A comparison study of atmospheric circulations and potential vorticity anomaly between the two rapid-intensified typhoons

For two rapid-intensification typhoons — Mujigae (2015) and Vicente (2012) — the atmospheric circulation conditions and potential vorticity (PV) anomaly are compared. Although similar in their rapid-intensification (RI) rate, their atmospheric circulation conditions differ considerably, with the absence or presence of an upper-tropospheric inverted trough (IT) being their main difference. The IT provides useful clues for the onset of RI, by estimating the interaction between the environmental upper-tropospheric IT and the typhoon based on eddy momentum flux convergence calculation. The trough–typhoon interaction is examined by comparing the PV transport process for the two cases. An isolated positive PV column develops vertically near Mujigae’s onset of RI, which is not influenced by synoptic-scale PV advection. However, for Vicente, another source — advection from a high-latitude PV reservoir along the upper-tropospheric IT — joins the built-up high-PV anomaly in favor of RI.