Tropical cyclone structure in the South China Sea based on high-resolution reanalysis data and comparison with that of ‘bogus’ vortices

Abstract

Based on high-resolution reanalysis data of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, several samples of tropical cyclones (TCs), including tropical storms, severe tropical storms, and typhoons, in the South China Sea (SCS), were selected for composite analysis. The structures of these three types of vortices and their differences with ‘bogus’ vortices were investigated. Results showed that TCs in the SCS have characteristics that are distinctly different from vortices formed by the bogussing scheme used at Guangzhou Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology, such as no anticyclone in higher layers, strong convergence concentrated at the bottom of the troposphere, and strong divergence happening in higher layers instead of at 400 hPa. These differences provide clues for constructing a more realistic structure for TCs in the SCS. It was also found that the three types of vortices have some structural features in common. The area with high wind speed is fan-shaped in the north around the TC center, the maximum vorticity appears at 925 hPa, the strongest convergence appears at 1000 hPa, and strong divergence is located from 150 to 100 hPa. On the contrary, significant differences between them were revealed. The warm cores in tropical storms, severe tropical storms, and typhoons are located at 600–400 hPa, 400−300 hPa, and 400−250 hPa, respectively. Among the three types of TCs, the bogus vortex of tropical storms has the largest errors in structure and suffers the largest errors in track forecasts. However, typhoons have the largest errors in the forecast of intensity. This may be related to the great impacts of ocean on TC intensity.