Abstract
The occurrence of extreme rainfall events over mainland Mozambique associated with tropical cyclones (TC) Eline and Bonita is studied. Bonita caused catastrophic flooding in the central and some parts of northern Mozambique, thus forming the basis of the present study. Results show that the intensity of these TCs was maintained by the easterly wind from the Mascarene High. The northeasterly monsoon wind and northwesterlies from the Benguela current converged at the center of the TC, acting as a moisture source. The rainfall related to the two TCs befell in three stages and its magnitude attenuated progressively from the coastal region toward inland, concurring with the degeneration of the TCs. In stage one, for Eline, rainfall mainly concentrated in Tete, Manica, Niassa, North of Gaza provinces, the coastal Nampula, Zambezia, Sofala and Inhambane provinces. During Bonita’s inner-core circulation landfall, the northern and few parts of central Bonita were directly inundated. In the second stage, for Eline, the center of concentration of rainfall was in the central and southern parts of Mozambique. The mechanisms, including warm-air advection, vertical wind shear, could have contributed at the same time to the lifting vital for the generation of the storm during the second stage. The information herein is essential for future forecasting and monitoring of TC over the Indian Ocean. The findings form a good reference in the understanding of the recent cyclones, Kenneth and Idai that were destructive over Mozambique.
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Data availability
The station datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The data on/for TRMM multi-satellite precipitation analysis (TMPA), cyclone track, and composite analysis for wind, vertical velocity, relative humidity and CAPE that support the findings of this study are available from http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov, https://www.metoc.navy.mil/jtwc/jtwc.html, and https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts, respectively.
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The first author is appreciative of the master scholarship by the Government of China through the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). All authors thank their respective institutions for supporting the research.
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Armando, C.J., Yu, Z., Mavume, A.F. et al. Formation and track of tropical cyclones Eline (2000) and Bonita (1996). Meteorol Atmos Phys 133, 1691–1706 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-021-00835-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-021-00835-9