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Doppler Radar Analysis of Typhoon Otto (1998) —Characteristics of Eyewall and Rainbands with and Without the Influence of Taiw

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Doppler Radar Analysis of Typhoon Otto (1998) —Characteristics of Eyewall and Rainbands with and Without the Influence of Taiw Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Vol. 83, No. 6, pp. 1001--1023, 2005 1001 Doppler Radar Analysis of Typhoon Otto (1998) —Characteristics of Eyewall and Rainbands with and without the Influence of Taiwan Orography Tai-Hwa HOR, Chih-Hsien WEI, Mou-Hsiang CHANG Department of Applied Physics, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, Taiwan, Republic of China and Che-Sheng CHENG Chinese Air Force Weather Wing, Taiwan, Republic of China (Manuscript received 27 October 2004, in final form 26 August 2005) Abstract By using the observational data collected by the C-band Doppler radar which was located at the Green Island off the southeast coast of Taiwan, as well as the offshore island airport and ground weather stations, this article focuses on the mesoscale analysis of inner and outer rainband features of Typhoon Otto (1998), before and after affected by the Central Mountain Range (CMR) which exceeds 3000 m in elevation while the storm was approaching Taiwan in the northwestward movement. While the typhoon was over the open ocean and moved north-northwestward in speed of 15 km/h, its eyewall was not well organized. The rainbands, separated from the inner core region and located at the first and second quadrants relative to the moving direction of typhoon, were embedded with active con- vections. The vertical cross sections along the radial showed that the outer rainbands tilted outward and were more intense than the inner ones. As the typhoon system gradually propagated to the offshore area near the southeast coast of Taiwan, the semi-elliptic eyewall was built up at the second and third quad- rants. Moreover, the strength of the eyewall became more intense compared with the outer rainbands, and the maximum wind axis was quite parallel to the vertical orientation of radar reflectivity in the eyewall. After the detailed streamline analysis, it indicated that the eyewall was enhanced by the con- fluence between the westerly flow, triggered by the farther outer circulation of the storm around the Taiwan Island, and the northwesterly flow near the inner circulation of the storm itself. Also, the left quadrant in the lower portion (below 2 km in altitude) possessed stronger Doppler velocity than that in the right quadrant, and the upper portion (above 2.0 km) had the opposite mode. This reverse phenom- enon of Doppler wind in the lower portion of the typhoon became more pronounced while the storm was getting closer to the mountain. The estimated typhoon center below 1.5 km in altitude had a slower Corresponding author: Tai-Hwa Hor, Department of Applied Physics, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, 190 Sanyuan 1st Street, Dahsi, Taoyuan 33509, Tai- wan, Republic of China. E-mail: [email protected] ( 2005, Meterological Society of Japan 1002 Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 83, No. 6 propagating speed due to the orographical blocking and corner effects, and the storm entity suggested a distorted appearance in the lower portion. 1. Introduction vective structure (Barnes et al. 1983; Jorgensen 1984a). Rainbands had fewer vertically ori- Typhoons (severe tropical cyclones with max- ented cores of reflectivity, and fewer organized imum sustained surface wind speed greater updrafts than the eyewalls had. Radially out- than 17 m/s) can produce widespread damage ward from the eyewall in a vertical plane in and account for the loss of many lives. The Hurricane Alicia, the rainbands were charac- western North Pacific Ocean and the South terized by extensive horizontally homogeneous China Sea could expect about twenty seven ty- reflectively patterns, with bright bands of en- phoons a year. It has been observed that ty- hanced reflectivity at altitudes of 4.0 to 4.5 km, phoons are more nearly circularly symmetric just below the melting level (Jorgensen 1984b). than frontal cyclones since they involve no air Jorgensen (1984a) estimated that stratiform mass discontinuities. Fully mature typhoons precipitation in the rainbands of Hurricanes range in size from 100 km in diameter to well Frederic and Allen covered areas about 10 over 1600 km in diameter. The surface winds times larger than convective precipitation. Par- spiral inward cyclonically, becoming more rish et al. (1982) found that the strong horizon- nearly circular near the center. The winds do tal winds in the inner regions of hurricanes not converge toward a point but rather become advected individual cumulus cells at about the roughly tangential to a circle bounding the eye speed of the low level wind, counterclockwise of the storm. The spiraling lines of cumulus and about the storm center. The mesoscale rain- cumulonimbus with rain ceilings down to 70 m, bands, however, remained fairly stationary rel- separated by relatively clear bands, in which ative to the storm center in some hurricanes, the ceiling may be 3300 m or more. These spi- and rotated about the center in others. There ral bands wrap around the eye, which may it- are a lot of changes in mesoscale structures of self be cloudless (Huschke 1959). tropical storms during landfall. Powell (1982) The radar data were first collected in hurri- showed an abrupt discontinuity in wind speed canes (severe tropical cyclones with maximum and a change in wind direction at the Gulf sustained surface wind greater than 33 m/s) in coastline for the composite of Hurricane Fred- mid-1940s (Wexler 1947). Using ground-based eric (1979), such that the streamlines were ori- Doppler radar to collected dataset for tropical ented more toward the storm center over land. cyclones began in the late 1970s (Donaldson et The discontinuity was clearly a result of the al. 1978). Since then, Doppler radars have pro- change in surface drag that occurred at the vided significant observations on the mesoscale coast. In spite of the uncertainties about structures of tropical cyclones (Sakakibara et the pattern of surface convergence in the right al. 1985; Ishihara et al. 1986; Donaldson and front quadrant of Frederic, the coastline ap- Ruggiero 1986; Bluestein and Hazen 1989). In peared to enhance the initiation of major con- the eyewall region, Shea and Gray (1973) com- vective features. Burpee and Marks (1984) sug- posited the research aircraft observational data gested that the land-sea interface appeared to in hurricanes and found that inflow was con- have an important effect on the initiation of or- fined to the lowest 1500 m, maximum winds ganized convection in Frederic. Bluestein and occurred within the eyewall, and descent oc- Hazen (1989) made a dual-radar analysis of curred in the eye. Jorgensen (1984a, b) showed Hurricane Alicia (1983) over land. They found that the circulation in the eyewall was highly that the vertical cross sections of averaged ra- organized in a vertical plane along a radial dial and azimuthal wind components in the ab- through the hurricane center. Embedded with- sence of significant topographical features were in the two-dimensional eyewall were cores of similar to the analysis based upon data re- high reflectivity that were 2–5 km in diameter. corded aboard an aircraft prior to its landfall. Radar reflectivity observations showed that There were three prominent types of mesoscale hurricane rainbands had a stratiform and con- areas of precipitation: the central area, princi- December 2005 T.-H. HOR et al. 1003 pal rainband and outer band. The central area Typhoon Herb (1996) by using Doppler radar and principal rainband were relatively strati- data, and the rotation of the eye was suggested form, and the outer band was cellular. The by the axisymmetrization, vorticity redistribu- maximum radial wind speed in 25–30 m/s was tion, wave breaking and vortex merging pro- displayed in the principal rainband, located to cesses. The evolution and structure of eyewall the east and southeast of the storm’s center. circulation of the landfalling Typhoon Herb On the average based upon the 100-years (1996) was documented by Chang et al. (2002). (1897–1996) observational data, about 3.6 ty- They found that before landfall, the elliptic eye phoons per year invaded Taiwan. Their posi- had a long axis of 35–45 km and a short axis of tions, intensities and structures were influenced 25–35 km, while the eye rotated counterclock- significantly by the steep and high Central wise with a period of 140–150 minutes. More- Mountain Range (CMR), which averaged eleva- over, the tangential wind increased up to 70 m/s tion reaches 2000 m in a north-northeast- as it approached northern Taiwan, and the ra- south-southwest orientation with a width of dius of maximum wind at 2-km height was about 120 km and a length of about 300 km. about 35–45 km and tilted outward at about The size of CMR was comparable to the ty- 40–50 degrees, which were similar to the fea- phoon core region of damaging winds and tures of radar reflectivity. Lin et al. (1999) in- heavy precipitation (Shieh et al. 1998). The vestigated the orographic influence on a cyclone lack of meteorological data over the vast Pacific propagating from the east and impinging on Ocean, and the strong interaction between ty- the central portion of an idealized mountain phoon circulation and CMR, are two major similar to CMR. The major findings were that a factors that make the forecasting of typhoons northerly surface jet tended to form upstream in the vicinity of Taiwan highly challenging. of the mountain between the primary cyclone Therefore, numerical models become a crucial and the mountain due to blocking and channel- research vehicle to improve the knowledge. ing effects. Two pressure ridges and one trough However, increased observations are needed were produced and when the cyclone ap- for model initiation and verification (Wu and proached the mountain, the low-level vorticity Kuo 1999).
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