Stratospheric intrusion depth and its effect on surface cyclogenesis: An idealized PV inversion experiment
- 1Marine Research Unit, South African Weather Service, Cape Town, South Africa
- 2Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
- 3Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 1Marine Research Unit, South African Weather Service, Cape Town, South Africa
- 2Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
- 3Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Abstract. Stratospheric intrusions of high potential vorticity (PV) air are well-known drivers of cyclonic development throughout the troposphere. PV anomalies have been well studied with respect to their effect on surface cyclogenesis. A gap however exists in the scientific literature describing the effect that stratospheric intrusion depth has on the amount of surface cyclogenetic forcing at the surface. Numerical experiments using PV inversion diagnostics reveal that stratospheric depth is crucial in the amount of cyclogenesis at the surface. In an idealised setting, shallow intrusions (above 300 hPa) resulted in a marginal effect on the surface, whilst growing stratospheric depth resulted in enhanced surface pressure anomalies and surface cyclogenetic forcing. The horizontal extent of the intrusion is shown to be more important in developing deeper surface cyclones than the vertical depth of the stratospheric intrusion. The size of vertical intrusion depths is however an important factor determining the surface relative vorticity, with larger intrusions resulting in stronger cyclonic circulations. Deeper stratospheric intrusions also result in intrusions reaching closer to the surface. The proximity of intrusions to the surface is a crucial factor favouring surface cyclogenetic forcing. This factor is however constrained by the height of the dynamical tropopause above the surface.
Michael A. Barnes et al.
Status: final response (author comments only)
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RC1: 'Comments on wcd-2021-24', Anonymous Referee #1, 09 Jun 2021
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://wcd.copernicus.org/preprints/wcd-2021-24/wcd-2021-24-RC1-supplement.pdf
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Michael Barnes, 24 Nov 2021
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RC2: 'Comment on wcd-2021-24', Anonymous Referee #2, 21 Jun 2021
Dear authors,
Please refer to the attached PDF for my review of your manuscript.
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Michael Barnes, 24 Nov 2021
Michael A. Barnes et al.
Michael A. Barnes et al.
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