Roles of Mesoscale Terrain and Latent Heat Release in Typhoon Precipitation: A Numerical Case Study

The mesoscale orographic effects on typhoon Aere＇s precipitation are simulated using an Advanced Regional Eta-coordinate Model （AREM） version 3.0. In particular, the effects of the latent heat release are studied by two comparable experiments： with and without condensational heating. The results show that the typhoon rainfall is tripled by the southeastern China mesoscale terrain, and the condensational heating is responsible for at least half of the increase. One role of the latent heat release is to warm the atmosphere, leading to a depression of the surface pressure, which then causes a larger pressure difference in the zonal direction. This pressure gradient guides the water vapour to flow into the foothills, which in turn amplifies the water vapour flux divergence amplified, causing the typhoon rainfall to increase eventually. The other role of the latent heat release is to make the convection more organized, resulting in a relatively smaller rain area and stronger precipitation.

A numerical simulation of latent heating within Typhoon Molave

The weather research and forecasting（WRF） model is a new generation mesoscale numerical model with a fine grid resolution（2 km）, making it ideal to simulate the macro-and micro-physical processes and latent heating within Typhoon Molave（2009）. Simulations based on a single-moment, six-class microphysical scheme are shown to be reasonable, following verification of results for the typhoon track, wind intensity, precipitation pattern, as well as inner-core thermodynamic and dynamic structures. After calculating latent heating rate, it is concluded that the total latent heat is mainly derived from condensation below the zero degree isotherm, and from deposition above this isotherm. It is revealed that cloud microphysical processes related to graupel are the most important contributors to the total latent heat. Other important latent heat contributors in the simulated Typhoon Molave are condensation of cloud water, deposition of cloud ice, deposition of snow, initiation of cloud ice crystals, deposition of graupel, accretion of cloud water by graupel, evaporation of cloud water and rainwater,sublimation of snow, sublimation of graupel, melting of graupel, and sublimation of cloud ice. In essence, the simulated latent heat profile is similar to ones recorded by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, although specific values differ slightly.

A baroclinic typhoon model with a moving multi-nested grid and variational adjustment initialisationI. Numerical method

A baroclinic typhoon model with a moving multi--nested grid is applied in marine environmental forecasts. This paper describes the numerical methods of the model including governing equations, finite differencing, split scheme and time integration.

A baroclinic typhoon model with a moving multi-nested grid andvariational adjustment initializationII. Forecast experiments

A 3-dimensional baroclinic typhoon model with a moving multi-nested grid and its initialization are described first. Prediction results are improved by using a simple but effective data assimilation method in which the initial field is adjusted by the sixth hour's typhoon report and the weak-constraint variational principle. Finally someforecast examples made by this typhoon model are given.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THE ROLE OF TROPICAL STORM NAMTHEUN IN THE UNUSUAL TRACKS OF THREE TROPICAL CYCLONES IN 2010

Tropical cyclones(TCs) Lionrock,Kompasu,and Namtheun were formed successively within 40 hours in 2010.Over the next several days afterwards,these TCs exhibited unusual movements which made operational prediction difficult.Verifications are performed on the forecasts of the tracks of these TCs with six operational models,including three global and three regional models.Results showed that the trends of TC tracks could be reproduced by these models,whereas trajectory turning points and landfall locations were not simulated effectively.The special track of Lionrock should be associated with its direct interaction with Namtheun,according to a conceptual model of binary TC interaction.By contrast,the relation between Kompasu and Namtheun satisfied the criteria for a semi-direct interaction.Numerical experiments based on the Global and Regional Assimilation and Prediction System-Tropical Cyclone forecast Model(GRAPES-TCM) further confirmed the effect of Namtheun on the unusual tracks of Lionrock and Kompasu.Finally,the physical mechanism of binary TC interaction was preliminarily proposed.

Improved Tropical Cyclone Forecasts with Increased Vertical Resolution in the TRAMS Model

The numerical simulation of typhoons has been found to be very sensitive to the vertical resolution of the model.During the updating of the TRAMS model from version 1.0 to 3.0,the horizontal resolution has been increased from 36 km to 9 km,while the vertical layer number only increased from 55 to 65 layers.The lack of high vertical resolution limits the performance of the TRAMS model in typhoon forecasting to a certain extent.In order to study the potential improvement of typhoon forecasting by increasing the vertical resolution,this paper increases the vertical resolution of the TRAMS model from 65 to 125 layers for the first time for a comparative simulation test.The results of the case study with Typhoon Hato(2017)show that the model with high vertical resolution can significantly enhance the warm structure caused by water vapor flux convergence and vertical transport,thus accurately simulating the rapid strengthening process of the typhoon.Meanwhile,the model with 125-layer vertical resolution can simulate the asymmetric structural characteristics of the wind field,which are closer to the observations and can help to reduce the bias in typhoon track forecasting.The improvement of vertical resolution is also trialed by using the batch test results of several landfalling typhoons in 2016-2017.The experimental results show that the typhoon forecast of the model becomes consistent with the observations only when the number of vertical layers of the model increases to about 125 layers,which in turn causes a large computational burden.In the next step,we will try to solve the computational burden problem caused by ultra-high vertical resolution with the top boundary nesting technique,and realize the application of high vertical resolution in the actual operation of the TRAMS model.

Government Investment in Disaster Risk Reduction Based on a Probabilistic Risk Model: A Case Study of Typhoon Disasters in Shenzhen, China

In recent years, cost-benefit analysis(CBA) has played an important role in disaster risk reduction(DRR)investment decisions, and now increasing attention is being paid to its application in developing countries. This article discusses government investment choices in DRR against typhoon disasters in Shenzhen, China. While the existing literature mainly focuses on disaster mitigation measures such as structural retrofitting, this study proposes a holistic framework of DRR investments in which structural(windproof retrofitting) and financial(insurance premium subsidies and post-disaster relief) are all taken into account.In particular, intermeasure spillover effects are measured and used in CBA. The results show that insurance premium subsidies yield the highest benefit-cost ratio and should be prioritized in investment. Windproof retrofitting comes in second place in terms of the benefit-cost ratio and can be considered when there is a sufficient budget. These results further confirm the need of a holistic review of government DRR investments to derive policy recommendations, while challenges remain in relation to the probabilistic modeling capacity to support CBA.

A numerical study of hydrodynamic characteristics and hydrological processes in the coastal wetlands during extreme events

Providing accurate predictions of extreme water levels through numerical simulation has become essential for disaster prevention and damage mitigation in coastal wetland areas.This study applies the FVCOM model to simulate storm surges caused by several typhoons in the Bohai Sea and the North Huanghai Sea.The vegetation drag force caused by salt marsh plants is inserted into the FVCOM model for model improvement with vegetation effect by integrating RS and GIS technologies.A parametric typhoon model is coupled with background wind fields derived to acquire the spatio-temporal variations of wind and pressure fields in the computational domain.The simulation results reproduce the extreme storm surges induced by typhoon events very well.The modeling results are compared by validating with literature results to examine the effect of vegetation on tidal waves in tidal mud flats.Moreover,the coupled model is also applied to explore storm surge attenuation and land intrusion during Typhoon Winnie in the wetlands of the Liao River Estuary.The simulation results indicate that salt marsh plants can reduce the flow current with little impact on tide flooding/ebbing in vegetated regions.Furthermore,the results show that typhoon presence increases the inundation depth and extendes the flood time in the tidal wetlands of the study region.The FVCOM model incorporating the method with vegetation drag force can provide new insights to understand the comprehensive impact of tidal wetland plants on hydrodynamic characteristics in the Bohai Sea and other waters,hence presents a more accurate quantification of the hydrological process of storm surge in the tidal wetlands.