Full text
| |
| Author(s): |
Clara Miho Narukawa Iwabe
Total Authors: 1
|
| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto Astronômico e Geofísico (IAG/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2012-12-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Rosmeri Porfirio da Rocha;
Claudia Marcela Campetella;
Manoel Alonso Gan;
Michelle Simões Reboita;
Rita Yuri Ynoue
|
| Advisor: | Rosmeri Porfirio da Rocha |
| Abstract | |
Secondary cyclones are systems that are not well defined yet and they are difficult to predict, requiring further studies to identify the signals that trigger their development. In this study we carried out a climatology and numerical study of secondary cyclogenesis over the southwestern South Atlantic Ocean in order to obtain information about these systems and understand the dynamic processes involved in its development. The climatology for the period 1980-2010 shows that an average of 3.9 secondary systems per year develops in the southwestern South Atlantic Ocean. These systems occur with more and less frequency in the colder and warmer months, respectively. Two distinct types of secondary cyclones were found. TYPE1 forms eastward and over the warm front region of the primary cyclone. These systems develop due to warm advection at lower levels and relatively weak influence of potential vorticity (PV) anomalies at upper levels. TYPE2 develops westward/northwestward of the primary cyclone where strong cold advection predominates at lower levels. However, in this type, the lower troposphere is heated due to intense heat and moisture fluxes and at upper levels it is forced by PV anomalies. Numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) indicate that the sensible and latent heat fluxes on surface act as intensification mechanisms for both TYPE1 and TYPE2 secondary cyclones and that the latent heat flux influences more on decreasing the pressure in these systems. The numerical experiments show that the cyclone TYPE2 does not develop in the absence of PV anomalies, while the TYPE1 does, but it is relatively weaker and delayed in time. Factors separation analysis indicates that the PV anomaly and some other mechanism unrelated to the factors evaluated in the simulations have a triggering role in the development of the secondary cyclone TYPE1, while the interaction of PV anomaly with surface fluxes acted to intensify the cyclone. The TYPE2 development occurred solely due to PV anomaly, which also acted to intensifying together with heat/moisture fluxes on surface as well as the interaction processes of these two factors. (AU) | |