Impacts of Two Tropical Cyclones Experiencing Extratropical Transition During Northward Progression on the Rainfall of Liaodong Peninsula
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Vol.15 No.1 JOURNAL OF TROPICAL METEOROLOGY June 2009 Article ID: 1006-8775(2009) 01-0049-05 IMPACTS OF TWO TROPICAL CYCLONES EXPERIENCING EXTRATROPICAL TRANSITION DURING NORTHWARD PROGRESSION ON THE RAINFALL OF LIAODONG PENINSULA 1 2 2 1 LIANG Jun (梁军) , CHEN Lian-shou (陈联寿) , LI Ying (李英) , ZHU Jing (朱晶) (1. Dalian Meteorological Observatory, Dalian 116001 China; 2. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences/LaSW, Beijing 100081 China) Abstract: Both of Typhoon Winnie (9711) and Matsa (0509) underwent an extratropical transition (ET) process when they moved northward after landfall and affected Liaodong Peninsula. However, Matsa produced half as much rainfall as Winnie, although it struck Liaodong Peninsula directly while Winnie passed through the Bohai Sea. The relations between the ET processes and the precipitation over Liaodong Peninsula are examined. The result shows that the precipitation difference between Winnie and Matsa was closely related to the interactions between the westerly systems and typhoons during their ET processes. Winnie was captured by the upper westerly trough and then coupled with it when moving to the mid-latitudes, and the positive anomaly of moist potential vorticity (MPV) was transported downward from the upper troposphere over the remnant circulation of the tropical cyclone (TC). It was favorable to the interaction between tropical warm and wet air and westerly cold air, causing convective cloud clusters to form and develop. The rain belt composed of several meso-β cloud clusters over the Liaodong Peninsula, resulting in heavy rainfall. On the other hand, Matsa did not couple with any upper trough during its ET process and the positive anomaly of MPV in the upper troposphere and its downward transfer were weak. Only one meso-β cloud cluster occurred in Matsa’s rain belt during its ET process that tended to lessen rainfall over Liaodong Peninsula. Key words: synoptics; typhoon rainstorm; diagnostic analysis; extratropical transition; tropical cyclone; Liaodong Peninsula CLC number: P444 Document code: A doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-8775.2009.01.007 1 INTRODUCTION the transformed TC is released so that the TC evolves to an extratropical cyclone and TC rainstorm is When the tropical cyclone (TC) goes northward to intensified. According to statistical analyses by Li et reach the immediate neighborhood of an area of intense al.[3] and Yuan et al.[4] on northbound TCs, the Yellow baroclinity in the mid-latitudes, the warm and moist air Sea and Bohai Sea are the waters over which TCs to the east of it will be pushed northward to enable the undertake frequent transformations during landfall and establishment of a thermodynamic structure in TC that northbound movement. The severe regional is colder in the west than in the east so as to increase precipitation from 1980 to the present over the the frontal zone inside the system experiencing the ET, Liaodong Peninsula were all caused by the tropical if cold air moved in at this point [1]. The ET process of [2] cyclones of 8109 (international code), Mimie, Polly, the TC can be divided into two stages , the first being Ellie, Winnie and Matsa that experienced ET [5]. What the interactions between the TC and the baroclinic belt is different is that some of the TCs intensified through leading to the alteration of the initial structure and the ET while the others weakened and dissipated after ET. second being a reinforcing stage (second stage) in The ET happening in TCs are closely correlated with which the transformed storm is deepened into a the activity of cold air [6, 7]. When north-going TCs baroclinic cyclone. Triggered by the descending cold meet mild cold air in the mid-latitudes, a frontal zone air and ascending warm air, the baroclinic energy of Received date: 2007-08-22; revised date: 2008-12-29 Foundation item: National Key Fundamental Project for Research Development and Plan (2004CB418301); Natural Science Foundation of China (40575018, 40675033) Biography: LIANG Jun, senior engineer, B.S., mainly undertaking short-range weather forecast. E-mail for correspondence author: [email protected] PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com 50 Journal of Tropical Meteorology Vol.15 will appear in the middle part of the lower-level TCs to 2 SYNOPTIC SUMMARIES FOR WINNIE induce the process of ET. The structure is half-cold, AND MATSA half-warm, being favorable for the release of geopotential energy and its transformation to kinetic Making landfall on Zhejiang province at 21:00 energy to increase the cyclonic circulation at lower (L.T., same below) August 18, 1997, Typhoon Winnie levels and intensify the TC. When the TC interacts was as intense as 960 hPa near the eye. After landfall, with intense cold air, its warm core will disappear the storm moved into Shandong province via Zhejiang completely to fill up the TC quickly. Cold air moved and Anhui provinces and split into two centers; the into the middle and lower layers of Typhoon Mamie original one disappeared over southern Shandong while (8509) from the northwest to result in both increased a new sub-center formed in central Shandong and ascending motion and strengthened instability of the moved to the northeast to make the second landfall on storm’s atmospheric stratification, which are the two Liaoning province after passing through the Bohai Bay, main reasons and prerequisites for the development via and evolved into an extratropical cyclone in Northeast ET, as shown in a diagnostic study of the typhoon’s ET China. Fig.1a presents the distribution of Winnie’s by Sun et al.[8]. The descent of colder air from the precipitation for the whole course over the peninsula. middle and higher levels of the troposphere and warm advection at lower levels are the key to the ET development of Typhoon Winnie (9711), as suggested in Zhu et al. [9, 10] addressing the reinforcing mechanism associated with ET. During the ET, the intrusion of cold air intensified the low-level convergence and increased the divergent wind and its ability to produce kinetic energy; while the positive feedback mechanism for the interactions between Winnie and upper-level jet stream converted the available geopotential energy, the TC intensified into an extratropical cyclone. During its northward journey, Winnie coupled with the mid-latitude westerly trough as significant frontal development was observed inside the low pressure circulation of the TC with the downward transport of upper-level geopotential vorticity, as shown in a diagnostic study and numerical simulation on the TC by Li et al. [11, 12]. The stronger the upper-level trough, the more obviously Winnie intensified during the ET and the faster the extracyclone developed. The relationships between the ET of landing typhoons and Fig.1 Distribution of total rainfall from landfalling frontogenesis in the deformation field were also typhoons Winnie (a) and Matsa (b) for the [13] whole course over the Shandong Peninsula. discussed by Han et al. Though there have been Unit: mm. much research on the issue of ET for the TC at home and abroad [14 - 18], how the ET process affects the Making landfall on Zhejiang at 02:00 August 6, precipitation of the TC remains unclear. Many issues 2005, Typhoon Matsa was as strong as 950 hPa near need to be further worked on to investigate into the the eye. Weakened to a tropical storm after a passage effects of transformation of TCs on precipitation with over the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong, it varying degree of ET. entered into the Bohai Sea via the Laizhou Bay before Typhoon Matsa (0509) was a transformed TC that heading towards the northeast. It made the second had landed on the Liaodong Peninsula with half as landfall, with pressure at 995 hPa, on Dalian at 07:20 much rainfall total as that of Winnie. How does the ET August 9 before reduction and dissipation. Fig.1b process (of either intensification or weakening) of a TC shows the distribution of Matsa’s precipitation for the relate with the rainfall? In this study, Typhoons Winnie whole course over the peninsula. Fig.2 gives the and Matsa are used as the examples to study it by using variation of the track of Winnie and Matsa and the the NCEP reanalysis data, which is available four pressure near the eyes after landfall. times daily, at a horizontal 2.5°×2.5° resolution and with 17 vertical layers, and comparing the distribution 3 LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION of large and meso scale physical fields as they exerted BACKGROUND FOR THE ET OF WINNIE influence on the Liaodong Peninsula. AND MATSA PDF crea50 ted with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com No.1 LIANG Jun (梁军) and CHEN Lian-shou (陈联寿) et al. 51 By comparison and study (Fig.3), it is further 4 MESOSCALE STRUCTURES OF WINNIE proved that the ET is related with the upper-level AND MATSA DURING ET trough in mid-latitudes and the coupling between the northbound Winnie and Matsa and 200-hPa During the northward journey of the TC, an upper-level jet stream was favorable for their inverted trough is prone to extend ahead of its moving re-intensification after the ET [19]. direction. Inside the trough there are strong shears of the northeasterly and southeasterly, with huge amount of wet air accumulated after being transported by the southeasterly from the ocean. With the intrusion into the mid-level atmosphere of small streaks of cold air from the north, the atmospheric stratification becomes so unstable and cumulus convection develops so vigorously that it is likely for rain clusters to form. Usually, a TC-induced rainstorm is composed of one or more rain clusters evolving continuously [1].