Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Hurricane Research Articles

Global Projections of Intense Tropical Cyclone Activity for the Late Twenty-First Century from Dynamical Downscaling of CMIP5/RCP4.5 Scenarios

Abstract Global projections of intense tropical cyclone activity are derived from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM; 50-km grid) and the GFDL hurricane model using a two-stage downscaling procedure. First, tropical cyclone genesis is simulated globally using HiRAM. Each storm is then downscaled into the GFDL hurricane model, with horizontal grid spacing near the storm of 6 km, including ocean coupling (e.g., “cold wake” generation). Simulations are performed using observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) (1980–2008) for a “control run” with 20 repeating seasonal cycles and for a late-twenty-first-century projection using an altered SST seasonal cycle obtained from a phase 5 of CMIP (CMIP5)/representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) multimodel ensemble. In general agreement with most previous studies, projections with this framework indicate fewer tropical cyclones globally in a warmer late-twenty-first-century climate, but also an increase in average cyclone intensity, precipitation rates, and the number and occurrence days of very intense category 4 and 5 storms. While these changes are apparent in the globally averaged tropical cyclone statistics, they are not necessarily present in each individual basin. The interbasin variation of changes in most of the tropical cyclone metrics examined is directly correlated to the variation in magnitude of SST increases between the basins. Finally, the framework is shown to be capable of reproducing both the observed global distribution of outer storm size—albeit with a slight high bias—and its interbasin variability. Projected median size is found to remain nearly constant globally, with increases in most basins offset by decreases in the northwest Pacific.

The Operational GFDL Coupled Hurricane–Ocean Prediction System and a Summary of Its Performance

Abstract The past decade has been marked by significant advancements in numerical weather prediction of hurricanes, which have greatly contributed to the steady decline in forecast track error. Since its operational implementation by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) in 1995, the best-track model performer has been NOAA’s regional hurricane model developed at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). The purpose of this paper is to summarize the major upgrades to the GFDL hurricane forecast system since 1998. These include coupling the atmospheric component with the Princeton Ocean Model, which became operational in 2001, major physics upgrades implemented in 2003 and 2006, and increases in both the vertical resolution in 2003 and the horizontal resolution in 2002 and 2005. The paper will also report on the GFDL model performance for both track and intensity, focusing particularly on the 2003 through 2006 hurricane seasons. During this period, the GFDL track errors were the lowest of all the dynamical model guidance available to the NWS Tropical Prediction Center in both the Atlantic and eastern Pacific basins. It will also be shown that the GFDL model has exhibited a steady reduction in its intensity errors during the past 5 yr, and can now provide skillful intensity forecasts. Tests of 153 forecasts from the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons and 75 forecasts from the 2005 eastern Pacific season have demonstrated a positive impact on both track and intensity prediction in the 2006 GFDL model upgrade, through introduction of a cloud microphysics package and an improved air–sea momentum flux parameterization. In addition, the large positive intensity bias in sheared environments observed in previous versions of the model is significantly reduced. This led to the significant improvement in the model’s reliability and skill for forecasting intensity that occurred in 2006.

Targeted Observations to Improve Operational Tropical Cyclone Track Forecast Guidance

Abstract Since 1997, the Tropical Prediction Center and the Hurricane Research Division have conducted operational synoptic surveillance missions with a Gulfstream IV-SP jet aircraft to improve numerical forecast guidance. Due to limited aircraft resources, optimal observing strategies for these missions must be developed. In the current study, the most rapidly growing modes are represented by areas of large forecast spread in the NCEP bred-vector ensemble forecasting system. The sampling strategy requires sampling of the entire target region with regularly spaced dropwindsonde observations. Three dynamical models were employed in testing the targeting and sampling strategies. With the assimilation into the numerical guidance of all the observations gathered during the surveillance missions, only the 12-h Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Hurricane Model forecast showed statistically significant improvement. Assimilation of only the subset of data from the subjectively found fully sampled target regions produced a statistically significant reduction of the track forecast errors of up to 25% within the critical first 2 days of the forecast. This is comparable with the cumulative business-as-usual improvement expected over 18 yr.

Influence of Atmospheric Asymmetries on the Intensification of Hurricane Opal: Piecewise PV Inversion Diagnosis of a GFDL Model Forecast

Abstract Although Hurricane Opal of 1995 is one of the most intensely studied hurricanes ever, the cause of the hurricane's rapid intensification over the Gulf of Mexico is still a matter of controversy. While some authors have concluded that an approaching upper-level atmospheric trough had a significant impact on intensification, others have inferred only a small impact of the trough on the hurricane's strengthening. A recent study by the present authors diagnosed a Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) model forecast and found that eddy fluxes made only a small contribution to the lower-tropospheric evolution of the model hurricane vortex near the core. Thus, at face value, this previous study supported the conclusion that the upper-level trough was not important to the intensification of Opal. As noted in that study, however, in order to isolate the contribution of the trough by itself, the technique of piecewise potential vorticity (PV) inversion is required. The present study is the first to use this method in a diagnostic framework to determine the asymmetric features that contribute to tropical cyclone intensification. The present study uses the same GFDL hurricane model forecast as in the previous study to diagnose the balanced contribution of various pieces of the asymmetric PV anomaly to the intensification of the model Opal vortex. Though the upper-level trough is an outer-environmental feature, its influence is found to extend into Opal's inner-core region. The eddies associated with the trough induce an upper-level inner-core acceleration. An estimate of the impact of convective feedback on the influence of the upper-level trough on Opal's evolution is made. The results elucidate and modify the conclusions of other authors. There is no indication from the present diagnosis that the upper-level trough was a significant contributor to Opal's lower-tropospheric intensification.

Environmental Interactions in the GFDL Hurricane Model for Hurricane Opal

Hurricane Opal (1995) crossed the Gulf of Mexico rapidly intensifying to a 130-kt storm, then fortunately weakening before landfall on the Florida panhandle. This intensification was underforecast by the National Hurricane Center. Forecast fields from the 1997 version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Hurricane Prediction System (GFDL model) for Hurricane Opal are used to diagnose the rapid intensification of the tropical cyclone. While falling short of the realized peak intensity, the simulation did capture the phase of intensification. This study presents the first step toward diagnosing the mechanisms for intensification within a moderate resolution (;15 km) hydrostatic model and testing the extant hypotheses in the literature. Using a mean tangential wind budget, and the Eliassen balanced vortex model, positive eddy vorticity fluxes aloft are identified in the vicinity (;600 km) of Opal, but are not found to aid intensification. A detailed examination of each of the terms of the budget (mean and eddy vorticity flux, mean and eddy vertical advection, and ‘‘friction’’) shows for the most rapidly intensifying episodes a greater forcing for mean tangential winds near the center of the storm, particularly from the mean vertical advection and mean vorticity flux terms. Variations in these mean terms can be primarily attributed to variations in the heating rate. Upper-level divergence exhibits significant vertical structure, such that single-level or layer-average analysis techniques do not capture the divergence signature aloft. Far from the storm ($400 km), divergence features near 200 mb are significantly influenced by convective events over land that are, perhaps, only indirectly influenced by the hurricane. While there is a trough interaction simulated within the model, we suggest that the hurricane develops strongly without an important interaction with the trough. A synthetic removal of specific potential vorticity features attributed to the trough is proposed to test this hypothesis. Imposed shear is proposed to weaken the storm at later times, which is at odds with other recent ‘‘nontrough’’ theories for the behavior of Opal.

A Numerical Investigation of Land Surface Water on Landfalling Hurricanes

Little is known about the effects of surface water over land on the decay of landfalling hurricanes. This study, using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory hurricane model, examines the surface temperature changes due to hurricane–land surface water interactions, and their effects on the surface heat fluxes, hurricane structure, and intensity. Different water depths and surface conditions are incorporated for a variety of experiments starting with a hurricane bogus embedded in a uniform easterly mean flow of 5 m s−1. A salient feature of hurricane–land surface water interaction is the local surface cooling near the hurricane core with the largest cooling behind and on the right side of the hurricane center. Unlike the surface cooling due to hurricane–ocean interaction, the largest cooling in hurricane–land surface water interaction can be much closer to the hurricane core. Without solar radiation during night, the surface evaporation dominates the local surface cooling. This causes a surface temperature contrast between the core area and its environment. During the day, the surface temperature contrast is enhanced due to additional influence from the reduced solar radiation under the core. Related to the local surface cooling, there is a significant reduction of surface evaporation with a near cutoff behind the hurricane center. A layer of half-meter water can noticeably reduce landfall decay although the local surface temperature around the hurricane core region is more than 4°C lower than in its environment. Further experiments indicate that an increase of roughness reduces the surface winds but barely changes the surface temperature and evaporation patterns and their magnitudes since the increase of roughness also increases the efficiency of surface evaporation.

Numerical Simulation of Typhoon Gladys (1994) and Its Interaction with Taiwan Terrain Using the GFDL Hurricane Model

Abstract Numerical integrations using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) hurricane model were performed to study the evolution of Typhoon Gladys (1994) and its interaction with the Taiwan terrain. Consistent with most previous studies, the Taiwan topography results in the deceleration of Gladys’s translation speed and southward deviation as it approaches Taiwan. On the other hand, Gladys accelerates northwestward while passing Taiwan, which is likely to be related to the moist processes, and differs from the track pattern in the dry model of Lin et al. Although the GFDL hurricane model forecast underestimates Gladys’s intensity, the model can capture the evolution of Gladys’s intensity, especially its weakening during landfall, which is primarily due to the cutoff of the water vapor supply in the boundary layer as Gladys approached the Taiwan terrain. Other mesoscale phenomena, including the pattern of heavy precipitation and the formation of secondary lows, are well simulated by the model, ...

Impact of CO2-Induced Warming on Hurricane Intensities as Simulated in a Hurricane Model with Ocean Coupling

Abstract This study explores how a carbon dioxide (CO2) warming–induced enhancement of hurricane intensity could be altered by the inclusion of hurricane–ocean coupling. Simulations are performed using a coupled version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory hurricane prediction system in an idealized setting with highly simplified background flow fields. The large-scale atmospheric boundary conditions for these high-resolution experiments (atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles and SSTs) are derived from control and high-CO2 climatologies obtained from a low-resolution (R30) global coupled ocean–atmosphere climate model. The high-CO2 conditions are obtained from years 71–120 of a transient +1% yr−1 CO2-increase experiment with the global model. The CO2-induced SST changes from the global climate model range from +2.2° to +2.7°C in the six tropical storm basins studied. In the storm simulations, ocean coupling significantly reduces the intensity of simulated tropical cyclones, in accord with ...

The Impact of Satellite Winds on Experimental GFDL Hurricane Model Forecasts

A series of experimental forecasts are performed to evaluate the impact of enhanced satellite-derived winds on numerical hurricane track predictions. The winds are derived from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-8 (GOES-8) multispectral radiance observations by tracking cloud and water vapor patterns from successive satellite images. A three-dimensional optimum interpolation method is developed to assimilate the satellite winds directly into the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) hurricane prediction system. A series of parallel forecasts are then performed, both with and without the assimilation of GOES winds. Except for the assimilation of the satellite winds, the model integrations are identical in all other respects. A strength of this study is the large number of experiments performed. Over 100 cases are examined from 11 different storms covering three seasons (1996–98), enabling the authors to account for and examine the case-to-case variability in the forecast results when performing the assessment. On average, assimilation of the GOES winds leads to statistically significant improvements for all forecast periods, with the relative reductions in track error ranging from ∼5% at 12 h to ∼12% at 36 h. The percentage of improved forecasts increases following the assimilation of the satellite winds, with roughly three improved forecasts for every two degraded ones. Inclusion of the satellite winds also dramatically reduces the westward bias that has been a persistent feature of the GFDL model forecasts, implying that much of this bias may be related to errors in the initial conditions rather than a deficiency in the model itself. Finally, a composite analysis of the deep-layer flow fields suggests that the reduction in track error may be associated with the ability of the GOES winds to more accurately depict the strength of vorticity gyres in the environmental flow. These results offer compelling evidence that the assimilation of satellite winds can significantly improve the accuracy of hurricane track forecasts.

A Sensitivity Study of the Thermodynamic Environment on GFDL Model Hurricane Intensity: Implications for Global Warming

In this study, the effect of thermodynamic environmental changes on hurricane intensity is extensively investigated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory hurricane model for a suite of experiments with different initial upper-tropospheric temperature anomalies up to 648C and sea surface temperatures ranging from 268 to 318C given the same relative humidity profile. The results indicate that stabilization in the environmental atmosphere and sea surface temperature (SST) increase cause opposing effects on hurricane intensity. The offsetting relationship between the effects of atmospheric stability increase (decrease) and SST increase (decrease) is monotonic and systematic in the parameter space. This implies that hurricane intensity increase due to a possible global warming associated with increased CO2 is considerably smaller than that expected from warming of the oceanic waters alone. The results also indicate that the intensity of stronger (weaker) hurricanes is more (less) sensitive to atmospheric stability and SST changes. The model-attained hurricane intensity is found to be well correlated with the maximum surface evaporation and the large-scale environmental convective available potential energy. The model-attained hurricane intensity is highly correlated with the energy available from wet-adiabatic ascent near the eyewall relative to a reference sounding in the undisturbed environment for all the experiments. Coupled hurricane‐ocean experiments show that hurricane intensity becomes less sensitive to atmospheric stability and SST changes since the ocean coupling causes larger (smaller) intensity reduction for stronger (weaker) hurricanes. This implies less increase of hurricane intensity related to a possible global warming due to increased CO 2.

The GFDL Hurricane Prediction System and Its Performance in the 1995 Hurricane Season

Abstract The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) Hurricane Prediction System was adopted by the U.S. National Weather Service as an operational hurricane prediction model in the 1995 hurricane season. The framework of the prediction model is described with emphasis on its unique features. The model uses a multiply nested movable mesh system to depict the interior structure of tropical cyclones. For cumulus parameterization, a soft moist convective adjustment scheme is used. The model initial condition is defined through a method of vortex replacement. It involves generation of a realistic hurricane vortex by a scheme of controlled spinup. Time integration of the model is carried out by a two-step iterative method that has a characteristic of frequency-selective damping. The outline of the prediction system is presented and the system performance in the 1995 hurricane season is briefly summarized. Both in the Atlantic and the eastern Pacific, the average track forecast errors are substantially red...

A Numerical Study of the Feedback Mechanisms of Hurricane–Environment Interaction on Hurricane Movement from the Potential Vorticity Perspective

Abstract The interaction between a hurricane and its environment is studied by analysing the generation and influence of potential vorticity (PV) from the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory hurricane model analysis system. Two sets of numerical experiments are performed: one with and the other without a bogused hurricane vortex in the initial time, for cases of Hurricanes Bob (1991), Gilbert (1988), and Andrew (1992). The PV budget analysis of Bob shows that the condensational heating within the vortex redistributes the PV, causing a PV sink in the upper part of the vortex and a PV source in the lower part. This tendency is compensated for largely, but not entirely, by the upward transport of high-PV air from the lower levels to the upper levels. The net effect contributes to the increase of the negative upper-level PV anomaly during the vortex intensification period. This result indicates that the diabatic heating effect plays a crucial role in the evolution of the PV field in hurricanes. It also sugg...