12.811

Tropical Meteorology

 Kerry Emanuel, Instructor

Course Outline (pdf file of outline below)

Lecture Notes (incomplete)

PowerPoint Part 1 PowerPoint Part 2 PowerPoint Part 3 (caution: 20 mb file)

PowerPoint Part 4 PowerPoint Part 5 PowerPoint Part 6

PowerPoint Part 7 PowerPoint Part 8 PowerPoint Part 9 (caution: 24 mb file)

PowerPoint Part 10 PowerPoint Part 11 PowerPoint Part 12

PowerPoint Part 13 PowerPoint Part 14 PowerPoint Part15

PowerPoint Part 16 PowerPoint Part 17 PowerPoint Part 18

Possible Term Paper Topics

Problem Sets

Problem Set 1 (due February 16^th)

Problem Set 2 (due March 12^th)

Problem Set 3 (due April 2^nd)

Problem Set 4 (due April 23^rd)

Problem Set 5 (due May 11^th)

SOFTWARE

Plot soundings on skew T diagrams and make buoyancy plots

Run a two-dimensional PE model for Hadley, monsoon and tropical equatorial phenomena

(start by reading readme.pdf)

MATLAB script for plotting out Matsuno modes

Notes, FORTRAN program, and Matlab script for Gill Problem

Notes on the Gill Model

Help File

gill.f

gill_params.txt

gill.m

Notes, FORTRAN program, and Matlab script for reduced model of the Tropics

Notes on the model

tropics.f

input.txt

maps.m

Plot historical hurricane tracks

Notes, FORTRAN program, and Matlab script for simple coupled hurricane model

Readme file

hurr.f

params.txt

hurrplot.m

References

Hadley Circulation

Held and Hou, 1980 Lindzen and Hou, 1988 Plumb and Hou, 1992

Emanuel, 1995 Pauluis, 2004

Convection

Emanuel et al., (1994) Sobel and Bretherton, 2000

Monsoons

Plumb and Hou, 1992 Molnar and Emanuel, 1999 Emanuel, 1995

Chou, Neelin and Su, 2001 Rodwell and Hoskins, 2001

Intraseasonal Variability

Online tutorial by Roland Madden Madden and Julian, 1972 Wheeler and Kiladis, 1999

CalTech Review Paper, 2005 Animated 200 hPa velocity potential from the CPC

Analyses and forecasts of 200 hPa velocity potential, from CPC

El Niño/Southern Oscillation

E. Tziperman Lecture notes 1 E. Tziperman Lecture notes 2 E. Tziperman Lecture notes 3

E. Tziperman bibliography NOAA El Niño Theme Page

Easterly Waves

Reed et al. 1977 (seminal paper) Reed and Recker 1971 (Western Pacific waves)

Diedhiou et al. 2001 Grist et al. 2002 Pytharoulis and Thorncoft 1999

Thorncroft and Hodges 2001 Petersen et al 2003 (Eastern North Pacific)

Tropical Cyclones

Annual Reviews article on Tropical Cyclones Geosystems Hurricane Module Syllabus

Paper on tropical cyclone structure (see section 3) Emanuel (1995)

Useful Links

Daily hurricane potential intensity maps

U.S. Navy real-time hurricane page (great satellite photos)

Real-time hurricane track and intensity forecasts

Access to global tropical cyclone data

Outline

1. Radiative-Convective Equilibrium

1.1. General principles of radiative transfer

1.2. Simple models without phase change

1.3. General principles of moist convection

1.4. Simple models with phase change

1.5. Quantitative assessments of the equilibrium state - comparisons to observations

2. The Zonally-Averaged Circulation

2.1. The observed climatology

2.2. Breakdown of the radiative-convective equilibrium state

2.3. Dry theory

2.4. Moist theory

2.5. Regulation of intensity

3. Asymmetric Steady Circulations

3.1. Monsoons

3.1.1. Development and onset of the Asian monsoon

3.1.2. Monsoon breaks

3.1.3. Nonlinear, asymmetric theory

3.2. The Walker Circulation

3.2.1. Observations

3.2.2. Theory

4. Intraseasonal Oscillations

5.1. Observations

5.2. GCM simulations

5.3. Theory of equatorial waves

5.3.1. Dry

5.3.2. Moist

5.1. WISHE

5.2. Cloud-radiation interactions and ISOs

5. Interannual Fluctuations of the Walker Circulation – ENSO

4.1. Observed behavior

4.2. Theory and modeling of ENSO

6.  Higher Frequency Disturbances

6.1.  Monsoon depressions

6.2.  Equatorial waves

6.3.  Easterly waves

7. Tropical Cyclones

7.1. Structure and climatology

7.2. Steady-state physics

7.3. Genesis

7.4. Ocean interaction