Water Vapour Potential Vorticity and Its Applications in Tropical Cyclones

A new tracer is presented to diagnose tropical cyclones （TCs） and their correspondent rainfall. It is defined as water vapour potential vorticity （WPV） by replacing potential temperature with specific humidity in the potential vorticity （PV）. The WPV is compared with PV and moist potential vorticity （MPV） in diagnosing three tropical cyclone cases occurred in North-West Pacific during 10 July to 21 July 2005 （Haitang）, 30 July to 9 August 2005 （Matsa） and 25 September to 3 October 2005 （Longwang） separately. The results show that in tracing the track of TCs, WPV is not nicer than PV but better than MPV. While diagnosing TCs＇ onshore rainfall, WPV is better than MPV in all the three cases. Moreover, the advection of WPV is a good indication of TC rainfall after its landing.