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A Metric for Rainfall Asymmetry in Recurving Tropical Cyclones
Author(s) -
Deng Difei,
Ritchie Elizabeth A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl078273
Subject(s) - tropical cyclone , asymmetry , atmospheric sciences , climatology , metric (unit) , environmental science , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , quantum mechanics , operations management , economics
Using a data set of 138 recurving tropical cyclones (TCs) from 2004 to 2015 in the western North Pacific, a new metric, B rain , is proposed, which quantifies the asymmetry in the rainfall within the TC circulation relative to its track. When B rain is positive (negative), the rainfall has a right of track (left of track) preference. Using the new metric, the rainfall asymmetry is found to be closely related to thermal structure asymmetry ( B ) in TCs. A well‐defined anticorrelated relationship is found between B rain and B for all recurving TCs. Prior to recurvature, B rain decreases linearly as B increases. After recurvature, the linear relationship weakens, and TC rainfall is almost entirely concentrated left of track as B increases. A phase‐space composed of B rain and B provides substantial insight into cyclone structural and rainfall asymmetric evolution.