The effects of a typhoon-induced oceanic cold wake on typhoon intensity and typhoon-induced ocean waves

Abstract

In August 2012, binary typhoon activity occurred near the Korean Peninsula (KP) involving typhoons Bolaven (1215) and Tembin (1214). Typhoon Bolaven was recorded as the strongest typhoon to pass over the Yellow Sea since 2000. Typhoon Tembin remained in the southwestern Sea of Taiwan for nine days before moving toward the KP along the track of Typhoon Bolaven. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the oceanic cold wake of Typhoon Bolaven on the intensity, track, and movement speed of Typhoon Tembin. Moreover, we examine the impacts of surface temperature cooling caused by the passing of a previous typhoon on the intensity of a later typhoon and typhoon-induced waves. We use the Advanced Research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) model at grid spacings of 20km and 4km in addition to the open ocean wave prediction model (WAM) and the Wavewatch III model (WW3). A large surface temperature cooling caused by vertical mixing and upwelling induced by the previous typhoon resulted in a significant decrease in intensity and change in the movement speed of the next typhoon. These results demonstrate that the intensity of the succeeding KP-landfall typhoon is highly sensitive to the previous typhoon’s track and resultant upper-ocean thermal structures.