Journal article

Climate perspective on the large-scale circulation associated with the transition of the first South Atlantic hurricane

AB Pezza, I Simmonds, AJP Filho

International Journal of Climatology | WILEY | Published : 2009

Abstract

The landfall of Cyclone Catarina on the Brazilian coast in March 2004 became known as the first documented hurricane in the South Atlantic Ocean, promoting a new view on how large-scale features can contribute to tropical transition. The aim of this paper is to put the large-scale circulation associated with Catarina's transition in climate perspective. This is discussed in the light of a robust pattern of spatial correlations between thermodynamic and dynamic variables of importance for hurricane formation. A discussion on how transition mechanisms respond to the present-day circulation is presented. These associations help in understanding why Catarina was formed in a region previously tho..

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Funding Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge K Keay and J Bye for their comments on an earlier version of this article. We acknowledge the Australian Research Council and the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee for funding parts of this work. Comments from two anonymous reviewers contributed to improving the manuscript.