Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season
This study investigates the characteristics of extratropical Rossby wave breaking (RWB) during the Atlantic hurricane season and its impacts on Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) activity. It was found that RWB perturbs the wind and moisture fields throughout the troposphere in the vicinity of a breakin...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt48t582b3 2023-05-15T17:31:23+02:00 Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season Zhang, G Wang, Z Peng, MS Magnusdottir, G 2363 - 2379 2017-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48t582b3 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt48t582b3 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48t582b3 public Journal of Climate, vol 30, iss 7 Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Oceanography Geomatic Engineering article 2017 ftcdlib 2021-04-16T07:11:37Z This study investigates the characteristics of extratropical Rossby wave breaking (RWB) during the Atlantic hurricane season and its impacts on Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) activity. It was found that RWB perturbs the wind and moisture fields throughout the troposphere in the vicinity of a breaking wave. When RWB occurs more frequently over the North Atlantic, the Atlantic main development region (MDR) is subject to stronger vertical wind shear and reduced tropospheric moisture; the basinwide TC counts are reduced, and TCs are generally less intense, have a shorter lifetime, and are less likely to make landfalls. A significant negative correlation was found between Atlantic TC activity and RWB occurrence during 1979-2013. The correlation is comparable to that with the MDR SST index and stronger than that with the Niño-3.4 index. Further analyses suggest that the variability of RWB occurrence in the western Atlantic is largely independent of that in the eastern Atlantic. The RWB occurrence in the western basin is more closely tied to the environmental variability of the tropical North Atlantic and is more likely to hinder TC intensification or reduce the TC lifetime because of its proximity to the central portion of TC tracks. Consequently, the basinwide TC counts and the accumulated cyclone energy have a strong correlation with western-basin RWB occurrence but only a moderate correlation with eastern-basin RWB occurrence. The results highlight the extratropical impacts on Atlantic TC activity and regional climate via RWB and provide new insights into the variability and predictability of TC activity. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of California: eScholarship Western Basin |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Oceanography Geomatic Engineering |
spellingShingle |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Oceanography Geomatic Engineering Zhang, G Wang, Z Peng, MS Magnusdottir, G Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
topic_facet |
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Oceanography Geomatic Engineering |
description |
This study investigates the characteristics of extratropical Rossby wave breaking (RWB) during the Atlantic hurricane season and its impacts on Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) activity. It was found that RWB perturbs the wind and moisture fields throughout the troposphere in the vicinity of a breaking wave. When RWB occurs more frequently over the North Atlantic, the Atlantic main development region (MDR) is subject to stronger vertical wind shear and reduced tropospheric moisture; the basinwide TC counts are reduced, and TCs are generally less intense, have a shorter lifetime, and are less likely to make landfalls. A significant negative correlation was found between Atlantic TC activity and RWB occurrence during 1979-2013. The correlation is comparable to that with the MDR SST index and stronger than that with the Niño-3.4 index. Further analyses suggest that the variability of RWB occurrence in the western Atlantic is largely independent of that in the eastern Atlantic. The RWB occurrence in the western basin is more closely tied to the environmental variability of the tropical North Atlantic and is more likely to hinder TC intensification or reduce the TC lifetime because of its proximity to the central portion of TC tracks. Consequently, the basinwide TC counts and the accumulated cyclone energy have a strong correlation with western-basin RWB occurrence but only a moderate correlation with eastern-basin RWB occurrence. The results highlight the extratropical impacts on Atlantic TC activity and regional climate via RWB and provide new insights into the variability and predictability of TC activity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zhang, G Wang, Z Peng, MS Magnusdottir, G |
author_facet |
Zhang, G Wang, Z Peng, MS Magnusdottir, G |
author_sort |
Zhang, G |
title |
Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
title_short |
Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
title_full |
Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
title_fullStr |
Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
title_full_unstemmed |
Characteristics and impacts of extratropical Rossby Wave breaking during the Atlantic hurricane season |
title_sort |
characteristics and impacts of extratropical rossby wave breaking during the atlantic hurricane season |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48t582b3 |
op_coverage |
2363 - 2379 |
geographic |
Western Basin |
geographic_facet |
Western Basin |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of Climate, vol 30, iss 7 |
op_relation |
qt48t582b3 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48t582b3 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1766128917304836096 |