Characteristics of Medicanes using ERA-5 reanalysis

Several Medicanes, which have been previously analyzed in the literature, have been studied using ERA-5 reanalyses to identify the environment in which they develop and possibly distinguish tropical-like cyclones from warm seclusions. Initially, the cyclone phase space was analyzed to identify changes in the environmental characteristics. Subsequently, the temporal evolution of several parameters was considered, including sea surface fluxes, CAPE, coupling index, potential intensity, baroclinicity.

Although the results are not consistent for all cyclones, some general characteristics can be identified: cyclones develop in areas of moderate-to-high baroclinicity associated with intense jet streams, while in the mature stage the environment becomes less baroclinic. A general reduction in the horizontal extent of the cyclone can be observed as the cyclones begin to show a shallow warm core. In this phase a progressive reduction of the CAPE can be observed in proximity of the cyclone center. Finally, the wind speed appears strongly underestimated compared to the observations, raising some concerns about the applicability of ERA-5 for the detection of wind features.