Latent heating contribution to storm intensification across seasons and climates - A potential vorticity approach

Extratropical cyclones are expected to be more diabatically driven in a warmer world, in line with the 6-7% increase in precipitable water per degree of global-mean surface temperature increase. This leads to a preferential strengthening of the most intense cyclones in a warmer climate as a result of increased latent heating (LH), accompanied by a decrease in the strength of weaker cyclones.

 

In this study, using data from new CESM model experiments, and employing a storm-centric potential vorticity (PV) budget, we estimate the contribution of LH to storm intensification across height and storm lifecycle. We use an objective algorithm to track the cyclones, and a suitable storm-compositing method to compute the spatial and temporal patterns of PV generated from diabatic and adiabatic processes. To isolate the intensification of storms due to PV generation from other processes like storm propagation, we develop a novel storm-averaging methodology. 

 

Using this methodology, we investigate how the magnitude and pattern of PV produced from LH are modified when the sea surface temperature is uniformly increased by 4K. Focusing on the strongest cyclones in the southern hemisphere, we show that the increase in low-level PV generated in cyclones in the warmer model run can be almost entirely attributed to changes in the strength and pattern of LH. By also comparing winter and summer cyclones in our model runs, we obtain a consistent pattern of how the LH contribution to cyclone intensification changes from a cooler to a warmer environment. Finally, we show that our methodology also works well for cyclones in reanalysis data (MERRA2).

 

Given the socio-economic impacts of severe storms, this study provides valuable insights into the processes that govern cyclone intensification, and how they are expected to change in a warmer world. We also quantify the increase in cyclone strength with warming, which can support policymakers in anticipating and mitigating the effects of these events.