Identification

Title

The role of wave energy accumulation in tropical cyclone genesis over the tropical North Atlantic

Abstract

A hierarchical modeling approach is used to study the process by which interactions of easterly waves with the background flow can result in a reduction in the longitudinal and vertical scale of the waves. Theory suggests that in flows that possess a negative longitudinal gradient (U x < 0) there is a reduction of longitudinal and vertical group speeds and an increase in regional wave action density (or "wave energy"). Relative vorticity increases locally leading to an increase in the likelihood of tropical cyclogenesis near the wave axis. Opposite impacts on the structure of the waves is expected in a U x > 0 domain. In the simplified framework of a free-surface and divergent shallow water model, Rossby wave properties are tracked through a range of background flow scenarios to determine the important scales of interaction. The importance of wave energy accumulation for tropical cyclogenesis is then studied in a full physics and dynamics model using a nested regional climate model simulation, at 12 km horizontal grid spacing, over the tropical North Atlantic region for the entire 2005 hurricane season. The dynamical environment within which 70% of easterly waves formed tropical cyclones exhibits coherent regions in which easterly winds increase towards the east, consistent with the occurrence of wave energy accumulation.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7tt4rf9

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-08-10T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact