Analysis and High-Resolution Modeling of Tropical Cyclogenesis During the TCS-08 and TPARC Field Campaign

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Li ◽  
Melinda S. Peng
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Tropical Cyclogenesis ◽  
Field Campaign

scholarly journals Coarse, intermediate and high resolution numerical simulations of the transition of a tropical wave critical layer to a tropical storm

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (22) ◽  
pp. 10803-10827 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Montgomery ◽  
Z. Wang ◽  
T. J. Dunkerton
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Tropical Storm ◽  
Critical Layer ◽  
Tropical Cyclogenesis ◽  
Cyclonic Vorticity ◽  
Easterly Wave ◽  
Tropical Depressions

Abstract. Recent work has hypothesized that tropical cyclones in the deep Atlantic and eastern Pacific basins develop from within the cyclonic Kelvin cat's eye of a tropical easterly wave critical layer located equatorward of the easterly jet axis. The cyclonic critical layer is thought to be important to tropical cyclogenesis because its cat's eye provides (i) a region of cyclonic vorticity and weak deformation by the resolved flow, (ii) containment of moisture entrained by the developing flow and/or lofted by deep convection therein, (iii) confinement of mesoscale vortex aggregation, (iv) a predominantly convective type of heating profile, and (v) maintenance or enhancement of the parent wave until the developing proto-vortex becomes a self-sustaining entity and emerges from the wave as a tropical depression. This genesis sequence and the overarching framework for describing how such hybrid wave-vortex structures become tropical depressions/storms is likened to the development of a marsupial infant in its mother's pouch, and for this reason has been dubbed the "marsupial paradigm". Here we conduct the first multi-scale test of the marsupial paradigm in an idealized setting by revisiting the Kurihara and Tuleya problem examining the transformation of an easterly wave-like disturbance into a tropical storm vortex using the WRF model. An analysis of the evolving winds, equivalent potential temperature, and relative vertical vorticity is presented from coarse (28 km), intermediate (9 km) and high resolution (3.1 km) simulations. The results are found to support key elements of the marsupial paradigm by demonstrating the existence of a rotationally dominant region with minimal strain/shear deformation near the center of the critical layer pouch that contains strong cyclonic vorticity and high saturation fraction. This localized region within the pouch serves as the "attractor" for an upscale "bottom up" development process while the wave pouch and proto-vortex move together. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to an upcoming field experiment for the most active period of the Atlantic hurricane season in 2010 that is to be conducted collaboratively between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration (NASA).

scholarly journals Using Variable-Resolution Meshes to Model Tropical Cyclones in the Community Atmosphere Model

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 1221-1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin M. Zarzycki ◽  
Christiane Jablonowski ◽  
Mark A. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Spectral Element ◽  
Tropical Cyclogenesis ◽  
Uniform Grid ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Variable Resolution

Abstract A statically nested, variable-mesh option has recently been introduced into the Community Atmosphere Model’s (CAM's) Spectral Element (SE) dynamical core that has become the default in CAM version 5.3. This paper presents a series of tests of increasing complexity that highlight the use of variable-resolution grids in CAM-SE to improve tropical cyclone representation by dynamically resolving storms without requiring the computational demand of a global high-resolution grid. As a simplified initial test, a dry vortex is advected through grid transition regions in variable-resolution meshes on an irrotational planet with the CAM subgrid parameterization package turned off. Vortex structure and intensity is only affected by grid resolution and no spurious artifacts are observed. CAM-SE model simulations using an idealized tropical cyclone test case on an aquaplanet show no numerical distortion or wave reflection when the cyclone interacts with an abrupt transition region. Using the same test case, the authors demonstrate that a regionally refined mesh with significantly fewer degrees of freedom can produce the same local results as a globally uniform grid. Additionally, the authors discuss a more complex aquaplanet experiment with meridionally varying sea surface temperatures that reproduces a quasi-realistic global climate. Tropical cyclogenesis is facilitated without the need for vortex bogusing in a high-resolution patch embedded within a global grid that is otherwise too coarse to resolve realistic tropical cyclones in CAM.

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