Tropical cyclogenesis

Tropical cyclogenesis is the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which temperate cyclogenesis occurs. Tropical cyclogenesis involves the development of a warm-core cyclone, due to significant convection in a favorable atmospheric environment. Tropical cyclogenesis requires six main factors: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures (at least ), atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low-pressure center, a pre-existing low-level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear. Tropical cyclones tend to develop during the summer, but have been noted in nearly every month in most basins. Climate cycles such as ENSO and the Madden–Julian oscillation modulate the timing and frequency of tropical cyclone development. There is a limit on tropical cyclone intensity which is strongly related to the water temperatures along its path. An average of 86 tropical cyclones of tropical storm intensity form annually worldwide. Of those, 47 reach strength higher than , and 20 become intense tropical cyclones (at least Category 3 intensity on the Saffir–Simpson scale). There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to sustain a low pressure center, a preexisting low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear. While these conditions are necessary for tropical cyclone formation, they do not guarantee that a tropical cyclone will form. Lapse rate Normally, an ocean temperature of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) spanning through at least a 50-metre depth is considered the minimum to maintain a tropical cyclone. These warm waters are needed to maintain the warm core that fuels tropical systems. This value is well above 16.1 °C (60.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (20)

Related units (2)

Related concepts (12)

Related lectures (7)

Towards a metabolic theory of catchments: scaling of water and carbon fluxes with size

Sara Bonetti, Francesca Bassani

Allometric scaling relations are widely used to link biological processes in nature. They are typically expressed as power laws, postulating that the metabolic rate of an organism scales as its mass to the power of an allometric exponent, which ranges betw ...

2024

Positive interactions between corals and damselfish increase coral resistance to temperature stress

Leïla Ezzat

By the century's end, many tropical seas will reach temperatures exceeding most coral species' thermal tolerance on an annual basis. The persistence of corals in these regions will, therefore, depend on their abilities to tolerate recurrent thermal stress. ...

WILEY2022

The role of air-sea fluxes for the water vapour isotope signals in the cold and warm sectors of extratropical cyclones over the Southern Ocean

Josué Etienne Gehring, Irina Gorodetskaya

Meridional atmospheric transport is an important process in the climate system and has implications for the availability of heat and moisture at high latitudes. Near-surface cold and warm temperature advection over the ocean in the context of extratropical ...

Gottingen2021

A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane (ˈhʌrᵻkən,_-keɪn), typhoon (taɪ'fuːn), tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone.

Cyclogenesis is the development or strengthening of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere (a low-pressure area). Cyclogenesis is an umbrella term for at least three different processes, all of which result in the development of some sort of cyclone, and at any size from the microscale to the synoptic scale. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, developing a warm core. Extratropical cyclones form as waves along weather fronts before occluding later in their life cycle as cold core cyclones.

Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones, often referred to as medicanes (a portmanteau of Mediterranean hurricanes) but sometimes also as Mediterranean cyclones or as Mediterranean hurricanes, are meteorological phenomena occasionally observed over the Mediterranean Sea. On a few rare occasions, some storms have been observed reaching the strength of a , on the Saffir–Simpson scale, and one storm has been recorded reaching intensity. The main societal hazard posed by medicanes is not usually from destructive winds, but through life-threatening torrential rains and flash floods.

Explores the Coriolis effect, explaining forces and deviations in trajectories due to Earth's rotation.

Discusses the limitations, instability, and dynamics of extratropical cyclones, focusing on baroclinic instability and the role of cyclones in redistributing heat.

Explores the ageotrophic wind, vertical motion diagnosis, fronts, and cyclone models in mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics.