Articles | Volume 6, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-901-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-901-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
| 
05 Sep 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 05 Sep 2025
| 05 Sep 2025
CYCLOPs: a Unified Framework for Surface Flux-Driven Cyclones Outside the Tropics
Lorenz Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Tommaso Alberti
Department of Environment, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy
Stella Bourdin
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Suzana J. Camargo
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Columbia Climate School, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
Davide Faranda
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, UMR 8212 CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, IPSL, CE Saclay l’Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
London Mathematical Laboratory, 8 Margravine Gardens, London W6 8RH, UK
LMD/IPSL, ENS, Université PSL, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Sorbonne Université,CNRS, Paris France
Emmanouil Flaounas
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Greece
Juan Jesus Gonzalez-Aleman
Spanish State Meteorological Agency, AEMET, Department Development and Applications, Madrid, Spain
Chia-Ying Lee
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA
Mario Marcello Miglietta
CNR-ISAC, Padua, Italy
Claudia Pasquero
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy
Alice Portal
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (CNR-ISAC), National Research Council of Italy, Bologna, Italy
Hamish Ramsay
CSIRO Environment, Aspendale, Victoria, Australia
Marco Reale
National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS, Trieste, Italy
Romualdo Romero
Grup de Meteorologia, Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Data sets
Complete ERA5 from 1940: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.143582cf
Executive editor
This study provides a unifying framework for extratropical low-pressure systems with tropical characteristics like nearly axisymmetric inner cores, eyes, and spiral bands. These characteristics can be found, e.g., in subtropical cyclones, polar lows, and medicanes. The authors propose to call these cyclones CYCLOPs, which refers to "cyclones from locally originating potential intensity". The paper presents several case studies to explain and illustrate the new concept, and therefore the paper is also of particular educational value.
This study provides a unifying framework for extratropical low-pressure systems with tropical...
Short summary
Storms strongly resembling hurricanes are sometimes observed to form well outside the tropics, even in polar latitudes. They behave capriciously, developing very rapidly and then dying just as quickly. We show that strong dynamical processes in the atmosphere can sometimes cause it to become much colder locally than the underlying ocean, creating the conditions for hurricanes to form but only over small areas and for short times. We call the resulting storms "CYCLOPs".
Storms strongly resembling hurricanes are sometimes observed to form well outside the tropics,...
