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Potential vorticity diagnosis of tropical cyclone Usagi (2001) genesis induced by a mid-level vortex over the South China Sea

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Abstract

In this study, we first show that tropical cyclone (TC) Usagi evolved from a mid-level vortex over the South China Sea (SCS) in August 2001. The initial disturbance of TC Usagi had a maximum potential vorticity (PV) near 500 hPa, and an anticyclonic circulation with a cold core near the surface. The cyclonic circulation and its warm core of the mid-level vortex developed gradually downward toward the surface when environmental easterly and dry air intruded from the upper troposphere; finally, the mid-level vortex evolved into TC Usagi under favorable environment conditions such as weak vertical wind shear, deep moist layer, etc. To investigate the dynamic and thermodynamic processes during TC Usagi genesis, the technique of piecewise PV inversion is employed. The results show that the actions of upper-layer PV and potential temperature anomalies were not important in TC Usagi genesis. Surface-layer thermal anomalies mainly produced negative disturbances of temperature at the vortex center below 800 hPa, which was unfavorable to the genesis of a cyclonic circulation near the surface. Middle-to-lower-layer latent heat played a key role in TC Usagi genesis and downward development of dynamic and thermodynamic processes. The actions of dry air intrusion from the upper troposphere, environmental westerly changing into easterly in the middle and lower troposphere, and baroclinic structure of the vortex were also important. The cyclonic circulation of the mid-level vortex could develop downward quickly from the middle troposphere toward the surface. However, whether the warm core of the vortex developed near the surface depended on the combined actions of surface-layer thermal anomaly and middle-to-lower-layer latent heat. Finally, we present a conceptual model of TC Usagi genesis induced by a mid-level vortex over the SCS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly sponsored by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2011CB403504) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 40875026, 91015011 and 91215302). The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (LTO), South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Jinnan Yuan & Dongxiao Wang

  2. Guangzhou Institute of Tropical and Marine of Meteorology/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Regional Numerical Weather Prediction, China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Jinnan Yuan

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinnan Yuan

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  1. Jinnan Yuan
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  2. Dongxiao Wang
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Correspondence to Jinnan Yuan.

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Responsible Editor: M. Kaplan.

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Yuan, J., Wang, D. Potential vorticity diagnosis of tropical cyclone Usagi (2001) genesis induced by a mid-level vortex over the South China Sea. Meteorol Atmos Phys 125, 75–87 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-014-0316-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-014-0316-6

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