Kinetic Energy Budget during the Genesis Period of Tropical Cyclone Durian (2001) in the South China Sea

Abstract

Abstract A set of kinetic energy (KE) budget equations associated with four horizontal flow components was derived to study the KE characteristics during the genesis of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Durian (2001) in the South China Sea using numerical simulation data. The genesis process was divided into three stages: the monsoon trough stage (stage 1), the midlevel mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) stage (stage 2), and the establishment stage of the TC vortex (stage 3). Analysis showed that the KE of the symmetric rotational flow (SRF) was the largest and kept increasing, especially in stages 2 and 3, representing the symmetrization process during TC genesis. The KE of the SRF was mainly converted from the KE of the symmetric divergent flow (SDF), largely transformed from the available potential energy (APE). It was found that vortical hot towers (VHTs) emerged abundantly, aggregated, and merged within the MCV region in stages 1 and 2. From the energy budget perspective, massive moist-convection-produced latent heat was concentrated and accumulated within the MCV region, especially in stage 2, and further warmed the atmosphere, benefiting the accumulation of APE and the transformation from APE to KE. As a result, the midlevel circulation (or MCV) grew strong rapidly. In stage 3, the intensity and number of VHTs both decreased. However, affected by increasing lower-level inward radial wind, latent heat released by the organized convection, instead of disorganized VHTs in the first two stages, continuously contributed to the strengthening of the surface TC circulation as well as the warm core.