The Effects of the Full Coriolis Force on the Structure and Motion of a Tropical Cyclone. Part I: Effects due to Vertical Motion

Abstract

Abstract In most dynamical studies of synoptic-scale phenomena, only the components of the Coriolis force contributed by the horizontal motion are considered, and only in the horizontal momentum equation. The other components are neglected based on a scale analysis. However, it is shown that such an analysis may not be fully valid in a tropical cyclone (TC) and that these terms should be included. The two neglected terms are 1) ew, the Coriolis force in the x-momentum equation due to vertical motion, and 2) we, the Coriolis force in the vertical equation of motion due to the zonal wind. In this paper, effects of the first term (i.e., ew) on the structure and motion of a TC are investigated through numerical simulations using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5). The results suggest that after the ew term has been included, the structure of a TC even on an f plane is changed. A southwestward displacement of a TC center with a speed of ∼1 km h−1 is found in the f-plane experiment. On a β plane, inclusion of the ew term gives a vortex track that is generally west to southwest of the inherent northwestward track (due to the β effect). A scale analysis suggests that the ew term can be as large as half the magnitude of the horizontal acceleration. This term generates an asymmetric wind structure with a generally easterly flow near the center, which therefore causes the vortex to displace toward the southwest. A rainfall asymmetry consistent with the convergence associated with the wind asymmetry is also found and accounts for 10%–20% of the symmetric parts.