Genesis of Hurricane Julia (2010) within an African Easterly Wave: Sensitivity to Ice Microphysics

Abstract

AbstractWhile much attention has been given to investigating the dynamics of tropical cyclogenesis (TCG), little work explores the thermodynamical evolution and related cloud microphysical processes occurring during TCG. This study elaborates on previous research by examining the impact of ice microphysics on the genesis of Hurricane Julia during the 2010 North Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. As compared with a control simulation, two sensitivity experiments are conducted in which the latent heat of fusion owing to depositional growth is removed in one experiment and homogeneous freezing is not allowed to occur in the other. Results show that removing the latent heat of fusion substantially reduces the warming of the upper troposphere during TCG. This results in a lack of meso-α-scale hydrostatic surface pressure falls and no tropical depression (TD)-scale mean sea level pressure (MSLP) disturbance. In contrast, removing homogeneous freezing has little impact on the structure and magnitude of the upper-tropospheric thermodynamic changes and MSLP disturbance. Fundamental changes to the strength and spatial extent of deep convection and related updrafts are found when removing the latent heat of fusion from depositional processes. That is, deep convection and related updrafts are weaker because of the lack of heating in the upper troposphere. These changes to convective development impact the creation of a storm-scale outflow and thus the accumulation of upper-tropospheric warming and the development of the TD-scale MSLP disturbance.