Intense storms in the Mediterranean: a first description from the ERA-40 perspective

摘要

The study of the Mediterranean cyclones from a climatological point of viewhas been one of the objectives of the first phase of WMO WWRP MEDEX(MEDiterranean EXperiment) project. Ithas been revealing itself like a good procedure for extracting conclusionsabout their characteristics and behaviour.The implementation on ECMWF ERA-40 reanalysis of the method for detecting andtracking the cyclones developed at the Centro Meteorológico Territorial (CMT)in Illes Balears of the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (INM, Spain)has allowed the selection of the most intense storms occurred for the last 45years. This selection has been based on the value of the cyclones' circulation.The areas of maximum intensification for those cyclones have beenobtained and the existence of preferential zones of intensification has beenverified. Finally a first sight of those cases has allowed to initiate thecheck up of the ability of the ERA-40 re-analyses for reproducing these intenseMediterranean storms.