The frontal structure of an explosive oceanic cyclone: airborne radar observations of ERICA IOP 4

Abstract

Principal findings include: 1) confirmation of the existence of a "bent-back' warm front wrapping to the west around the cyclone center; the frontal structure is very different from that of the occluded front that would here be analyzed according to the Norwegian model. 2) The presence of an extremely sharp warm front, with Kelvin-Helmholtz waves and an intense line of convection found along the front. 3) A continuous extension of convective activity along the cold front to the point of intersection with the warm front, with no evident "fracture' zone. 4) The presence of only scattered convective cells along and to the north of the bent-back warm front. 5) A significant displacement between the cold front and the main cloud band. The cold front lay along a narrow line of intense convection well to the rear of the main comma-shaped cloud mass evident in the satellite inagery. -from Authors