scholarly journals Is the State of the Air‐Sea Interface a Factor in Rapid Intensification and Rapid Decline of Tropical Cyclones?

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (12) ◽  
pp. 10174-10183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander V. Soloviev ◽  
Roger Lukas ◽  
Mark A. Donelan ◽  
Brian K. Haus ◽  
Isaac Ginis
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Soloviev ◽  
Breanna Vanderplow ◽  
Roger Lukas

<p>Rapid intensification of tropical cyclones is a challenge for forecasters. In 2017, Hurricane Maria intensified to a Category 5 storm within 24 hours and devastated Puerto Rico. The official forecast and all computer models were unable to predict it. Hurricane Dorian had been predicted as a tropical storm; unexpectedly, it intensified into a Category 5 storm and destroyed the Bahamas. Soloviev et al. (2017) suggested that under the assumption of constant enthalpy exchange coefficient, rapid cyclone intensification and decay can be related to the drag coefficient dependence on wind speed including an “aerodynamic drag well” around 60 m/s. This concept is in general terms consistent with Emanuel’s (1988) theory of maximum potential intensity of a tropical cyclone and its extension by Lee et al. (2019). The influence of sea spray is still a significant uncertainty. In order to study the effect of spray on dynamics of tropical cyclones, we have implemented a Volume of Fluid to Discrete-Phase Model (VOF to DPM). This model re-meshes the areas with increased gradients or curvature, which are suspicious for the interface instability. The generated water particles that satisfy the condition of asphericity are converted into Lagrangian particles. The size distribution of spray measured in air-sea interaction facilities is used for the model verification. Due to dynamic remeshing, VOF to DPM resolves spray particle radius from ten micrometers to a few millimeters, which correspond to spume. Results of the numerical simulation show a dramatic increase of spume generation under major tropical cyclones. Though sub-micrometer and micrometer scale spray particles are not resolved in this simulation, they are likely less significant in the momentum exchange at the air-sea interface than spume. These results are expected to contribute to the parameterization and proper treatment of spray in forecasting models, including cases of rapid intensification and rapid decline of tropical cyclones.<br>References:<br>Emanuel, K. A. (1988). The maximum intensity of hurricanes. JAS 45, 1143–1155.<br>Soloviev, A. V., Lukas, R., Donelan, M.A., Haus, B. K., Ginis, I. (2017). Is the state of the air-sea interface a factor in rapid intensification and rapid decline of tropical cyclones? JGR - Oceans 122, 10174-10183.<br>Lee, W., Kim, S.‐H., Chu, P.‐S., Moon,I.‐J., and Soloviev, A. V. (2019). An index to better estimate tropical cyclone intensity change in the western North Pacific. GRL 46, 8960-8968.</p>


Author(s):  
VICTOR BURLACHUK

At the end of the twentieth century, questions of a secondary nature suddenly became topical: what do we remember and who owns the memory? Memory as one of the mental characteristics of an individual’s activity is complemented by the concept of collective memory, which requires a different method of analysis than the activity of a separate individual. In the 1970s, a situation arose that gave rise to the so-called "historical politics" or "memory politics." If philosophical studies of memory problems of the 30’s and 40’s of the twentieth century were focused mainly on the peculiarities of perception of the past in the individual and collective consciousness and did not go beyond scientific discussions, then half a century later the situation has changed dramatically. The problem of memory has found its political sound: historians and sociologists, politicians and representatives of the media have entered the discourse on memory. Modern society, including all social, ethnic and family groups, has undergone a profound change in the traditional attitude towards the past, which has been associated with changes in the structure of government. In connection with the discrediting of the Soviet Union, the rapid decline of the Communist Party and its ideology, there was a collapse of Marxism, which provided for a certain model of time and history. The end of the revolutionary idea, a powerful vector that indicated the direction of historical time into the future, inevitably led to a rapid change in perception of the past. Three models of the future, which, according to Pierre Nora, defined the face of the past (the future as a restoration of the past, the future as progress and the future as a revolution) that existed until recently, have now lost their relevance. Today, absolute uncertainty hangs over the future. The inability to predict the future poses certain challenges to the present. The end of any teleology of history imposes on the present a debt of memory. Features of the life of memory, the specifics of its state and functioning directly affect the state of identity, both personal and collective. Distortion of memory, its incorrect work, and its ideological manipulation can give rise to an identity crisis. The memorial phenomenon is a certain political resource in a situation of severe socio-political breaks and changes. In the conditions of the economic crisis and in the absence of a real and clear program for future development, the state often seeks to turn memory into the main element of national consolidation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 878-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Kowch ◽  
Kerry Emanuel

Abstract Probably not. Frequency distributions of intensification and dissipation developed from synthetic open-ocean tropical cyclone data show no evidence of significant departures from exponential distributions, though there is some evidence for a fat tail of dissipation rates. This suggests that no special factors govern high intensification rates and that tropical cyclone intensification and dissipation are controlled by statistically random environmental and internal variability.


Author(s):  
Yuanlong Li ◽  
Yuqing Wang ◽  
Yanluan Lin ◽  
Xin Wang

AbstractThe radius of maximum wind (RMW) has been found to contract rapidly well preceding rapid intensification in tropical cyclones (TCs) in recent literature but the understanding of the involved dynamics is incomplete. In this study, this phenomenon is revisited based on ensemble axisymmetric numerical simulations. Consistent with previous studies, because the absolute angular momentum (AAM) is not conserved following the RMW, the phenomenon can not be understood based on the AAM-based dynamics. Both budgets of tangential wind and the rate of change in the RMW are shown to provide dynamical insights into the simulated relationship between the rapid intensification and rapid RMW contraction. During the rapid RMW contraction stage, due to the weak TC intensity and large RMW, the moderate negative radial gradient of radial vorticity flux and small curvature of the radial distribution of tangential wind near the RMW favor rapid RMW contraction but weak diabatic heating far inside the RMW leads to weak low-level inflow and small radial absolute vorticity flux near the RMW and thus a relatively small intensification rate. As RMW contraction continues and TC intensity increases, diabatic heating inside the RMW and radial inflow near the RMW increase, leading to a substantial increase in radial absolute vorticity flux near the RMW and thus the rapid TC intensification. However, the RMW contraction rate decreases rapidly due to the rapid increase in the curvature of the radial distribution of tangential wind near the RMW as the TC intensifies rapidly and RMW decreases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (11) ◽  
pp. 3773-3800 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Ryglicki ◽  
Joshua H. Cossuth ◽  
Daniel Hodyss ◽  
James D. Doyle

Abstract A satellite-based investigation is performed of a class of tropical cyclones (TCs) that unexpectedly undergo rapid intensification (RI) in moderate vertical wind shear between 5 and 10 m s−1 calculated as 200–850-hPa shear. This study makes use of both infrared (IR; 11 μm) and water vapor (WV; 6.5 μm) geostationary satellite data, the Statistical Hurricane Prediction Intensity System (SHIPS), and model reanalyses to highlight commonalities of the six TCs. The commonalities serve as predictive guides for forecasters and common features that can be used to constrain and verify idealized modeling studies. Each of the TCs exhibits a convective cloud structure that is identified as a tilt-modulated convective asymmetry (TCA). These TCAs share similar shapes, upshear-relative positions, and IR cloud-top temperatures (below −70°C). They pulse over the core of the TC with a periodicity of between 4 and 8 h. Using WV satellite imagery, two additional features identified are asymmetric warming/drying upshear of the TC relative to downshear, as well as radially thin arc-shaped clouds on the upshear side. The WV brightness temperatures of these arcs are between −40° and −60°C. All of the TCs are sheared by upper-level anticyclones, which limits the strongest environmental winds to near the tropopause.


2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 2009-2032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew T. Hazelton ◽  
Xuejin Zhang ◽  
Sundararaman Gopalakrishnan ◽  
William Ramstrom ◽  
Frank Marks ◽  
...  

Abstract The FV3GFS is the current operational Global Forecast System (GFS) at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), which combines a finite-volume cubed sphere dynamical core (FV3) and GFS physics. In this study, FV3GFS is used to gain understanding of rapid intensification (RI) of tropical cyclones (TCs) in shear. The analysis demonstrates the importance of TC structure in a complex system like Hurricane Michael, which intensified to a category 5 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico despite over 20 kt (10 m s−1) of vertical wind shear. Michael’s RI is examined using a global-nest FV3GFS ensemble with the nest at 3-km resolution. The ensemble shows a range of peak intensities from 77 to 159 kt (40–82 m s−1). Precipitation symmetry, vortex tilt, moisture, and other aspects of Michael’s evolution are compared through composites of stronger and weaker members. The 850–200-hPa vertical shear is 22 kt (11 m s−1) in the mean of both strong and weak members during the early stage. Tilt and moisture are two distinguishing factors between strong and weak members. The relationship between vortex tilt and humidification is complex, and other studies have shown both are important for sheared intensification. Here, it is shown that tilt reduction leads to upshear humidification and is thus a driving factor for intensification. A stronger initial vortex and early evolution of the vortex also appear to be the key to members that are able to resist the sheared environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 3139-3160
Author(s):  
Chieh-Jen Cheng ◽  
Chun-Chieh Wu

Abstract This study examines the role of surface heat fluxes, particularly in relation to the wind-induced surface heat exchange (WISHE) mechanism, in the rapid intensification (RI) of tropical cyclones (TCs). Sensitivity experiments with capped surface fluxes and thus reduced WISHE exhibit delayed RI and weaker peak intensity, while WISHE could affect the evolutions of TCs both before and after the onset of RI. Before RI, more WISHE leads to faster increase of equivalent potential temperature in the lower levels, resulting in more active and stronger convection. In addition, TCs in experiments with more WISHE reach a certain strength earlier, before the onset of RI. During the RI period, more surface heat fluxes could provide convective instability in the lower levels, and cause a consequent development in the convective activity. More efficient intensification in a TC is found with higher surface heat fluxes and larger inertial stability, leading to a stronger peak intensity, more significant and deeper warm core in TC center, and the axisymmetrization of convection in the higher levels. In both stages, different levels of WISHE alter the thermodynamic environment and convective-scale processes. In all, this study supports the crucial role of WISHE in affecting TC intensification rate for TCs with RI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (02) ◽  
pp. 6-12

The following topics are under this section: New Mechanism in Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease for Possible Therapeutic Targets Prediction of Tropical Cyclones Undergoing Rapid Intensification New Methodology for Determining Molecular Chemical Structure Chinese Academy of Sciences Showcase Thousand-ton Scale Solar Fuel Synthesis Insights to DNA Sequence of African Swine Fever Virus Developing Beijing’s Modern Science City China Completes Construction of Hospital in Record Time to Combat Wuhan Virus


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