Chinese J. Atmos. Sci. , 22, 535-547

Dynamics of Tropical Cyclone Motion: A Review

Bin WANG
Department of Meteorology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii

R. L. Elsberry
Department of Meteorology, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California

Y. Wang
Bureau of Meteorology Research Center, Melbourne, Australia

L. Wu
Department of Meteorology, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii


The complexity of tropical cyclone (TC) motion results from a wide variety of external and internal dynamical forcings and their interaction. A particularly intricate interaction is among the large-scale environmental flow, the axially symmetric circulation of the TC, and the planetary vorticity (or ambient potential vorticity) gradient, which generates a secondary asymmetric flow (beta gyre circulation) that alters TC movement. Over the last decade, it has become clear that a primary source of the discrepancy between large-scale steering and the TC movement is associated with this complex interaction and the resulting track deflection relative to the environmental flow, which is referred to as propagation. This paper summarizes some of the physical processes that determine the asymmetric gyre dynamics and propagation. Impacts of the vortex structure and environmental horizontal and vertical shears on propagation are a major theme. In addition, the processes involved in the binary cyclone interaction, trochoidal motion, and the lower boundary forcing are reviewed. Applications of these new theoretical concepts to TC track forecasting and a prospectus for future research are also discussed.

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