Tropical cyclone statistics in the Northeastern Pacific

The principal area of tropical cyclogenesis in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is offshore in the Gulf ofTehuantepec, between 8 and 15° N, and most of these cyclones move towards the west and northwest duringtheir initial phase. Historical analysis of tropical cyclone data in the Northeastern (NE...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: E. Romero-Vadillo, O. Zaytsev, R. Morales-Pérez
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:México
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
Repositorio:Redalyc-UABC
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:56520205
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=56520205
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ciencias de la Tierra
Tropical cyclone
Northeastern Pacific
hurricane track statistics
Descripción
Sumario:The principal area of tropical cyclogenesis in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean is offshore in the Gulf ofTehuantepec, between 8 and 15° N, and most of these cyclones move towards the west and northwest duringtheir initial phase. Historical analysis of tropical cyclone data in the Northeastern (NE) Pacific over the last38 years (from 1966 to 2004) shows a mean of 16.3 tropical cyclones per year, consisting of 8.8 hurricanes and 7.4 tropical storms. The analysis shows great geographical variability of cyclone tracks, and that therewere a considerable number of hurricane strikes along the Mexican coast. About 50% of the tropical cyclonesformed turned north to northeast. It was rare that any passed further north than 30° N in latitude because ofthe cold California Current. Hurricane tracks that affected the NE Pacific may be separated into 5 groups. Wecompared the historical record of the sea surface temperature (SST), related with the El Niño events with adata set of tropical cyclones, including frequency, intensity, trajectory, and duration. Although the statisticaldependence between the frequencies of tropical cyclones of the most abundant categories, 1 and 2, over thisregion and SST data was not convincing, the percentage of high intensity hurricanes and hurricanes with along life-time (greater than 12 days) was more during El Niño years than in non-El Niño years