Revisiting trough interactions and tropical cyclone intensity change
Abstract
An updated climatology of Atlantic basin tropical cyclone (TC) intensity change in the presence of upper tropospheric trough forcing is presented. To control for changes in the background thermodynamic environment, a methodology that normalizes intensity change by the potential intensity of the TC is used to more narrowly focus on the effect of troughs compared to previous studies. Relative to the full sample of Atlantic TCs, troughs are a negative influence on intensification: trough interaction cases are 4% less likely to intensify and 5% more likely to weaken. Troughs are especially detrimental compared to TCs without trough forcing: trough interaction cases are 14% less likely to intensify and 13% more likely to weaken. Additionally, eddy flux convergence of angular momentum, previously shown to positively affect TC intensity change, is shown to be a weak predictor of intensity change compared to vertical wind shear, which is enhanced during a trough interaction.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 28, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1002/2016gl069040
Entities
People
- Brian H. Tang
- C. M. Peirano
- K. L. Corbosiero
Organizations
- State University of New York at Albany
- United States Department of Defense