Development of the Mesoscale Cyclone of September 1–3, 2015, according to Satellite and Numerical Simulation Data

Abstract

A mesoscale cyclone, which developed in early September 2015 over the ice-free Laptev Sea and then, gradually intensifying, moved towards the East Siberian Sea, has been studied using the WRF model and satellite data. It is shown that the interaction between the cyclone and the underlying surface, in particular, both sensible and latent heat fluxes from the sea surface and the presence/absence of the sea ice in the East Siberian Sea, had no significant effect on the intensification of the cyclone. It is found that the main reason for the cyclone intensification was baroclinic instability, i.e., interaction with an upper level potential vorticity anomaly. It is also shown that the main reason for the formation of the warm core in the cyclone was the transport of relatively warm surface air masses from the land to the sea, and the release of latent heat during convection was of minor importance.