Surface latent heat flux and rainfall associated with rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones over the western North Pacific

Abstract

This study examines the surface latent heat flux (SLHF) and rainfall associated with rapidly intensifying western North Pacific tropical cyclones (TCs). The mean initial (t = 0 h) SLHF conditions of samples that undergo rapid intensification (RI) are compared with those of the non-RI samples for four categories classified by moving direction over a 24-h period. The results show that RI samples are usually associated with an area of relatively high SLHF on the right-hand side of TC track and with relatively high rainfall within inner-core regions. Student t-tests show statistically significant differences between SLHF of RI and non-RI samples ahead of the TC track, suggesting that SLHF plays an important role in TC rapid intensification. SLHF and inner-core rainfall have the potential to be new predictors for TC intensity forecasting.