Remote-Sensed Spatio-Temporal Study of the Tropical Cyclone Freddy Exceptional Case

Dynamical processes during the different stages of evolution of tropical cyclones play crucial roles in their development and intensification, making them one of the most powerful natural forces on Earth. Given their classification as extreme atmospheric events resulting from multiple interacting factors, it is significant to study their dynamical behavior and the nonlinear effects generated by emerging structures during scales and intensity transitions, correlating them with the surrounding environment. This study investigates the extraordinary and record-breaking case of Tropical Cyclone Freddy (2023 Indian Ocean tropical season) from a purely dynamical perspective, examining the superposition of energetic structures at different spatio-temporal scales, by mainly considering thermal fluctuations over 12 days of its evolution. The tool used for this investigation is the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), in which a set of empirical basis functions is built up, retaining the maximum energetic content of the turbulent flow. The method is applied on a satellite imagery dataset acquired from the SEVIRI radiometer onboard the Meteosat Second Generation-8 (MSG-8) geostationary platform, from which the cloud-top temperature scalar field is remote sensed looking at the cloud’s associated system. For this application, considering Freddy’s very long life period and exceptionally wide path of evolution, reanalysis and tracking data archives are taken into account in order to create an appropriately dynamic spatial grid. Freddy’s eye is followed after its first shape formation with very high temporal resolution snapshots of the temperature field. The energy content in three different characteristic scale ranges is analyzed through the associated spatial and temporal component spectra, focusing both on the total period and on the transitions between different categories. The results of the analysis outline several interesting aspects of the dynamics of Freddy related to both its transitions stages and total period. The reconstructions of the temperature field point out that the most consistent vortexes are found in the outermost cyclonic regions and in proximity of the eyewall. Additionally, we find a significant consistency of the results of the investigation of the maximum intensity phase of Freddy’s life cycle, in the spatio-temporal characteristics of its dynamics, and in comparison with one analogous case study of the Faraji tropical cyclone.