Tropical Cyclone Mekkhala’s (2008) Formation over the South China Sea: Mesoscale, Synoptic-Scale, and Large-Scale Contributions
Author
Park, Myung-Sook
Kim, Hyeong-Seog
Ho, Chang-Hoi
Elsberry, Russell L.
Lee, Myong-In
Date
2015-01Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Tropical cyclone formation close to the coastline of the Asian continent presents a significant threat to
heavily populated coastal countries. A case study of Tropical Storm Mekkhala (2008) that developed off
the coast of Vietnamis presented using the high-resolution analyses of the European Centre forMedium-
RangeWeather Forecasts/Year of Tropical Convection and multiple satellite observations. The authors
have analyzed contributions to the formation from large-scale intraseasonal variability, synoptic perturbations,
and mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Within a large-scale westerly wind burst (WWB)
associated with the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), synoptic perturbations generated by two preceding
tropical cyclones initiated the pre-Mekkhala low-level vortex over the Philippine Sea. Typhoon
Hagupit produced a synoptic-scale wave train that contributed to the development of Jangmi, but likely
suppressed the Mekkhala formation. The low-level vortex of the pre-Mekkhala disturbance was then
initiated in a confluent zone between northeasterlies in advance of Typhoon Jangmi and theWWB.Akey
contribution to the development of Mekkhala was from diurnally varying MCSs that were invigorated in
the WWB. The oceanic MCSs, which typically develop off the west coast of the Philippines in the
morning and dissipate in the afternoon, were prolonged beyond the regular diurnal cycle. A combination
with the MCSs developing downstream of the Philippines led to the critical structure change of the
oceanic convective cluster, which implies the critical role of mesoscale processes. Therefore, the diurnally
varying mesoscale convective processes over both the ocean and land are shown to have an
essential role in the formation of Mekkhala in conjunction with large-scale MJO and the synoptic-scale
TC influences.
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-14-00119.1
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
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