The mechanical influence of continental topography on the trajectories of tropical cyclones near the west coast of México
The evolution of tropical cyclonic vortices on the eastern North Pacific is examined by means of a barotropicmodel with an idealized continental topography. The aim of the study is to investigate the trajectories ofcyclones in this area affected by both the topographic and the planetary β e...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2004 |
| País: | México |
| Institución: | Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada |
| Repositorio: | Redalyc-CICESE |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:redalyc.org:56517302 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=56517302 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Ciencias de la Tierra hurricanes Tropical cyclones Northeast Pacific continental topography |
| Sumario: | The evolution of tropical cyclonic vortices on the eastern North Pacific is examined by means of a barotropicmodel with an idealized continental topography. The aim of the study is to investigate the trajectories ofcyclones in this area affected by both the topographic and the planetary β effects. The topographic β effectis mainly due to the ascending slope of the orography, and induces the vortex to drift towards local northwestdirection, which coincides with the geographical northwest (because of the topography orientation). As aresult, the vortex drift is clearly enhanced when both effects are considered. The precise direction of thetrajectory depends on the initial geographical position with respect to the continent. Vortices initialized atsoutheastern areas (around 12° N, 95° W) are deflected by the Sierra Madre del Sur more to the west,following a trajectory almost parallel to the continent. For vortices initialized at 15° N or more, their drift ismainly due to the planetary β effect, although eventually they are attracted towards the Sierra Madre Occidentalat higher latitudes. These conclusions suggest the possible influence of orography on the trajectories of realtropical cyclones in this area. |
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