Tropical cyclone recurvature: An intrinsic property?

Abstract

AbstractThe typical track of a tropical cyclone (TC) in the Northern Hemisphere is an initial northwestward movement followed by an eventual turning toward the east. Such turning is referred to as recurvature and often explained by the change of the environmental flow that steers the TC. Here we show that even in the absence of background flow, a TC initiated at a high enough latitude can recurve itself. Differential horizontal advection of the planetary vorticity by the TC circulation at different vertical levels leads to the development of vertical wind shear, upper tropospheric anticyclone, and asymmetric distribution of convection. The flow associated with the upper tropospheric anticyclone on the equatorward side of the TC and the diabatic heating associated with the asymmetric convection combine to cause the TC to recurve. Such knowledge, an intrinsic recurvature property of the TC is important in forecasting the TC track when the environmental flow is weak.