Track Deflection of Typhoon Maria (2018) during a Westbound Passage Offshore of Northern Taiwan: Topographic Influence

Abstract

This study applies a global model (FV3GFS) with stretched resolution of approximately 7 km for simulating Typhoon Maria (2018), which exhibited a sudden northward track deflection when approaching about 150 km northeast of Taiwan. As Maria approached land, the outer cyclonic flow at the western flank of the typhoon is split around the northern part of the Central Mountain Range (CMR) in Taiwan to converge east of Taiwan with the recirculating southerly flow around the southern corner of the CMR. Such strong convergence leads to northward deflection of the west-northwestward moving typhoon with the stronger wind mainly east of the vortex center. The radial inflow at low levels is intensified south of the vortex center and transports larger angular momentum (AM) inward with the enhanced upward motions and vertical mean AM advection to increase the azimuthal mean tangential wind in the lower-tropospheric eyewall. A vorticity budget of wavenumber-one decomposition indicates that the track deflection is dominated by horizontal vorticity advection in response to the intensifying flow. Numerical experiments with idealized WRF also support such northward track deflection as westward tropical cyclones approach a mountain range within an offshore meridional distance of about 200 km. The northward track deflection is only slightly amplified as the terrain height is considerably increased, consistent with the real-case simulation. However, the northward track deflection is not increased as the approaching vortex is initialized closer to the northern end of the mountain range, due to the enhanced east-west symmetry of wind structure in the inner vortex.