The Cyclogenesis and Decay of Typhoon Damrey

Abstract

The cyclogenesis of typhoons has been a continuing challenge in dynamic meteorology. In this study, we use a recently developed methodology, namely, multiscale window transform (MWT), together with the MWT-based localized multiscale energy and vorticity analysis and the theory of canonical transfer, to investigate the formation, maintenance, and decay of the typhoon Damrey, a rarely seen tropical storm of higher-latitude origin. The atmospheric fields are first reconstructed onto three scale subspaces or scale windows: large-scale window, tropical cyclone-scale window, and cumulus convection-scale window. On the cyclone-scale window, Damrey is found right along the edge of the subtropical high. It is generated due to a strong barotropic instability in the lower troposphere, but its subsequent rapid amplification is, however, related to a baroclinic instability in the upper troposphere. Damrey begins to decay before landfall, right over East China Sea at the mouth of Yangtze River, where a strong inverse cascade center resides and transfers the cyclone-scale energy backward to the large-scale window.