Three-Dimensional Fujiwhara Effect for Binary Tropical Cyclones in the Western North Pacific

• Published in: Monthly weather review 2023-07, Vol.151 (7), p.1779-1795
• Main Authors: Ito, Kosuke, Hirano, Soichiro, Lee, Jae-Deok, Chan, Johnny C. L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0027-0644; 1520-0493
• DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-22-0239.1

Recent idealized simulations have shown that a system of binary tropical cyclones (TCs) induces vertical wind shear (VWS) in each TC, which can subsequently modify the tracks of these TCs through asymmetric diabatic heating. This study investigates these three-dimensional effects in the western North Pacific using the best track and ERA5 reanalysis data. The TC motion was found to deviate systematically from the steering flow. The direction of deviation is clockwise and repelling with respect to the midpoint of the binary TCs with a separation distance of more than 1000 km. The large-scale upper-level anticyclonic and lower-level cyclonic circulations serve as the VWS for each TC in a manner consistent with the idealized simulations. The VWS of a TC tends to be directed to the rear-left quadrant from the direction of the counterpart TC, where the maxima of rainfall and diabatic heating are observed. The potential vorticity budget analysis shows that the actual TC motion is modulated by the diabatic heating asymmetry that offsets the counterclockwise and approaching motion owing to horizontal advection when the separation distance of the binary TCs is 1000–2000 km. With a small separation distance (