Open AccessImpacts of tropical cyclones on the meridional movement of the western Pacific subtropical high
Author(s) -
Wang Tianju,
Zhong Zhong,
Sun Yuan,
Wang Ju
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.893
Subject(s) - subtropical ridge , climatology , zonal and meridional , ridge , tropical cyclone , typhoon , geology , latitude , environmental science , geography , meteorology , precipitation , geodesy , paleontology
Movements of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) are an important factor dominating the synoptic weather and climate over East Asia. In this study, characteristics of the WPSH meridional movement are statistically analysed for the tropical cyclone (TC) peak months (July–September) from 2001 to 2010. The results show that the WPSH meridional movement is consistent overall, namely, its ridge line moves synchronously with its main body centroid, with a correlation coefficient of 0.70 between the ridge line and main body centroid. Moreover, the sensitivity experiment with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) for super typhoon Megi (2010) demonstrates that TCs can affect the WPSH meridional movement by stimulating abnormal perturbations that disperse and propagate outwards. Specifically, the WPSH ridge line would shift northwards at an average of 0.64° latitude and a maximum of 1.44° latitude for the period when TC Megi moves to the south of the WPSH. In summary, the meridional movement of the WPSH ridge and centroid are well‐correlated and are strongly influenced by TC activity. This study proposes a possible way by which TCs over western North Pacific could affect the weather and climate in East Asia.