Abstract
Abstract. This work aims at presenting TITAM, a time-independent tracking algorithm specifically suited for medicanes. In the last decades, the study of medicanes has been repeatedly addressed given their potential to damage coastal zones. Their hazardous associated meteorological conditions have converted them to a major threat. Even though medicane similarities to tropical cyclones have been widely studied in terms of genesis mechanisms and structure, the fact that the former appear in baroclinic environments, as well as the limited extension of the Mediterranean basin, makes them prone to maintaining their warm-cored and symmetric structure for short time periods. Thus, the usage of a measure for the warm-core nature of the cyclone, namely the Hart conditions, is a key factor for successful identification of a medicane. Furthermore, given their relatively small spatial extent, medicanes tend to appear embedded in or to coexist with larger lows. Hence, the implementation of a time-independent methodology, avoiding the search for a medicane based on its location at previous time steps, seems to be fundamental when facing situations of cyclone coexistence. The examples selected showcase how the algorithm presented throughout this paper is useful and robust for the tracking of medicanes. This methodology satisfies the requirements expected for a tracking method of this nature, namely the capacity to track multiple simultaneous cyclones, the ability to track a medicane in the presence of an intense trough inside the domain, the potential to separate the medicane from other similar structures by handling the intermittent loss of structure, and the capability to isolate and follow the medicane center regardless of other cyclones that could be present in the domain. The complete TITAM package, including preprocessing and post-processing tools, is available as free software extensively documented and prepared for its deployment. As a final remark, this algorithm sheds some light on medicane understanding regarding medicane structure, warm-core nature, and the existence of tilting.
Highlights
Cyclones can be broadly classified in terms of their thermal character as cold-core or warm-core (Hart, 2003)
Warm-core cyclones develop in tropical and subtropical zones and, according to the latest theories (Zhang and Emanuel, 2016; Emanuel, 1986), are powered by enthalpy fluxes and maintained by self-induced heat transfer from the ocean (WISHE theory); “self-induced” makes reference to winds associated with the cyclone
Note that the algorithm package includes a preprocessor for Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model output called “pinterpy”
Summary
Cyclones can be broadly classified in terms of their thermal character as cold-core or warm-core (Hart, 2003). Without overlooking the advantages of making progress toward a precise medicane definition or the study of their genesis and maintenance in terms of dynamical and thermodynamical mechanisms, the main efforts of this work have been aimed at developing a tracking algorithm allowing the coexistence of multiple storms of this nature In this way, even in the absence of an optimal medicane definition, the flexibility provided by a parameter-oriented methodology favors the detection of this type of storm within a reasonable range of the parameters leading to that definition.
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