SOLA
Online ISSN : 1349-6476
ISSN-L : 1349-6476
Genesis and Structure of a Major Tornado in a Numerically-Simulated Supercell Storm: Importance of Vertical Vorticity in a Gust Front
Akira T. NodaHiroshi Niino
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2005 Volume 1 Pages 5-8

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Abstract
A major tornado spawned by a supercell is reproduced by a fine-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulation, and its genesis mechanism and structure are clarified. The tornado, which is associated with a maximum vertical vorticity of 0.85 s-1 and a pressure drop of 27 hPa, originates from one of the small-scale vortices on the gust front that forms between a warm moist environmental air and a rain-cooled air produced by the storm. Only the small-scale vortex that develops into a major tornado is located right under the low-level updraft associated with the low-level mesocyclone; the others that fail to develop are not. Several interesting previously-unexamined characteristics of the threedimensional structure of the simulated tornado vortex are also reported.
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© 2005 by the Meteorological Society of Japan
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