Seasonal Modulation of Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillations on Tropical Cyclone Geneses in the Western North Pacific

Abstract

Abstract The seasonal modulation of tropical intraseasonal oscillation (TISO) on tropical cyclone (TC) geneses over the western North Pacific Ocean (WNP) is investigated in three periods of the WNP TC season: May–June (MJ), July–September (JAS), and October–December (OND). The modulation of the TISO–TC geneses over the WNP is strong in MJ, while it appears weaker in JAS and OND. In MJ, TISO propagates northward via two routes, the west route through the South China Sea and the east route through the WNP monsoon trough region, which are two clustering locations of TC geneses. TISO can synchronously influence most TC geneses over these two regions. In JAS, however, the modulation is out of phase between the monsoon trough region and the East Asian summer monsoon region, as well as the WNP subtropical high region, as a result of further northward propagation of TISO and scattered TC geneses. The TISO–TC genesis modulation in each individual region is comparable to that in MJ, although the modulation over the entire WNP in JAS appears weaker. In OND, TISO has a stronger influence on TC geneses west than east of 150°E because TISO decays and its convection center located at the equator is out of the TC genesis region when propagating eastward into east of 150°E. Midlevel relative humidity is the primary contribution to the modulations of TISO on the genesis environment, while vorticity could contribute to the modulation over the subtropics in JAS.