Assessment of the role of sea surface fluxes on eastern Mediterranean explosive cyclogenesis with the aid of the limited-area model COSMO.GR

Kouroutzoglou, John; Avgoustoglou, E.; Flocas, Helena A.; Hatzaki, Maria; Skrimizeas, Panagiotis; Keay, Kevin

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.10.005

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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Section: The Explosive Cyclone Of December 2010mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The storm caused extremely high waves along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean with maximum significant wave heights of more than 7.5 m recorded off the coast of Haifa, Israel, which were the highest values measured over the past 30 years. SSTs off the coast of Turkey at that time were in the range of 20-22 °C suggesting that cold air advection from the north over the warm sea significantly contributed to the rapid intensification of the storm [10]. The storm became explosive as the sea level pressure dropped rapidly from 995.1 to 986.5 hPa between 10 December 2010 18 UTC and 11 December 2010 03 UTC, initially as it remained over the sea and then as the surface low moved over land to the northeast as shown in Figure 7a.…”

Section: The Explosive Cyclone Of December 2010mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Explosive cyclogenesis, which leads to the development of so-called meteorological bombs or bomb cyclones, is characterized by exceptionally and unusually large deepening rates, resulting in heavy rain, gale force winds and high significant wave heights [10]. Such storms occur mainly during the cold period of the year.…”

Section: Explosive Cyclones (Meteorological Bombs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity of Simulations of Extreme Mediterranean Storms to the Specification of Sea Surface Temperature: Comparison of Cases of a Tropical-Like Cyclone and Explosive Cyclogenesis

Hagay

Brenner

2021

Atmosphere

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Local air-sea interaction over the Mediterranean may amplify the effects of climate change. This study investigates the sensitivity of simulations of two different high impact weather events to changes in the specification of sea surface temperature (SST) using a regional atmospheric model. First we assess the impact of specifying SST from two reanalysis data sets with differing spatial resolution. The simulated tropical-like cyclone (TLC) is slightly stronger in the case of the lower resolution SST which is warmer over the formation region, most notably in the maximum rainfall which is ~7% higher. The differences in the two explosive cyclone simulations are negligible, most likely due to intensification occurring mainly over land. We then test the sensitivity of the storms to a range of SST anomalies. The TLC showed a clear trend of increasing storm intensity as SST rises. These results suggest that SST plays a direct role in determining the intensity of the storm. For the explosive cyclone there is no clear trend in dynamical intensity except for the highest warming anomalies. However, the rainfall increases with the magnitude of the SST anomaly. Our results suggest that extreme weather events over the Mediterranean will become more extreme if SST increases as the climate warms, assuming that upper air conditions do not change.

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Section: The Explosive Cyclone Of December 2010mentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: The Explosive Cyclone Of December 2010mentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Explosive Cyclones (Meteorological Bombs)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensitivity of Simulations of Extreme Mediterranean Storms to the Specification of Sea Surface Temperature: Comparison of Cases of a Tropical-Like Cyclone and Explosive Cyclogenesis

Hagay

Brenner

2021

Atmosphere

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“…The latter can be sustained by a wind-induced surface heat exchange mechanism (WISHE) and grows as a "diabatic Rossby wave", which owes its deepening to evaporation-precipitation feedback, leading to the release of latent heat by condensation (Lin, 1982;Wernli, 2011, 2013). Kouroutzoglou et al (2018) showed the importance of WISHE for the generation of explosive cyclones (Kouroutzoglou et al, 2011), another often-used sub-class of MCs. Recently, a growing scientific interest has been noted in the appearance of "medicanes": tropical-like MCs that wreak havoc across Europe (Cavicchia et al, 2014a, b;Flaounas et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process-based classification of Mediterranean cyclones using potential vorticity

Givon,

Hess,

Flaounas

et al. 2024

Weather Clim. Dynam.

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Abstract. Mediterranean cyclones (MCs) govern extreme weather events across the Euro-African Basin, affecting the lives of hundreds of millions. Despite many studies addressing MCs in the last few decades, their correct simulation and prediction remain a significant challenge to the present day, which may be attributed to the large variability among MCs. Past classifications of MCs are primarily based on geographical and/or seasonal separations; however, here we focus on cyclone genesis and deepening mechanisms. A variety of processes combine to govern MC genesis and evolution, including adiabatic and diabatic processes, topographic influences, land–sea contrasts, and local temperature anomalies. As each process bears a distinct signature on the potential vorticity (PV) field, a PV approach is used to distinguish among different “types” of MCs. Here, a combined cyclone-tracking algorithm is used to detect 3190 Mediterranean cyclone tracks in ECMWF ERA5 from 1979–2020. Cyclone-centered, upper-level isentropic PV structures in the peak time of each cyclone track are classified using a self-organizing map (SOM). The SOM analysis reveals nine classes of Mediterranean cyclones, with distinct Rossby-wave-breaking patterns, discernible in corresponding PV structures. Although classified by upper-level PV structures, each class shows different contributions of lower-tropospheric PV and flow structures down to the surface. Unique cyclone life cycle characteristics, associated hazards (precipitation, winds, and temperature anomalies), and long-term trends, as well as synoptic, thermal, dynamical, seasonal, and geographical features of each cyclone class, indicate dominant processes in their evolution. Among others, the classification reveals the importance of topographically induced Rossby wave breaking to the generation of the most extreme Mediterranean cyclones. These results enhance our understanding of MC predictability by linking the large-scale Rossby wave formations and life cycles to coherent classes of under-predicted cyclone aspects.

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“…Mediterranean explosive cyclones are synoptic scale systems that form mainly over the sea, characterised by strong and rapid surface deepening with a normalized deepening rate, greater than or equal to 1 Bergeron [27][28][29] contrasting ordinary cyclones that do not fulfil this criterion. According to [29,30] explosive cyclones in the Mediterranean develop from baroclinic processes at upper and lower levels, interacting with diabatic mechanisms at lower levels. Despite their different structure and formation mechanisms as compared to medicanes, explosive cyclones can also cause severe impacts on Mediterranean coastal areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the Transition of an Explosive Cyclone to a Mediterranean Tropical-like Cyclone

et al. 2021

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This study investigates the dynamics of the development phases of a Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone (medicane) in the southern Ionian Sea, on 28 September 2018 that caused high impact phenomena in the central and eastern Mediterranean, focusing on the transition from explosive cyclone to medicane. The symmetry and the warm core structure of the system have been demonstrated via phase space diagrams determining three phases of the system development that are then supported on a dynamical basis. During the first phase of the system, baroclinic instability triggered the formation of the explosive cyclone, when strong upper-level PV anomalies at the dynamic tropopause level moved towards a pre-existed area of enhanced low-level baroclinicity over the coastal areas of Libya along with positive SST anomalies. The surface frontal structure was enhanced under the influence of the upper-level dynamic processes. During the second phase when the medicane formed, low-level diabatic processes determined the evolution of the surface cyclone, without any significant support from baroclinic processes in the upper troposphere. The distortion of the low-level baroclinicity and the frontal structure began after the initial weakening of the upper-level dynamics. During the third phase, the system remained barotropic, being affected by similar mechanisms as in the second phase but with lower intensity. The transition mechanism is not only the result of the seclusion of warm air in the cyclone core but, mainly, the continuation of an explosive cyclone or an intense cyclone when the occlusion began to form.

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Assessment of the role of sea surface fluxes on eastern Mediterranean explosive cyclogenesis with the aid of the limited-area model COSMO.GR

Cited by 8 publications

References 46 publications

Sensitivity of Simulations of Extreme Mediterranean Storms to the Specification of Sea Surface Temperature: Comparison of Cases of a Tropical-Like Cyclone and Explosive Cyclogenesis

Sensitivity of Simulations of Extreme Mediterranean Storms to the Specification of Sea Surface Temperature: Comparison of Cases of a Tropical-Like Cyclone and Explosive Cyclogenesis

Process-based classification of Mediterranean cyclones using potential vorticity

Analysis of the Transition of an Explosive Cyclone to a Mediterranean Tropical-like Cyclone

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