Ryuichi Kawamura

Influential Role of Moisture Supply from the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the Rapid Development of an Extratropical Cyclone

AbstractThis study focused on an explosive cyclone migrating along the southern periphery of the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the middle of January 2013 and examined how those warm currents played an active role in the rapid development of the cyclone using a high-resolution coupled atmosphere–ocean regional model. The evolutions of surface fronts of the simulated cyclone resemble the Shapiro–Keyser model. At the time of the maximum deepening rate, strong mesoscale diabatic heating areas appear over the bent-back front and the warm front east of the cyclone center. Diabatic heating over the bent-back front and the eastern warm front is mainly induced by the condensation of moisture imported by the cold conveyor belt (CCB) and the warm conveyor belt (WCB), respectively. The dry air parcels transported by the CCB can receive large amounts of moisture from the warm currents, whereas the very humid air parcels transported by the WCB can hardly be modified by those currents. The well-organized nature of the ...

Scale interaction between typhoons and the North Pacific subtropical high and associated remote effects during the Baiu/Meiyu season

The interaction between typhoons and the North Pacific subtropical high and the associated remote impact on East Asian and North Pacific anomalous weather during the Baiu/Meiyu season have been investigated using the Japanese long-term Reanalysis project data aided by the Japan Meteorological Agency Climate Data Assimilation System. The typhoons that appeared in July have been categorized into two primary tracks, the Hainan Island course (HC) and the Okinawa Island course (OC). A typhoon gives rise to negative absolute vorticity advection along its eastern periphery, which locally reinforces the western ridge of the North Pacific subtropical high, whereas the resultant anomalous high stimulates the westward (northward) migration of the HC (OC) typhoon through its combination with the background flow. A combined effect of the typhoon and its induced anomalous anticyclonic circulation increases the transportation of moisture into the Baiu/Meiyu frontal zone in the vicinity of Japan. Over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, northward or northeastward moisture flux is pronounced along the western periphery of the typhoon-induced anticyclonic circulation anomaly in the HC category, triggering heavy rainfall on central Japans Sea of Japan coast. Similar remote effects also operate in the OC category, which is responsible for the occurrence of extremely heavy rainfall along the Pacific coast of western Japan. When an OC typhoon approaches the Asian jet, it is capable of giving rise to anticyclonic vorticity within the jet, leading to the downstream development of stationary Rossby wave packets via the North Pacific waveguide.

Response of rapidly developing extratropical cyclones to sea surface temperature variations over the western Kuroshio–Oyashio confluence region

The dynamical response of rapidly developing extratropical cyclones to sea surface temperature (SST) variations over the western Kuroshio–Oyashio confluence (WKOC) region was examined by using regional cloud-resolving simulations. This study specifically highlights an explosive cyclone that occurred in early February 2014 and includes a real SST experiment (CNTL run) and two sensitivity experiments with warm and cool SST anomalies over the WKOC region (warm and cool runs). The results derived from the CNTL run indicated that moisture supply from the ocean was enhanced when the dry air associated with the cold conveyor belt (CCB) overlapped with warm currents. Further, the evaporated moisture contributed substantially to latent heat release over the bent-back front with the aid of the CCB, leading to cyclone intensification and strengthening of the asymmetric structure around the cyclones center. Such successive processes were more active in the warm run than in the cool run. The dominance of the zonally asymmetric structure resulted in a difference in sea level pressure around the bent-back front between the two runs. The WKOC SST variations have the potential to affect strong wind distributions along the CCB through modification of the cyclones inner system. Additional experiments with two other cyclones showed that the cyclone response to the WKOC SST variations became evident when the CCB north of the cyclones center overlapped with that region, confirming that the dry nature of the CCB plays an important role in latent heat release by allowing for larger moisture supply from the ocean.

Large-scale vapor transport of remotely evaporated seawater by a Rossby wave response to typhoon forcing during the Baiu/Meiyu season as revealed by the JRA-55 reanalysis

The modulation of large-scale moisture transport from the tropics into East Asia in response to typhoon-induced heating during the mature stage of the Baiu/Meiyu season is investigated using the Japanese 55-year reanalysis (JRA-55), aided by a Rayleigh-type global isotope circulation model (ICM). We highlighted the typhoons that migrate northward along the western periphery of the North Pacific subtropical high and approach the vicinity of Japan. Anomalous anticyclonic circulations to the northeast and southeast of typhoons and cyclonic circulation to their west become evident as they migrate toward Japan, which could be interpreted as a Rossby wave response to typhoon heating. These resultant anomalous circulation patterns form moisture conveyor belt (MCB) stretching from the South Asian monsoon region to East Asia via the confluence region between the monsoon westerlies and central Pacific easterlies. The ICM results confirm that the well-defined nature of the MCB leads to penetration of the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Pacific Ocean water vapors into western Japan. The typhoons have the potential to accumulate large amounts of moisture from distant tropical oceans through the interaction of their Rossby wave response with the background flow. In the case of a typical typhoon, the total precipitable water around the typhoon center as it approaches Japan is maintained by the moisture supply from distant oceans rather than from the underlying ocean, which indirectly leads to the occurrence of heavy rainfall over western Japan.

An estimation of water origins in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone’s center and associated dynamic processes

To clarify the time evolution of water origins in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone (TC)’s center, we have simulated Typhoon Man-yi (July 2007) in our case study, using an isotopic regional spectral model. The model results confirm that the replacement of water origins occurs successively as the TC develops and migrates northward over the western North Pacific. It is confirmed that, in this case, a significant proportion of total precipitable water around the cyclone center comes from external regions rather than the underlying ocean during the mature stage of a TC. Similar features can also be seen in the proportion of each oceanic origin to total condensation. Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and Maritime Continent water vapors begin to increase gradually at the developing stage and reach their peak at the decay stage when the TC approaches southwestern Japan. These remote ocean vapors are transported to the east of the cyclone via the moisture conveyor belt, a zone characterized by distinct low-level moisture flux that stretches from the Indian Ocean to the TC, and are further supplied into the inner region of the TC by inflow within the boundary layer associated with its secondary circulation. Since it takes time to undergo these two dynamic processes, the delayed influence of remote ocean vapors on the TC appears to become evident during the mature stage.

Evidence for the significant role of sea surface temperature distributions over remote tropical oceans in tropical cyclone intensity

The role of remote ocean sea surface temperature (SST) in regulating tropical cyclone (TC) characteristics has been examined by performing numerical experiments with a regional scale model. Model simulations have been carried out to simulate typhoon Man-yi (July 2007), in our case study, under a range of SST conditions over the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. The intensity and track of the cyclone have been systematically changed in sensitivity simulations of cool and warm SSTs over that region, following its peak phase. Warm oceans can substantially reduce the intensification of western North Pacific cyclones, whereas cool oceans can enhance their strength. This is intimately associated with the enhancement/weakening of the moisture supply through the moisture conveyor belt (MCB) in the lower troposphere, from the Indian Ocean and South China Sea into the vicinity of the cyclone center. When the MCB is interrupted over the South China Sea in warm SST occurrences, the large-scale transport of moisture into the cyclone system is significantly reduced, leading to the weakening of the cyclone intensity and to the eastward shift of its track. This study shows that changes in remote tropical ocean SST can also modulate TCs and thus can help in improving the forecasting of TC intensities and tracks.

A positive feedback process related to the rapid development of an extratropical cyclone over the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension

AbstractThe active roles of sensible heat supply from the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension in the rapid development of an extratropical cyclone, which occurred in the middle of January 2013, were examined by using a regional cloud-resolving model. In this study, a control experiment and three sensitivity experiments without sensible and latent heat fluxes from the warm currents were conducted. When the cyclone intensified, sensible heat fluxes from these currents become prominent around the cold conveyor belt (CCB) in the control run. Comparisons among the four runs revealed that the sensible heat supply facilitates deepening of the cyclone’s central pressure, CCB development, and enhanced latent heating over the bent-back front. The sensible heat supply enhances convectively unstable conditions within the atmospheric boundary layer along the CCB. The increased convective instability is released by the forced ascent associated with frontogenesis around the bent-back front, eventually promoting updraft and resu...

A positive feedback process between tropical cyclone intensity and the moisture conveyor belt assessed with Lagrangian diagnostics

Using a cloud-resolving regional model and Lagrangian diagnostics, we assess a positive feedback process between tropical cyclone (TC) intensity and the moisture conveyor belt (MCB), which connects a TC and the Indian Ocean (IO), the South China Sea (SCS), and the Philippine Sea (PS) vapors, from a macroscopic view. We performed sensitivity experiments that modified the observed sea surface temperature (SST) field over the IO and the SCS to regulate the MCB behavior, and we examined the remote response of a prototypical TC. The results show that the connection between MCB formation and TC development is very robust, which was also observed in another TCs case. The MCB plays a vital role in transporting lots of moist air parcels toward the TC from the IO, SCS, and PS regions. The transported parcels, which further gained the underlying ocean vapor along the MCB, are easily trapped in the inner core by radial inflow in the atmospheric boundary layer and, subsequently, release latent heat around the eyewall, resulting in the TCs intensifying. This acts to further penetrate the moist parcels of remote ocean origin into the inner core through the enhanced and expanded inflow. An additional experiment suggested that the MCB is not formed unless the westward propagation of equatorial waves induced by TC heating overlaps with the background monsoon westerlies. These findings support the reliability and validity of TC-MCB feedback.

Dynamical Modulation of Wintertime Synoptic-Scale Cyclone Activity over the Japan Sea due to Changbai Mountain in the Korean Peninsula

The dynamical impact of the Changbai Mountain Range in the Korean Peninsula on the extratropical cyclone activity over the Japan Sea in early winter is examined using the Weather Research Forecasting model. We have conducted two independent long-term integrations over 15 winter months (December only) from 2000 to 2014 with and without modified topography. The results show that the Changbai Mountain Range plays a vital role in increasing cyclone track frequency, low-level poleward eddy heat flux, and the local deepening rate over the Japan Sea through enhancement of the lower-tropospheric baroclinic zone (LTBZ). This mountain range gives rise to activation of the synoptic-scale cyclone activity over that region. From our case study on three typical cyclones, it is found that mesoscale structures in the vicinity of a cyclone’s center are dynamically modulated when it passes through the LTBZ and that cyclogenesis is triggered around that zone. A vorticity budget analysis shows that the stretching term relevant to enhanced low-level convergence plays a dominant role in intensifying cyclonic vorticities. We confirmed that the composite features of the three typical cases are consistent with the statistical ones of the dynamical modulation of the Changbai Mountain on synoptic-scale cyclone activity.