle-and lower-troposphere trough axes move towards each other and realize the VC.VHTs can produce intensive cyclonic vorticity in the lower troposphere,which is mainly contributed by the stretching term.The tilting term can produce a single dipole or double dipole of vorticity,but the positive and negative vorticity pairs offset each other roughly.While the stretching term ensures that the cyclonic rotations of the wind field in the middle and lower levels tend to be consistent,the tilting term acts to uniformly distribute the horizontal wind in the vertical direction,and both terms facilitate the VC of the wind field.With the latent heat of condensation,VHTs heat the upper and middle troposphere so that the 352 K equivalent potential temperature contour penetrates vertically into the 925–300 hPa layer,realizing the VC of the temperature field.While forming cloud towers,VHTs make the ambient air become moist and nearly saturated so that the 95%relative humidity contour penetrates vertically into the 925–400 hPa layer,realizing the VC of the humidity field.Due to the collective contributions of the VHTs,the embryo area develops into a warm,nearly saturated core with strong cyclonic vorticity.The barotropic instability mechanism may also occur during TC genesis over the Northwest Pacific and provide rich large-scale environmental vorticity for TC genesis.The axisymmetric distribution of VHTs is an important sign of TC genesis.When a TC is about to form,there may be accompanying phenomena between the axisymmetric process of VHTs and vortex Rossby waves.