Some implications of core regime wind structures in western North Pacific tropical cyclones

D. Y C Chen, K. K W Cheung, Cheng Shang Lee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)
40 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this study, a tropical cyclone (TC) is considered to be compact if 1) the radius of maximum wind or the maximum tangential wind is smaller than what would be expected for an average tropical cyclone of the same intensity or the same radius of maximum wind, and 2) the decrease of tangential wind outside the radius of maximum wind is greater than that of an average TC. A structure parameter S is defined to provide a quantitative measure of the compactness of tropical cyclones. Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) oceanic winds are used to calculate S for 171 tropical cyclones during 2000-07. The S parameters are then used to classify all of the cases as either compact or incompact according to the 33% and 67% percentiles. It is found that the early intensification stage is favorable for the occurrence of compact tropical cyclones, which also have a higher percentage of rapid intensification than incompact cases. Composite infrared brightness temperature shows that compact tropical cyclones have highly axisymmetric convective structures with strong convection concentrated in a small region near the center. Low-level synoptic patterns are important environmental factors that determine the degree of compactness; however, it is believed that compact tropical cyclones maintain their structures mainly through internal dynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-75
Number of pages15
JournalWeather and Forecasting
Volume26
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2011

Bibliographical note

© Copyright [2011] American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be €œfair use€ under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS€™s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a web site or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy, available on the AMS Web site located at (http://www.ametsoc.org/) or from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or [email protected].

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