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The research on boundary layer evolution characteristics of Typhoon Usagi based on observations by wind profilers

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Abstract

Vertically exploring the characteristics of the typhoon boundary layer (TBL) plays an important role in recognizing typhoon structure. The boundary layer radial direction and tangential wind characteristics of Typhoon Usagi based on the observational data of three boundary layer wind profiler stations along the route of Typhoon Usagi (No. 1319) and by combining with sounding data. The results show that: (1) maximum tangential wind appears in the vicinity of the eye area of Usagi, and it basically maintains a height of around 1 800 m when Usagi keeps a strong typhoon level, with the rapidly decreasing strength of Usagi after it lands, the speed of the maximum tangential wind and its vertical range both decrease; (2) the height of the maximum tangential wind is close to that of the inflow layer top of the typhoon, and is greater than that of the boundary layer estimated on the basis of Richardson number or potential temperature gradient, while the height of mixed layer judged on the basis of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or its gradient is usually low; (3) the the boundary layer height can reach higher than 2 100 m before Usagi lands. When the typhoon level or above is achieved, the boundary layer height observed by various stations does not change much, basically staying at between 1 200 and 1 600 m. With the decreasing strength of Usagi after its landfall, the boundary layer height rapidly drops.

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Correspondence to Fei Liao.

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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41305029 and 41475014; the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China under contract No. 2013B020200013; the Guangzhou Municipal Science and Technology Planning Project of China under contract No. 201604020069; the Meteorological Key Technology Integration and Application Projects of China Meteorological Administration under contract No. CMAGJ2015M42.

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Liao, F., Deng, H., Gao, Z. et al. The research on boundary layer evolution characteristics of Typhoon Usagi based on observations by wind profilers. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 39–44 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1109-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1109-9

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