Interannual-to-multidecadal variability of vertical shear and tropical cyclone activity

Abstract

Spatiotemporal patterns of tropics-wide vertical shear variability are extracted after separating a 58-yr data record into high-frequency (HF, periods of 1.5-8 yr) and low-frequency (LF, periods greater than 8 yr) components. The HF vertical shear variability is dominated by circulation anomalies associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The LF variability is primarily contained in two multidecadal patterns and a near-decadal pattern. The multidecadal modes are strongest within the tropical Atlantic and are correlated with Sahel precipitation and interhemispheric sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies. The results suggest that the multidecadal variability of vertical shear over the Atlantic is linked to atmospheric circulation anomalies forced by the variability in Sahel precipitation. The decadal mode is strongest within the central Pacific and is correlated with Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)-like SST anomalies. The circulation associated with this anomalous shear pattern appears to be consistent with the atmospheric response to the PDO-related diabatic heating anomaly over the central Pacific. The relationship between vertical shear and seasonal tropical cyclone activity, as defined by the accumulated cyclone energy (ACE), is examined for the Atlantic, eastern Pacific, and western Pacific Oceans. The results show that global modes of vertical shear and seasonal average ACE are not consistently related in all three regions. It is only in the Atlantic Ocean that seasonal ACE is most consistently limited by vertical shear. This calls into question the utility of vertical shear as an independent predictor of seasonal tropical cyclone activity, particularly over the western Pacific Ocean. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.