The Tropical Transition in the Western North Pacific: The Case of Tropical Cyclone Peipah (2007)

Abstract

This study examines the transition of an extratropical disturbance to a tropical cyclone (TC), Peipah (2007), in the western North Pacific (WNP), using reanalysis and geostationary satellite data. Instead of regular diurnal fluctuations of deep convection, the pre-TC disturbance accompanies deep convection only for short durations every other day. When the pre-TC vorticity is traced back to 7days prior to its formation, the traced-back vorticity indicates a strong potential vorticity (PV) trough in the subtropical upper troposphere that originated from the midlatitude lower stratosphere. The quasi-geostrophic forcing and reduced static stability at the leading edge of the PV trough result in the formation of an extratropical disturbance. The vertical structure of the extratropical disturbance shows maximum vorticity in the upper troposphere and cold temperature anomaly within it throughout the entire troposphere. As the extratropical disturbance moved into the tropical WNP, deep convection associated with quasi-geostrophic dynamics over the warm ocean initiated tropical transition of the extratropical disturbance to a TC through diabatic redistribution of PV in the tropospheric column as well as transition of the cold anomaly into a warm anomaly within the vortex. With additional contribution of barotropic energy conversion in the lower troposphere, the warm-core low system finally developed into a TC-strength vortex. These results indicate that PV troughs of the stratospheric origin over the subtropical Pacific Ocean can contribute to TC formations in the WNP.