Looking into Fujiwhara effect or Fujiwara interaction

[canes101]

So I don't know much about this, and don't remember ever hearing of a specific time this has actually happened. I have just seen some posters here mention it. As far as just saying "hey do you think the Fejjiwhara effect will happen with these two systems" etc..

I would like to get a discussion going here about it and with specifics. What exactly is it? And has it actually happened? If so when and where? From what i have been told about it, it sounds absolutely incredible and fascinating. Almost sounds urban legend like though lol.. So I would really love to hear more about it in depth and im sure many others out there would like to as well

[ColinDelia]

Some info and examples here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwhara_effect

[canes101]

Ya Colin thanks.. I have actually been reading that and some other places since I posted this getting info. Once I understand it in more detail I will post some of my findings as well.

I would really like to get a lively conversation going about this. We may get more participation with it once Igor leaves us be though

[windysocks]

Here's a screenshot I took last year from Typhoon2000 of the Fujiwhara Effect in WestPac. It seems to be much more common over here - perhaps smaller and more intense typhoons much closer together. This year hasn't been a good one for typhoons but Lionrock was subjected to the Fujiwhara Effect too - it moved east, which I have never seen before!

Just a typhoon enthusiast - not a professional.

http://yfrog.com/56fujiwharaeffectj

[ColinDelia]

This is pretty cool. Here's a video of two typhoons under Fujiwara Effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgwA6NkA90w

[ColinDelia]

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10. ... -0493(1983)111%3C0945:OTRMOB%3E2.0.CO;2

According to this paper (1983) there were 1.5 annual binary interactions between TCs in the western North pacific and .33 in the Atlantic between 1946 and 1981. A binary interaction between any two tropical storms or hurricanes is defined as two TCs in existence for at least 48 hours that were separated by less than 1334 km. Of 43 pairs of storms that met that criteria in the western N. Pacific, 35 of them underwent some measurable rotation around each other.

The Fujiwhara effect causes the TCs to rotate around each a common point in a counter-clockwise manner.
Interstingly though sometimes atmospheric forces can exceed the counterclockwise Fujiwhara effect and cause a net clockwise rotation around each other. Of the 43 pairs of TCs mentioned above 30 rotated around a midpoint in a counterclockwise rotation, five clockwise and in 8 of them the rotation rate was rather insignificant.

Another thing that came out of that study is that even though it was expected the Fujiwhara effect would be stronger in stronger storms the results were only conclusive in that regard from storms that were relatively close to each other (<650 km). This likely being the case due to environmental effects.

Another 11 years until the centennial. Fujiwhara wrote his paper in 1921 after studying vortexes both in a laboratory and in the real world.

[rsmith40]

From what I can tell today it looks like Julia is too small to have a Fujiwhara effect on Igor, if anything its throwing Julia off and slowing Igor slightly, but other than that nothing seems to be changing dramatically. Also I haven't heard anything about this mentioned by the NHC and if it was a definite probability I'd expect to see it come up on a forecast discussion along the way.

[Aslkahuna]

A Fujiwhara effect may not always mean that both storms will change course. The key to knowing if it is occurring is whether or not you can identify a rotation about a point representing the center of mass of the two systems. In the case where you have a very large storm with a small storm in interaction with it, the larger strom storm may slow drastically or do a small loop while the smaller system swings around it and either becomes absorbed, dissipates due to the shear from the larger storm's outflow or breaks free at which point the larger storm resumes its original movement. The Fujiwhara between Lionrock and Namtheun was a bit sloppy due to the presence of Taiwan in the mix but was definitely present. For a truly outrageous example of what a Fujiwhara does and what it can mean, check out the 1972 ATCR from JTWC and read up on STY Rita and the storms occurring during the same time and see what a chaotic mess it made in Asia.

Steve

[canes101]

Sorry I abandoned my own thread guys and gals I wrote up a nice long post on this in word. I had pictures, studies, and all and I didnt save it.. ARGGGGG.. But I will re do it. And for now will read what you all have added here