Journal Article

A New Refinement of Mediterranean Tropical‐Like Cyclones Characteristics

Gutiérrez‐Fernández, Jesús, Gaertner, Miguel Angel, González‐Alemán, Juan J., Miglietta, Mario Marcello

2024

Overview

Several warm‐core cyclones in the Mediterranean, which were analyzed in the literature, are studied using ERA5 reanalysis, to identify the environment where they develop and distinguish tropical‐like cyclones from non‐tropical warm‐core cyclones. Initially, the cyclone phase space is analyzed to distinguish the cyclones that have a symmetrical deep warm core. Subsequently, the temporal evolution of several parameters is considered, including the distance between the area of maximum tangential wind speed and the cyclone center. Some differences are observed between the cyclones analyzed: one category of cyclones develops in areas of moderate‐low baroclinicity and intense convective processes, as occurs in tropical cyclones. Another group of cyclones develops in a strongly baroclinic environment with weak convective processes and intense vertical wind shear, as occurs in warm seclusions. Two cyclones, showing similarities with polar lows, are also identified. Plain Language Summary Mediterranean tropical‐like cyclones (TLCs) are damaging weather systems, which form over the Mediterranean Sea, resembling tropical cyclones. These cyclones can drive important socio‐economic losses in coastal areas. However, due to their small size and the relatively recent investigation of these cyclones, there is currently no robust categorization of which Mediterranean cyclones can be considered TLC. Therefore, in this work, we propose a method to differentiate cyclones that attain actual tropical‐like characteristics in part of their lifetime, as they develop a warm core through intense convective processes. The main results of this study show that part of the analyzed cyclones have features similar to tropical cyclones. Another group of cyclones has a behavior closer to extratropical cyclones with weak convective processes in an environment with intense vertical wind shear, as occurs in warm seclusions or polar lows. The results of this study propose a key to identify the Mediterranean cyclones that have tropical‐like characteristics. Key Points A new method to detect cyclones with tropical‐like characteristics in the Mediterranean has been developed Part of the cyclones with deep warm core developed in low baroclinicity and with intense convective processes, as tropical cyclones Some cyclones have weak convective processes and intense vertical wind shear environments, such as warm seclusions or polar lows

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley
• Subject: Baroclinic mode / Baroclinity / Coastal zone / convective processes / Cyclone damage / Cyclones / Economic impact / Extratropical cyclones / Hurricanes / mediterranean basin / Mediterranean tropical‐like cyclones / non‐diabatic processes / Polar lows / Tropical cyclones / Vertical wind shear / warm seclusions / Wind shear / Wind speed