Baroclinic Waves Research Articles

The Influence of the Barrier Layer on SST Response during Tropical Cyclone Wind Forcing Using Idealized Experiments

AbstractMultiple studies have shown that reduced sea surface temperature (SST) cooling occurs under tropical cyclones (TCs) where a fresh surface layer and subsurface halocline exist. Reduced SST cooling in these scenarios has been attributed to a barrier layer, an upper-ocean feature in the tropical global oceans in which a halocline resides within the isothermal mixed layer. Because upper-ocean stratification theoretically reduces ocean mixing induced by winds, the barrier layer is thought to reduce SST cooling during TC passage, sustaining heat and moisture fluxes into the storm. This research examines how both the inclusion of salinity and upper-ocean salinity stratification influences SST cooling for a variety of upper-ocean thermal regimes using one-dimensional (1D) ocean mixed layer (OML) models. The Kraus–Turner, Price–Weller–Pinkel, and Pollard–Rhines–Thompson 1D OML schemes are used to examine SST cooling and OML deepening during 30 m s−1 wind forcing (~category 1 TC) for both temperature-only and temperature–salinity stratification cases. Generally, the inclusion of salinity (a barrier layer) reduces SST cooling for all temperature regimes. However, results suggest that SST cooling sensitivities exist depending on thermal regime, salinity stratification, and the 1D OML model used. Upper-ocean thermal and haline characteristics are put into context of SST cooling with the creation of a barrier layer baroclinic wave speed to emphasize the influence of salinity stratification on upper-ocean response under TC wind forcing.

Atmospheric mountain wave generation on Venus and its influence on the solid planet’s rotation rate

The Akatsuki spacecraft observed a 10,000-km-long meridional structure at the top of the cloud deck of Venus that appeared stationary with respect to the surface and was interpreted as a gravity wave. Additionally, over four Venus solar days of observations, other such waves were observed to appear in the afternoon over equatorial highland regions. This indicates a direct influence of the solid planet on the whole Venusian atmosphere despite dissimilar rotation rates of 243 and 4 days, respectively. How such gravity waves might be generated on Venus is not understood. Here, we use general circulation model simulations of the Venusian atmosphere to show that the observations are consistent with stationary gravity waves over topographic highs—or mountain waves—that are generated in the afternoon in equatorial regions by the diurnal cycle of near-surface atmospheric stability. We find that these mountain waves substantially contribute to the total atmospheric torque that acts on the planet’s surface. We estimate that mountain waves, along with the thermal tide and baroclinic waves, can produce a change in the rotation rate of the solid body of about 2 minutes per solar day. This interplay between the solid planet and atmosphere may explain some of the difference in rotation rates (equivalent to a change in the length of day of about 7 minutes) measured by spacecraft over the past 40 years.

A Possible Three-Dimensional Mechanism for Oscillating Wobbles in Tropical Cyclone–Like Vortices with Concentric Eyewalls

Abstract It is known that concentric eyewalls can influence tropical cyclone (TC) intensity. However, they can also influence TC track. Observations indicate that TCs with concentric eyewalls are often accompanied by wobbling of the inner eyewall, a motion that gives rise to cycloidal tracks. Currently, there is no general consensus of what might constitute the dominant triggering mechanism of these wobbles. In this paper we revisit the fundamentals. The control case constitutes a TC with symmetric concentric eyewalls embedded in a quiescent environment. Two sets of experiments are conducted: one using a two-dimensional nondivergent nonlinear model and the other using a three-dimensional nonlinear model. It is found that when the system is two-dimensional, no wobbling of the inner eyewall is triggered. On the other hand, when the third dimension is introduced, an amplifying wobble is evident. This result contradicts the previous suggestion that wobbles occur only in asymmetric concentric eyewalls. It also contradicts the suggestion that environmental wind shear can be the main trigger. Examination of the dynamics along with complementary linear eigenmode analysis revealed the triggering mechanism to be the excitation of a three-dimensional exponentially growing azimuthal wavenumber-1 instability. This instability is induced by the coupling of two baroclinic vortex Rossby waves across the moat region. Additional sensitivity analyses involving reasonable modifications to vortex shape parameters, perturbation vertical length scale, and Rossby number reveal that this instability can be systematically the most excited. The growth rates are shown to peak for perturbations characterized by realistic vertical length scales, suggesting that this mechanism can be potentially relevant to actual TCs.

Aquarius reveals eddy stirring after a heavy precipitation event in the subtropical North Pacific

This research presents a case study that examines an upper-ocean salinity response to intense rainfall using 4 years of observed salinity data from the Aquarius and Argo floats. The Aquarius sea surface salinity (SSS) in the subtropical region of the North Pacific reveals a notable event in which SSS is locally freshened by intense rainfall. Although the SSS pattern shortly after the rainfall reflects the atmospheric pattern, its final form reflects the ocean’s dynamic structure; low-salinity water distributes in the shape of an anticyclonic eddy. Observations using Argo profiling floats confirm that low-salinity water dominates the entire water column of the eddy above 70 m. We found that an eddy stirring effect would play an important role in forming the eddy-shaped low-salinity water. As a precondition, intense rainfall on the tropical side enhances the meridional gradient of background SSS with freshened low-salinity water to the south and saline water to the north. The anticyclonic eddy located at the enhanced SSS front stirs the water in a clockwise direction. Specifically, northward flow in the western side of the eddy transports fresh water, whereas southward flow in the eastern side transports saline water. As this northward–southward flow moves the eddy to the west where the transported fresh water is dominant as a baroclinic Rossby wave, this dynamic process would form the eddy-shaped low-salinity water. This clear view of such eddy stirring is due to the inherent nature of the subtropical region that is characterized by less frequent precipitation.

Sensitivity of idealised baroclinic waves to mean atmospheric temperature and meridional temperature gradient changes

The sensitivity of idealised baroclinic waves to different atmospheric temperature changes is studied. The temperature changes are based on those which are expected to occur in the Northern Hemisphere with climate change: (1) uniform temperature increase, (2) decrease of the lower level meridional temperature gradient, and (3) increase of the upper level temperature gradient. Three sets of experiments are performed, first without atmospheric moisture, thus seeking to identify the underlying adiabatic mechanisms which drive the response of extra-tropical storms to changes in the environmental temperature. Then, similar experiments are performed in a more realistic, moist environment, using fixed initial relative humidity distribution. Warming the atmosphere uniformly tends to decrease the kinetic energy of the cyclone, which is linked both to a weaker capability of the storm to exploit the available potential energy of the zonal mean flow, and less efficient production of eddy kinetic energy in the wave. Unsurprisingly, the decrease of the lower level temperature gradient weakens the resulting cyclone regardless of the presence of moisture. The increase of the temperature gradient in the upper troposphere has a more complicated influence on the storm dynamics: in the dry atmosphere the maximum eddy kinetic energy decreases, whereas in the moist case it increases. Our analysis suggests that the slightly unexpected decrease of eddy kinetic energy in the dry case with an increased upper tropospheric temperature gradient originates from the weakening of the meridional heat flux by the eddy. However, in the more realistic moist case, the diabatic heating enhances the interaction between upper- and low-level potential vorticity anomalies and hence helps the surface cyclone to exploit the increased upper level baroclinicity.

Regional Climate Simulations With the Community Earth System Model

AbstractThe spectral element (SE) variable‐resolution (VR) mesh dynamical core is tested in developmental versions of the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2). The SE dynamical core is tested in baroclinic wave, aquaplanet and full physics configurations to evaluate variable‐resolution simulations against uniform high and uniform low‐resolution simulations. Different physical parameterization suites are also evaluated to gauge their sensitivity to resolution. Dry dynamical core variable‐resolution cases compare well to high‐resolution tests. More recent versions of the atmospheric physics, including cloud schemes for CESM2, are less sensitive to changes in horizontal resolution. Most of the sensitivity is due to sensitivity to time step and interactions between deep convection and large‐scale condensation, which is expected from the closure methods. The resulting full physics SE‐VR model produces a similar climate to the global low‐resolution mesh and similar high‐frequency statistics in the high‐resolution region. The SE‐VR simulations are able to reproduce uniform high‐resolution results, making them an effective tool for regional climate simulations at lower computational cost. Some biases are reduced (orographic precipitation in Western United States), but biases do not necessarily go away at high resolution (e.g., summertime surface temperatures). Variable‐resolution grids are a viable alternative to traditional nesting for regional climate studies and are available in CESM2.

Three-Dimensional Structure of Mass-Weighted Isentropic Time-Mean Meridional Circulations

Abstract The present study develops a diagnostic framework for investigating the three-dimensional (3D) structure of mass-weighted isentropic time-mean (T-MIM) meridional circulations and conducts a preliminary analysis of the winter hemispheres. The T-MIM meridional velocity can unfold, in the zonal direction, time-averaged two-dimensional (2D) mass-weighted isentropic zonal means. Furthermore, the T-MIM velocity can be decomposed into the unweighted isentropic time-mean (uTM) velocity and the temporal eddy-correlated transport velocity, the so-called bolus velocity. The bolus velocity greatly contributes to the 2D extratropical direct circulation in the troposphere and to the Brewer–Dobson circulation in the stratosphere. The 3D bolus velocity seems to reflect the geographical distributions of baroclinic instability wave activity. In the boreal winter, both low-level equatorward flows and upper-level poleward flows are located around the North Pacific and North Atlantic storm tracks. In the austral winter, low-level equatorward flows extend zonally across the midlatitudes. In the subtropics, the 3D bolus velocity is found to be significant in the upper branch of the Hadley circulation. A zonal momentum equation is formulated to examine the 3D momentum balance of the meridional circulation in the T-MIM framework. In the extratropics, the uTM and bolus meridional velocities are in geostrophic balance with the stationary and transient components of the 3D Eliassen–Palm (EP) flux divergence, respectively. The pressure gradient force of transient baroclinic instability waves balances with the low-level equatorward flows of the bolus velocity in the storm tracks.

Features of the Equatorial Intermediate Current Associated with Basin Resonance in the Indian Ocean

AbstractThis paper investigates the features of the Equatorial Intermediate Current (EIC) in the Indian Ocean and its relationship with basin resonance at the semiannual time scale by using in situ observations, reanalysis output, and a continuously stratified linear ocean model (LOM). The observational results show that the EIC is characterized by prominent semiannual variations with velocity reversals and westward phase propagation and that it is strongly influenced by the pronounced second baroclinic mode structure but with identifiable vertical phase propagation. Similar behavior is found in the reanalysis data and LOM results. The simulation of wind-driven equatorial wave dynamics in the LOM reveals that the observed variability of the EIC can be largely explained by the equatorial basin resonance at the semiannual period, when the second baroclinic Rossby wave reflected from the eastern boundary intensifies the directly forced equatorial Kelvin and Rossby waves in the basin interior. The sum of the first 10 modes can reproduce the main features of the EIC. Among these modes, the resonant second baroclinic mode makes the largest contribution, which dominates the vertical structure, semiannual cycle, and westward phase propagation of the EIC. The other 9 modes, however, are also important, and the superposition of the first 10 modes produces downward energy propagation in the equatorial Indian Ocean.

The Anticipation of the ENSO: What Resonantly Forced Baroclinic Waves Can Teach Us (Part II)

The purpose of the paper is to take advantage of recent work on the study of resonantly forced baroclinic waves in the tropical Pacific to significantly reduce systematic and random forecasting errors resulting from the current statistical models intended to predict El Niño. Their major drawback is that sea surface temperature (SST), which is widely used, is very difficult to decipher because of the extreme complexity of exchanges at the ocean-atmosphere interface. In contrast, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecasting can be performed between 7 and 8 months in advance precisely and very simply from (1) the subsurface water temperature at particular locations and (2) the time lag of the events (their expected date of occurrence compared to a regular 4-year cycle). Discrimination of precursor signals from objective criteria prevents the anticipation of wrong events, as occurred in 2012 and 2014. The amplitude of the events, their date of appearance, as well as their potential impact on the involved regions are estimated. Three types of ENSO events characterize their climate impact according to whether they are (1) unlagged or weakly lagged, (2) strongly lagged, or (3) out of phase with the annual quasi-stationary wave (QSW) (Central Pacific El Niño events). This substantial progress is based on the analysis of baroclinic QSWs in the tropical basin and the resulting genesis of ENSO events. As for cold events, the amplification of La Niña can be seen a few months before the maturation phase of an El Niño event, as occurred in 1998 and 2016.

On the Coupling between Barotropic and Baroclinic Modes of Extratropical Atmospheric Variability

Abstract The baroclinic and barotropic components of atmospheric dynamics are usually viewed as interlinked through the baroclinic life cycle, with baroclinic growth of eddies connected to heat fluxes, barotropic decay connected to momentum fluxes, and the two eddy fluxes connected through the Eliassen–Palm wave activity. However, recent observational studies have suggested that these two components of the dynamics are largely decoupled in their variability, with variations in the zonal mean flow associated mainly with the momentum fluxes, variations in the baroclinic wave activity associated mainly with the heat fluxes, and essentially no correlation between the two. These relationships are examined in a dry dynamical core model under different configurations and in Southern Hemisphere observations, considering different frequency bands to account for the different time scales of atmospheric variability. It is shown that at intermediate periods longer than 10 days, the decoupling of the baroclinic and barotropic modes of variability can indeed occur as the eddy kinetic energy at those time scales is only affected by the heat fluxes and not the momentum fluxes. The baroclinic variability includes the oscillator model with periods of 20–30 days. At both the synoptic time scale and the quasi-steady limit, the baroclinic and barotropic modes of variability are linked, consistent with baroclinic life cycles and the positive baroclinic feedback mechanism, respectively. In the quasi-steady limit, the pulsating modes of variability and their correlations depend sensitively on the model climatology.

Linking African Easterly Wave Activity with Equatorial Waves and the Influence of Rossby Waves from the Southern Hemisphere

Abstract A connection is found between African easterly waves (AEWs), equatorial westward-moving mixed Rossby–gravity (WMRG) waves, and equivalent barotropic Rossby waves (RWs) from the Southern Hemisphere (SH). The amplitude and phase of equatorial waves is calculated by projection of broadband-filtered ERA-Interim data onto a horizontal structure basis obtained from equatorial wave theory. Mechanisms enabling interaction between the wave types are identified. AEWs are dominated by a vorticity wave that tilts eastward below the African easterly jet and westward above: the tilt necessary for baroclinic wave growth. However, a strong relationship is identified between amplifying vorticity centers within AEWs and equatorial WMRG waves. Although the waves do not phase lock, positive vorticity centers amplify whenever the cross-equatorial motion of the WMRG wave lies at the same longitude in the upper troposphere (southward flow) and east of this in the lower troposphere (northward flow). Two mechanisms could explain the vorticity amplification: vortex stretching below the upper-tropospheric divergence and ascent associated with latent heating in convection in the lower-tropospheric moist northward flow. In years of strong AEW activity, SH and equatorial upper-tropospheric zonal winds are more easterly. Stronger easterlies have two effects: (i) they Doppler shift WMRG waves so that their period varies little with wavenumber (3–4 days) and (ii) they enable westward-moving RWs to propagate into the tropical waveguide from the SH. The RW phase speeds can match those of WMRG waves, enabling sustained excitation of WMRG. The WMRG waves have an eastward group velocity with wave activity accumulating over Africa and invigorating AEWs at similar frequencies through the vorticity amplification mechanism.

Dynamics of surface and internal long waves generated by atmospheric pressure disturbances

Different from non-dispersive wave models such as the shallow water equations, MCC (Miyata, Choi, and Camassa) type strongly nonlinear dispersive wave model can describe not only the dynamics of surface waves, but also those of internal waves. The MCC model for a two-layer fluid system is applied to study dynamics of both surface waves and internal waves. The resonance mechanisms with atmospheric pressure disturbances are numerically studied not only for surface waves, so-called Proudman resonance, but also for internal waves. Baroclinic internal waves are generated when the speed of the atmospheric pressure disturbance is comparable to the critical linear internal wave speed. We compare the amplitudes of generated internal waves to the resonance theory for surface waves. Although most baroclinic internal wave phenomena can be explained by this linear theory, the relative magnitudes of amplitudes for forced and free waves do not agree with the theory. In addition, sequentially generated surface waves with resonance are observed when the radius of the atmospheric pressure disturbance is small. Finally, the dynamics of both surface and internal waves over non-uniform bottom topography are discussed in terms of Froude numbers to understand how they propagate and interact with each other when the Proudman resonance condition is satisfied while they travel.

Effect of Overturning Circulation on Long Equatorial Waves: A Low-Frequency Cutoff

Zonally long tropical waves in the presence of a large-scale meridional and vertical overturning circulation are studied in an idealized model based on the intraseasonal multiscale moist dynamics (IMMD) theory. The model consists of a system of shallow-water equations describing barotropic and first baroclinic vertical modes coupled to one another by the zonally symmetric, time-independent background circulation. To isolate the effects of the meridional circulation alone, an idealized background flow is chosen to mimic the meridional and vertical components of the flow of the Hadley cell; the background flow meridionally converges and rises at the equator. The resulting linear eigenvalue problem is a generalization of the long-wave-scaled version of Matsuno’s equatorial wave problem with the addition of meridional and vertical advection. The results demonstrate that the meridional circulation couples equatorially trapped baroclinic Rossby waves to planetary, barotropic free Rossby waves. The meridional circulation also causes the Kelvin wave to develop an equatorially trapped barotropic component, imparting a westward-tilted vertical structure to the wave. The total energy of the linear system is positive definite, so all waves are shown to be neutrally stable. A critical layer exists at latitudes where the meridional background flow vanishes, resulting in a minimum frequency cutoff for physically feasible waves. Therefore, linear Matsuno waves with periods longer than the vertical transport time of the meridional circulation do not exist in the equatorial waveguide. This implies a low-frequency cutoff for long equatorial waves.

Baroclinic, Kelvin and inertia-gravity waves in the barostrat instability experiment

The differentially heated rotating annulus is a laboratory experiment historically designed for modelling large-scale features of the mid-latitude atmosphere. In the present study, we investigate a modified version of the classic baroclinic experiment in which a juxtaposition of convective and motionless stratified layers is created by introducing a vertical salt stratification. The thermal convective motions are suppressed in a central region at mid-depth of the rotating tank, therefore double-diffusive convection rolls can develop only in thin layers located at top and bottom, where the salt stratification is weakest. For high enough rotation rates, the baroclinic instability destabilises the flow in the top and the bottom shallow convective layers, generating cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies separated by the stable stratified layer. Thanks to this alternation of layers resembling the convective and radiative layers of stars, the planetary’s atmospheric troposphere and stratosphere or turbulent layers at the sea surface above stratified waters, this new laboratory setup is of interest for both astrophysics and geophysical sciences. More specifically, it allows to study the exchange of momentum and energy between the layers, primarily by the propagation of internal gravity waves (IGW). PIV velocity maps are used to describe the wavy flow pattern at different heights. Using a co-rotating laser and camera, the wave field is well resolved and different wave types can be found: baroclinic waves, Kelvin and Poincaré type waves. The signature of small-scale IGW can also be observed attached to the baroclinic jet. The baroclinic waves occur at the thin convectively active layer at the surface and the bottom of the tank, though decoupled they show different manifestation of nonlinear interactions. The inertial Kelvin and Poincaré waves seem to be mechanically forced. The small-scale wave trains attached to the meandering jet point to an imbalance of the large-scale flow. For the first time, the simultaneous occurrence of different wave types is reported in detail for a differentially heated rotating annulus experiment.

Implicit–explicit (IMEX) Runge–Kutta methods for non-hydrostatic atmospheric models

Abstract. The efficient simulation of non-hydrostatic atmospheric dynamics requires time integration methods capable of overcoming the explicit stability constraints on time step size arising from acoustic waves. In this work, we investigate various implicit–explicit (IMEX) additive Runge–Kutta (ARK) methods for evolving acoustic waves implicitly to enable larger time step sizes in a global non-hydrostatic atmospheric model. The IMEX formulations considered include horizontally explicit – vertically implicit (HEVI) approaches as well as splittings that treat some horizontal dynamics implicitly. In each case, the impact of solving nonlinear systems in each implicit ARK stage in a linearly implicit fashion is also explored.The accuracy and efficiency of the IMEX splittings, ARK methods, and solver options are evaluated on a gravity wave and baroclinic wave test case. HEVI splittings that treat some vertical dynamics explicitly do not show a benefit in solution quality or run time over the most implicit HEVI formulation. While splittings that implicitly evolve some horizontal dynamics increase the maximum stable step size of a method, the gains are insufficient to overcome the additional cost of solving a globally coupled system. Solving implicit stage systems in a linearly implicit manner limits the solver cost but this is offset by a reduction in step size to achieve the desired accuracy for some methods. Overall, the third-order ARS343 and ARK324 methods performed the best, followed by the second-order ARS232 and ARK232 methods.

Strong scaling for numerical weather prediction at petascale with the atmospheric model NUMA

Numerical weather prediction (NWP) has proven to be computationally challenging due to its inherent multiscale nature. Currently, the highest resolution global NWP models use a horizontal resolution of 9 km. At this resolution, many important processes in the atmosphere are not resolved. Needless to say, this introduces errors. In order to increase the resolution of NWP models, highly scalable atmospheric models are needed. The non-hydrostatic unified model of the atmosphere (NUMA), developed by the authors at the Naval Postgraduate School, was designed to achieve this purpose. NUMA is used by the Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey as the engine inside its next generation weather prediction system NEPTUNE. NUMA solves the fully compressible Navier–Stokes equations by means of high-order Galerkin methods (both spectral element as well as discontinuous Galerkin methods can be used). NUMA is capable of running middle and upper atmosphere simulations since it does not make use of the shallow-atmosphere approximation. This article presents the performance analysis and optimization of the spectral element version of NUMA. The performance at different optimization stages is analyzed using a theoretical performance model as well as measurements via hardware counters. Machine-independent optimization is compared to machine-specific optimization using Blue Gene (BG)/Q vector intrinsics. The best portable version of the main computations was found to be about two times slower than the best non-portable version. By using vector intrinsics, the main computations reach 1.2 PFlops on the entire IBM Blue Gene supercomputer Mira (12% of the theoretical peak performance). The article also presents scalability studies for two idealized test cases that are relevant for NWP applications. The atmospheric model NUMA delivers an excellent strong scaling efficiency of 99% on the entire supercomputer Mira using a mesh with 1.8 billion grid points. This allows running a global forecast of a baroclinic wave test case at a 3-km uniform horizontal resolution and double precision within the time frame required for operational weather prediction.

Investigating dynamical features in the long-term daily maximum temperature time series recorded at Adrián Jara, Paraguay

In this study, we analyse the daily series of maximum temperature measured at Adrian Jara, Paraguay, to disclose features possibly linked with climatological indices that are thought to regulate, in general, the climatic variability of South America. This station is well suited to perform this investigation because it is located in a rural not urbanized area. Our findings reveal that the analyzed series is modulated by several cycles: the annual and half-annual cycle; the 8-year cycle that could be driven by 8-year cycle of the baroclinic waves at the Southern Hemisphere; the 2–3-year periodicity, which seems linked with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation; the 15–16 years periodicity that seems to be induced by the low-frequency fluctuations of SST in the North Atlantic. It is also found an apparent shift in the maximum temperature in the late 1989 that seems to be in agreement with similar findings by other studies that documented such potential jump in the climate system.

Low ocean-floor rises regulate subpolar sea surface temperature by forming baroclinic jets

Sea surface temperature (SST) fronts in mid- to high-latitude oceans have significant impacts on extratropical atmospheric circulations and climate. In the western subarctic Pacific, sharp SST fronts form between the cold subarctic water and the recently found quasi-stationary jets that advect warm waters originating in the Kuroshio northeastward. Here we present a new mechanism of the jet formation paying attention to the propagation of baroclinic Rossby waves that is deflected by eddy-driven barotropic flows over bottom rises, although their height is low (~500 m) compared with the depth of the North Pacific Ocean (~6000 m). Steered by the barotropic flows, Rossby waves bring a thicker upper layer from the subtropical gyre and a thinner upper layer from the subarctic gyre, thereby creating a thickness jump, hence a surface jet, where they converge. This study reveals an overlooked role of low-rise bottom topography in regulating SST anomalies in subpolar oceans.

Tropical cyclogenesis in warm climates simulated by a cloud-system resolving model

Here we investigate tropical cyclogenesis in warm climates, focusing on the effect of reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradient relevant to past equable climates and, potentially, to future climate change. Using a cloud-system resolving model that explicitly represents moist convection, we conduct idealized experiments on a zonally periodic equatorial β-plane stretching from nearly pole-to-pole and covering roughly one-fifth of Earth’s circumference. To improve the representation of tropical cyclogenesis and mean climate at a horizontal resolution that would otherwise be too coarse for a cloud-system resolving model (15 km), we use the hypohydrostatic rescaling of the equations of motion, also called reduced acceleration in the vertical. The simulations simultaneously represent the Hadley circulation and the intertropical convergence zone, baroclinic waves in mid-latitudes, and a realistic distribution of tropical cyclones (TCs), all without use of a convective parameterization. Using this model, we study the dependence of TCs on the meridional sea surface temperature gradient. When this gradient is significantly reduced, we find a substantial increase in the number of TCs, including a several-fold increase in the strongest storms of Saffir–Simpson categories 4 and 5. This increase occurs as the mid-latitudes become a new active region of TC formation and growth. When the climate warms we also see convergence between the physical properties and genesis locations of tropical and warm-core extra-tropical cyclones. While end-members of these types of storms remain very distinct, a large distribution of cyclones forming in the subtropics and mid-latitudes share properties of the two.

Diurnal tidal currents attributed to free baroclinic coastal-trapped waves on the Pacific shelf off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan

To understand the properties of tides and tidal currents on the Pacific shelf off the southeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan, we analyzed time series of 9 current meters that were moored on the shelf for 1 month to 2 years. Diurnal tidal currents such as the K1 and O1 constituents were more dominant than semi-diurnal ones by an order of magnitude. The diurnal tidal currents clearly propagated westward along the coast with a typical phase velocity of 2 m s–1 and wavelength of 200 km. Moreover, the shape and phase of the diurnal currents measured by a bottom-mounted ADCP were vertically homogeneous, except in the vicinity of the bottom boundary layer. These features were very consistent with theoretically estimated properties of free baroclinic coastal-trapped waves of the first mode. An annual (semi-annual) variation was apparent for the phase (amplitude) of the O1 tidal current, which was correlated with density stratification (intensity of an along-shelf current called the Coastal Oyashio). These possible causes are discussed in terms of the propagation and generation of coastal-trapped waves.