edu.ucar.opensky::articles:22599 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-25T15:31:09.419323 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7pv6kkw Tropical Cloud Cluster Environments and Their Importance for Tropical Cyclone Formation 2019-07-01T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7pv6kkw https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0679.1 Teng, Hsu-Feng author Lee, C. author Hsu, H. author Done, James M. author Holland, Gregory J. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher This study uses a nonhierarchical cluster analysis to identify the major environmental circulation patterns associated with tropical cloud cluster (TCC) formation in the western North Pacific. All TCCs that formed in July-October 1981-2009 are examined based on their 850-hPa wind field around TCC centers. Eight types of environmental circulation patterns are identified. Of these, four are related to monsoon systems (trough, confluence, north of trough, and south of trough), three are related to easterly systems (low-latitude zone, west of subtropical high, and southwest of subtropical high), and one is associated with low-latitude cross-equatorial flow. The genesis potential index (GPI) is analyzed to compare how favorable the environmental conditions are for tropical cyclone (TC) formation when TCCs form. Excluding three cluster types with the GPI lower than the climatology of all samples, TCCs formed in monsoon environments have larger sizes, lower brightness temperatures, longer lifetimes, and higher GPIs than those of TCCs formed in easterly environments. However, for TCCs formed in easterly environments, the average GPI for those TCCs that later develop into TCs (developing TCCs) is higher than that for other TCCs (nondeveloping TCCs). This difference is nonsignificant for TCCs formed in monsoon environments. Conversely, the average magnitudes of GPI are similar for developing TCCs, regardless of whether TCCs form in easterly or monsoon environments. In summary, the probability of a TCC to develop into a TC is more sensitive to the environmental conditions for TCCs formed in easterly environments than those formed in monsoon environments. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2019 American Meteorological Society. None eng geoscientificInformation