Tropical Cyclone Research

Dr. Wang is quite active in tropical cyclone research, with the current emphasis on structure and intensity changes based on both observational and modeling studies. The main focuses are on understanding on the manner in which mesoscale vortices, spiral rainbands, and eyewall process interact with the storm-scale circulation to affect the motion, development, structure and intensity of the tropical cyclone.

The following questions are pursued:

1)   How do the convectively coupled vortex Rossby waves in the eyewall affect the maximum intensity of a tropical cyclone?

2)   How do the outer spiral rainbands form, why they most frequently form between 80 km and 150 km from the tropical cyclone centres, and how do they propagate in the tropical cyclone circulation? 

3)   How do these outer spiral rainbands interact with the inner spiral rainbands and the eyewall, thus affecting the structure and intensity changes?

4)   What is the effect of embedded mesoscale vortices on the structure and intensity changes of a tropical cyclone?

5)   How does the eyewall respond to external perturbations, such as those from vertical shear in the environmental flow, outer spiral rainbands or mesoscale vortices, and what is the consequence of this response?

6)   How does the energy disperse from an existing tropical cyclone and how does this process affect the cyclone intensity itself and help initiate new tropical cyclones.