Effects of thermodynamic profiles on the interaction of binary tropical cyclones

The interactions between idealized binary tropical cyclones (TCs) on f and β planes with different separation distance and thermodynamic soundings obtained from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data averaged over the western North Pacific are investigated through ensemble three-dimensional numerical simulations with a horizontal resolution of 10 km in a single domain. In the simulations on the f plane, two TCs show mutual cyclonic rotations with symmetric structures. Two TCs with thermodynamic profiles of larger convective available potential energy (CAPE) and maximum potential intensity (MPI) show greater interaction than those with a smaller CAPE and MPI due to the stronger tangential velocity near the TC center. In the simulations on the β plane, the two TCs do not merge, because the beta effect prevents the attraction of the two TCs by generating asymmetric motions of the TC with northwestward forcing. The relative strengths of the two TCs change with time and depend on the low-level inflow influenced by the Coriolis parameter. Similar to the results on the f plane, the two TCs only merge with the thermodynamic soundings of large CAPE and MPI.