An Observational Study of a Coastal Barrier Jet Induced by a Landfalling Typhoon

Abstract

Abstract In this study, the structure and evolution of a coastal barrier jet (CBJ) along the east coast of Taiwan is documented using operational Doppler radars. The formation of the CBJ was controlled by the flow regime associated with the approaching Typhoon Haitang (2005). The CBJ persisted for 6 h and was approximately 140 km long and 25 km wide. The northern branch of the CBJ had stronger winds with maximum wind speed 49–52 m s−1, a greater vertical extent with jet core between 1.0 and 2.5 km in height, and a more persistent jet signal than the southern branch with maximum wind speed 43–46 m s−1 and jet core between 1.0 and 2.0 km. We investigated the terrain blocking effect leading to the CBJ formation using an idealized simulation. A vortex resembling Haitang is constructed based on circulation retrieved from generalized velocity track display (GVTD) technique. The result of a no-terrain simulation reveals wind speed 10–22 m s−1 lower than the observed Doppler velocity. The difference suggests the enhanced wind speed along the coast was most likely due to the terrain blocking effect.