Rapid Weakening of Tropical Cyclones in Monsoon Gyres over the Tropical Western North Pacific

As one major source of forecasting errors in tropical cyclone intensity, rapid weakening of tropical cyclones (an intensity reduction of 20 kt or more over a 24-h period) over the tropical open ocean can result from the interaction between tropical cyclones and monsoon gyres. This study aims to examine rapid weakening events occurring in monsoon gyres in the tropical western North Pacific (WNP) basin during May-October 2000-2014.

Although only less than one third of rapid weakening events happened in the tropical WNP basin south of 25°N, more than 40% of them were associated with monsoon gyres. About 85 % of rapid weakening events in monsoon gyres occurred in September and October. The rapid weakening events associated with monsoon gyres are usually observed near the center of monsoon gyres when tropical cyclone tracks make a sudden northward turn. The gyres can enlarge the outer size of tropical cyclones and tend to induce prolonged rapid weakening events with an average duration of 33.2 h. The large-scale environmental factors including sea surface temperature changes, vertical wind shear and middle-level environmental humidity, are not primary contributors to them, suggesting the possible effect of monsoon gyres on these rapid weakening events by modulating the tropical cyclone structure. This conclusion is conducive to improving operational forecasts of tropical cyclone intensity.