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What are Tropical Cyclones (TC) ?
Forms over a tropical ocean.
Center of storm is warmer than the surrounding air.
Has no fronts.
Strongest winds are near the Earth's surface.
Main energy source is the latent heat of condensation
Air sinks at the center of a TC
They are moved by steering winds in the troposphere.
TC weaken rapidly over land
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How do they develop ?
Warm ocean surface (Tsea>26.5 oC) to a depth of ~ 50 m
(evaporation)
Surface low pressure (convergence)
Surface winds are strongly cyclonic weakens with height
Moist air rises condenses into water droplets and rain
(latent heat released) higher wind speed (mechanical
energy)
Faster winds and lower pressure associated with them
increase evaporation and more condensation
Released energy increases updrafts
Divergence at upper levels
Weak vertical shear
Earth rotation (Coriolis force) causes the system to spin
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Map of Tropical Cyclones © Wikipedia
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Anatomy of a TC
The Eye
The Eye-wall
Rain-bands
Storm surge
Landfall
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Anatomy of a TC
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Airflow Patterns
Anatomy of a TC
The Eye: The low pressure centre of a tropical
cyclone. Winds are normally calm and sometimes the
sky clears. The eye of a storm is a roughly circular
area and typically 30-65 km in diameter. It is
surrounded by the eyewall
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Classification
Low Pressure
Tropical Depression
Tropical Storm
Tropical Cyclone
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Categories/Classification
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Why do we need to name TC ?
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Is Gonu an Indian Goddess ?
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Frequency of Cyclones in Arabian
Sea
Juma Al-Maskari
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Formation probability
Juma Al-Maskari
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Application: Track Forecasting
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How are they forecasted ?
Forecast models, increased understanding of the forces that act
on TC, as well as wealth of data from satellites and other
sensors lead to increase the accuracy of track forecasts.
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Coverage of satellite observations
used in NWP
AMSUA/B, HIRS, AIRS DMSP SSM/I
Scatterometers GEOS
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