Mesoscale vertical structure of an explosive oceanic cyclone.
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Authors
Gardner, Elizabeth B.
Subjects
Advisors
Nuss, Wendell A.
Date of Issue
1991-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
The mesoscale vertical structure of an explosively deepening oceanic cyclone on
19-20 January 1989 during the Experiment on Rapidly Intensifying Cyclones over the
Atlantic (ERICA) was studied. Hand analyses of height, temperature, and dewpoint,
and cross-sections of 6 and 6, were prepared using aircraft and sounding data through
the warm-frontal region in order to document the vertical structure. The results showed
that the initial disturbance formed under a region of strong upper-level confluence between
a southern jet streak and an approaching upper-level short-wave from the northwest.
Upper-level frontogenesis associated with the confluent flow was strong enough to
produce tropopause folding and stratospheric extrusion as low as 700 mb about 750 km
upstream from the surface low prior to rapid deepening.
The mesoscale analyses during the initial occlusion phase showed the upper-level
temperature and moisture patterns spiraling around the low center with strong warm air
advection occuring under a pocket of cold air aloft, producing significant convective
instabilty. The cross-sections of 6f throughout the rapid deepening period showed unstable
conditions, which suggests that moist potential instability in the warm frontal region
was a factor in the rapid development of this storm.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Meteorology
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
79 p.;28 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.