Abstract
Energy transformations of cyclonic development in the Asian winter monsoon from the Asian continent to the western Pacific are studied for the FGGE year. Computational analysis is done with a moving area defined for each observation encompassing the primary storm system. Energy budgets are grouped according to the evolving stages of the storm system to derive a composite view of storm development. Five individual cases are also selected and examined.
A very significant portion of kinetic energy generation, 86%, is from local baroclinic conversion by eddies. This consistent with the fact that the cyclone growth takes place over the ocean. However, there is an additional energy source within the storm system. The amount of eddy conversion also depends on the storm path, with the largest conversion in cases of rapidly developing storms over a large area of the warm ocean. The intensity and balance of kinetic energy change drastically from its incipient stage to the late mature and actively occluded stages. In the incipient stage generation and export of kinetic energy are the largest, while dissipation is the smallest. As generation and export decrease, dissipation increases sharply to the later stages of development. In these later stages, the system also imports a large amount of kinetic energy.
