Barotropic Process Contributing to the Formation and Growth of Tropical Cyclone Nargis

This study reveals the barotropic dynamics associated with the formation and growth of tropical cyclone Nargis in 2008, during its formation stage. Strong equatorial westerlies occurred over the southern Bay of Bengal in association with the arrival of an intraseasonal westerly event during the period 22--24 April 2008. The westerlies, together with strong tropical--subtropical easterlies, constituted a large-scale horizontal shear flow, creating cyclonic vorticity and thereby promoting the incipient disturbance that eventually evolved into Nargis. This basic zonal flow in the lower troposphere was barotropically unstable, with the amplified disturbance gaining more kinetic energy from the easterly jet than from the westerly jet during 25--26 April. This finding suggests that more attention should be paid to the unstable easterly jet when monitoring and predicting the development of tropical cyclones. Energetics analyses reveal that barotropic energy conversion by the meridional gradient of the basic zonal flow was indeed an important energy source for the growth of Nargis.