Abstract
In this study, the structures and evolutions of moderate (MO) explosive cyclones (ECs) over the Northwestern Pacific (NWP) and Northeastern Pacific (NEP) are investigated and compared using composite analysis with cyclone-relative coordinates. Final Operational Global Analysis data gathered during the cold seasons (October–April) of the 15 years from 2000 to 2015 are used. The results indicate that MO NWP ECs have strong baroclinicity and abundant latent heat release at low levels and strong upper-level forcing, which favors explosive cyclogenesis. The rapid development of MO NEP ECs results from their interaction with a northern cyclone and a large middle-level advection of cyclonic vorticity. The structural differences between MO NWP ECs and MO NEP ECs are significant. This results from their specific large-scale atmospheric and oceanic environments. MO NWP ECs usually develop rapidly in the east and southeast of the Japan Islands; the intrusion of cold dry air from the East Asian continent leads to strong baroclinicity, and the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension provides abundant latent heat release at low levels. The East Asian subtropical westerly jet stream supplies strong upper-level forcing. While MO NEP ECs mainly occur over the NEP, the low-level baroclinicity, upper-level jet stream, and warm ocean currents are relatively weaker. The merged cyclone associated with a strong middle-level trough transports large cyclonic vorticity to MO NEP ECs, which favors their rapid development.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their thanks to the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial support (Nos. 41275049 and 41775042). All authors express their sincere thanks to Dr. Huaji Pang in Qingdao Meteorological Bureau, Drs. Pengyuan Li and Jingwu Liu in Department of Marine Meteorology, Ocean University of China, and Dr. Shuai Wang in Department of Physics, Imperial College London, UK for their helpful discussions. Special thanks go to NCEP for providing FNL data.
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Zhang, S., Fu, G. Structures and Evolutions of Explosive Cyclones over the Northwestern and Northeastern Pacific. J. Ocean Univ. China 17, 581–593 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3418-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-018-3418-9