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A high-resolution climatological study on the comparison between surface explosive and ordinary cyclones in the Mediterranean

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Abstract

The dynamic and kinematic characteristics of surface explosive cyclones in the Mediterranean are examined and compared to those of ordinary cyclones. The cyclone detection is performed with the tracking algorithm developed in the University of Melbourne, using the 1° × 1° ERA-40 mean sea level pressure dataset for a 40 year period. It is verified that the explosive cyclogenesis in the Mediterranean is mainly a maritime phenomenon, occurring along the northern Mediterranean coast during the cold season. On the contrary, the ordinary cyclogenesis exhibits significant maxima in both continental and maritime environments throughout the year. The explosive cyclones are characterized by longer lifetime and greater propagation speed. They are larger and deeper in the eastern Mediterranean, whereas the ordinary cyclones are deeper in the western and larger in the eastern Mediterranean. The trend analysis revealed that both explosive and ordinary cyclones become less frequent in the Mediterranean basin, while there is a tendency for deeper ordinary cyclones over North Africa and shallower over the Aegean Sea and Cyprus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Physics-Meteorology, Faculty of Physics, University of Athens, Building PHYS-5, University Campus, 157 84, Athens, Greece

    J. Kouroutzoglou, H. A. Flocas & M. Hatzaki

  2. School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia

    K. Keay & I. Simmonds

  3. Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, 3001, Australia

    K. Keay

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  1. J. Kouroutzoglou
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  2. H. A. Flocas
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  3. M. Hatzaki
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  4. K. Keay
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  5. I. Simmonds
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Correspondence to H. A. Flocas.

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Kouroutzoglou, J., Flocas, H.A., Hatzaki, M. et al. A high-resolution climatological study on the comparison between surface explosive and ordinary cyclones in the Mediterranean. Reg Environ Change 14, 1833–1846 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0461-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0461-3

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